Regular people don't like heat.

I always thought Canadians didn't like spicy food

Yea man don’t know how you’re cooking em but 4 sauces 2-2-2-2. 8 wing order is good for a date or somebody with a friend. Especially when drinking

A lot of people like the rush of heat, but are scared of unfamiliar and untested varieties. Throw in a challenge or incentive, no matter how ridiculous, and they’ll start gobbling it up.

Just made me hungry lol. There’s a wing place called mooseheads in Charlotte NC that as has a hoisin poison wing made with Carolina reapers

It’s so fucking ridiculously spicy but so fucking delicious.

What are you charging them to take a chance on pineapple and something called " suicide". Just a real take from someone on a tight budget.

Also, no, most people don't crave heat, even people who enjoy spice aren't necessarily obsessed with heat. I mean, if this my dinner on a night out, I want to eat, enjoy and keep it in/down while I enjoy the rest of my precious weekend.

Did you think everyone eats very spicy stuff?

Mortify the flesh to purify the spirit.

Is not something many people find enjoyable.

a lot of people dont like heat

I LIKE A DA HEAT

I would like one hot wing. The rest I just want something I can enjoy without melting my face off.

Heat is neat, but it takes a certain type of masochism to consistently want to melt my face without other redeeming flavors going on. Just play around with ideas, you’re sure to find something else people will like. I don’t know your recipe (that pineapple sour sounds awesome though), but in my personal experiences, the best tasting hot sauces I’ve had seem to use apple cider vinegar or apple cider syrup even to balance the habanero or jolokia or reaper spice. Just a thought.

Speak for yourself. I’m a Midwest white boy and love spicy everything.

What’s a fresno sauce?

Ontario lol

Open a shop in Mexico. Shit even Texas

I’m in Wisconsin, and people here do not eat heat. Like ketchup is too spicy. Plain, run of the mill BBQ sauce is spicy. Green bell peppers, literally fire.

Buffalo sauce is the worst sauce for wings. I love all of the different flavors like teriyaki and garlic parm. I like hot sauce, but not for wings.

be in Canada

surprised that the locals can’t handle spicy

People think they like heat because of marketing. When Wendy’s is selling “ghost pepper” items that are less spicy than a jalapeño then they go oh yeah I’m a spice person. They aren’t.

Young people love spice. All their salty snacks are spicy sour flavors. I firmly believe that in 15 years we are gonna enter a new era of incredible restaurants.

It's OK to not like heat. Some people don't. Some people do like heat. That's OK too.

People that brag about liking spicy food, often do not have much tolerance. That's not a rule though, because it's all about the braggadocio. If they act like they are "cool" because they like some hot sauce on their wings or one time they had Mexican food and the couldn't make it hot enough for them, they are just boastful and children.

I like spicy very much. I'm fine with not spicy too. Either is fine. If I get spicy, I do want it to be challenging. I do want the food so hot that I can't eat it and I'm cursing God for allowing me to be born. That's part of the fun. It's all about the endorphin rush.

The people that brag, don't get off on the endorphins because they don't commit to the regret.

Honestly, I like the flavor of super-hot food that's made with peppers that happen to be super-hot. I like the flavor of Naga Jolokia. To me, they have an earthy, smoky, flavor that you can't get from a different pepper. Habaneros are sweet and fruity. Malaguetas are my favorite but hard to come by in my region. I can take or leave birds eye chilis. I really do like my Naga Jolokia and apricot salsa. It's deathly hot, but it's got incredible flavor after resting for a few months. Sure, you can't use much of it, but it's unique. It is a bit unfortunate that it is painful to use, but it's a distinct flavor that requires the heat to come along with it.

Carolina Reapers are useless though. The flavor isn't worth it for the amount of heat you have to try to mitigate.

Most people don’t mind some heat but they also don’t want to melt their faces off.

My coworkers always comment on how I must not taste anything anymore and don't understand why I would make my food do spicy I can't taste it.

I tell them I do taste it very well, my spice tolerance is just extremely high. Just like anything increased with time and exposure, tolerance to negative effects subsides. I can do reaper squeezins on eggs n hash brown for breakfast.

I know where they're coming from tho. I used to put a single habanero in a pot of sauerkraut and sausage and be sweating and hurting trying to eat it. But I enjoyed the rush and kept on increasing my spice level and now we here.

Regular people do not like spice, at least here in the u.s. it's really as simple as that unfortunately. But the good news is that you'll probably get a lot of repeat customers if your sauces are good. I go through a bottle fairly quickly, and if I like it I tend to get it again.

People don't want to take a risk on a day out I reckon. You'd be adventurous at home with access to bannanas, ice and yoghurt.

Homie if you have a website I'll buy a bottle of your pineapple sour today

Since it's a brewery, I'm certain they sell beer flights. See if you can curate a beer flight wing flight pairing. People love that kind of stuff.

Get them to offer a flight of 3 sauces paired with a flight of three beers.

