Hidden Gems: Meet Stephen Sferazo of Spice Pepper Enterprises

Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephen Sferazo.  

Hi Stephen, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I have always had a knack for cooking and creating dishes that go well together. My grandmother being born and raised in Italy taught me everything I know about cooking and how to enhance dishes with herbs and spices etc. this along with my own creative mind allows me to create some superb sauces that most everyone loves. I started making my own hot sauce in 2014. As I would make a batch, all of the bottles I made would be claimed within the first hour of them being available to friends and family. After a few years of this being the case, I decided to turn commercial. I figured there were enough people in my circle that loved every one of my sauces. This gave me the confidence that I can create sauces that people love and would continuously come back for more. 

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Nothing in life is smooth so to speak. The biggest challenges were the capital I needed to get started. There is a learning curve socially also in every industry and the hot sauce community is not unique in that way. Therefore by learning from other makers in the industry and adjusting as I go, I am able to grow within the challenges that I face. I truly enjoy this industry and I love and have a passion for hot sauce and creating unique flavor profiles for my sauces. 

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I created Spice Pepper Enterprises to offer fresh quality ingredients matched with unique flavor profiles, but it also had to have a real heart. As a hot sauce connoisseur most of my life (I’m 44 years old) I had experienced many great sauces by small-batch makers but at times either the flavor was on point but with little to no heat, or the heat was dialed up to 10 but the flavor was lacking. Therefore I wanted to deliver my sauces to bring both the proper heat for the flavor profile and unparalleled exploding flavor. That is my goal every time. 

All of my recipes are created from scratch at home by yours truly. I dial in the recipe and once I have it where I want it I submit the recipe to the kitchen that I partner with to make and bottle the sauce for me. This allows me to focus on sales and stay active in the chili pepper community. 

I would say I am most known for extreme flavor with real heat. I don’t use pepper extract in any of my sauces as I believe the fresh pepper I choose tells its own story when mixed with the rest of the fresh ingredients. I do have a couple of medium heat sauces with more to come soon to balance out my catalog. Spice Pepper Heat ranges from 1 to 5. Most of my sauces are a 3 or a 4 with one of them being a 5 and another a 2 on our heat scale. 

I am also well-known for my labels. They are intense and bold as the flavors and heat are. 

I am most proud of my unique flavor profiles, but my marketing on the labels is a close 2nd. I take a lot of pride in the labels as I believe that marketing is very important to the consumer. It needs to reach out and grab them but also tell a story about what’s inside. 

Our Tagline is Passion. Flavor. Fire. Yes, in Everything I do in my life I try to always give 110% thus the passion word in the tag line. We are 2 years in on Spice Pepper Enterprises and I am satisfied with our growth thus far, however, we have a long long way to go. My sauces will always be small batch and never mainstream (found in large chain grocery stores) as I feel this would water down my reputation. The prepper community is growing by the day and it is my hope that Spice Pepper will continue to grow with it. 

In the months and years to come, we will be offering branded merchandise, a Marinara sauce line, and other spicy treat variety. We are Ohio made and Ohio proud! 

We love surprises, fun facts, and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
I am an entrepreneur and really enjoy creating things of all sorts. I also love music. I play guitar and sing. This really brings me joy. I am an all-around music lover. I enjoy music from the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s as well as the country. Whenever I am working by myself, I have to have music playing. It is almost like oxygen for me. 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.spicepeppers.com
• Instagram: spice_pepper_co
• Facebook: Spice Pepper Enterprises