Get the bar to do a competition where whoever eats the most of one of your super hot wings gets a store credit or something. It'll generate wing sales for the bar, and people will try your sauce (potentially liking it).

It's not your sauce, I'm sure every flavor you've created is delicious! When people go out to eat they don't want blindingly hot sauces unless they're trying to impress the people they're dining with. I love a face-melting curry or something but I do it on my own time. When the fam is around, we're ordering medium-hot at the most because I don't want to make my mom starve. Wings are often a shared appetizer, and people dine out for the social experience more than the food.

The way to get more hot-heads is to keep doing what you're doing, and make the sauces that are popular on the menu super delicious so that the one person at the table who would've ordered a hotter sauce for themselves is inspired to buy a bottle of something else on their way out! You say your fresno sauce is popular but not exciting. Make it more exciting! Focus on flavor over heat, and the ones itching for more will come out of the woodwork. You aren't doing anything wrong, but the restaurant industry is a whole different beast from the sales industry, and you have to cater to the public in a different way.

People that come to a subreddit dedicated to spicy things aren't going to be the "average customer". Just about everyone here is searching for HOT sauce and unique flavors.

Another user posted the average person can't take above 20,000 SHU but I think even that is above what many will willingly eat.

Most people I know find anything above a fresh jalapeño to be unpleasant, or even find that to be too much. Most people on this sub could probably eat a whole fresh jalapeño without blinking.

My own cap to spice is about habanero level - the hottest sauce I use regularly is about 130,000 SHU. That's enough to make many people dry gag and cry. I have hotter from time to time but it goes from "enjoying a pleasant meal" to "Sweat is pouring down my face, boogers uncontrollably running out my nostrils, I shouldn't be eating this in public"

Make a scale and turn it into a fun thing. If your sauce is hot enough maybe even turn it into a challenge. The reward doesn't have to be something grand - free wings, free bottle of sauce, people will flock to it even if they don't expect to win.

I've had good ghost pepper wings and Carolina reaper peppers on pizza that were good. One time I got the hottest sauce on the menu and it basically would make your tongue bleed after a few wings and wasn't enjoyable at all.

You can tell most don't like heat with the way fast food restaurants treat their spicy options, which is not that spicy.

Where in Ontario are you, if you don't mind me asking? I could go for some beer and hot wings.

Extremely or super hot sauces pair well with nothing.

I like spicy things but i sense a kind of fascination of some people with eating super spicy things that.make your butthole hurt. For me sounds a little bit like an addiction some times when people ask something like WHATS THE MOAT SPICY SAUCE I CAN PUT ON THIS.

Unless you are in a culture that makes super spicy food, i would say the extra spicy sauces are never gonna really hit it with a broad audience.

Around here real heat lovers are few and far between. I eat ghost pepper wings and my wife sweats across the table from the smell.

And oh yeah, how about partnering with wine tasting businesses. Here in Woodinville, WA where I live there was a pirate/freewheeling wine tasting wave that is now fully established. That crowd may not be into heat, so give them what they want...

It's a relatively niche market in the US, but I think just because it isn't a main stream method of seasoning (which this is probably even debatable given the success of Hot Ones), doesn't mean it's reserved for the elite palate having demographic of the country lol.

It's not surprising that your mild and generically tasty sauces are flying off the shelves compared to your super hots.

To have local people show up, consider expanding your local social media presences and personal relationships. Is there a recurring farmer's market? Is there a bunch of them that you can attend? How about thinking bigger and attending food conventions? Can you handle the volume of orders/insure food safety? Or are you satisfied with a niche/small batch operation? Maybe the opportunity in Canada is more towards pickling and not heat? So, relishes, chutneys, pickles, etc.

I work with a guy I call Heat Miser, due to his penchant for high heat. Dude can handle some seriously hot stuff. I am your ordinary sauce lover. I prefer flavor over heat, unless it’s curry. If someone could perfect the “Only burns once!” recipe, I’d be in for more heat. Word of mouth is really your best bet. Guys are always brining my buddy sauces they find. Do you have food trucks in your area? Maybe partnering with one or more to help get the word out as well would help.

I operated a nut butter business for a decade that catered to spicy flavors. But by the end, our run, our most popular flavor wasn’t spicy at all. I think it just goes to show that in our country of the US, spicy still is a novelty. Most Caucasian people culturally are new to spice in the last couple decades. My family think cracked pepper is spicy, but I’ve always been around Hispanic/Mexican and Philippine/vietnamese friends where their families traditionally ate spicy everything. It’s changing, but the majority of people still take it pretty easy compared to us.

Where can I try your sauces? I'm in Toronto

Ymmv, I sell my superhots cheap to a local bar I frequent, and they make their firehot sauce with them. The son of the owner is a trained chef that curates the menu so maybe that helps. They do say some people really crave the heat in the area, and love the flavor of the 7 Pot varieties I give them.

It's a thing, yeah. I know people who think that Texas Pete or Frank's are some kind of wild adventure, only for the most daring of foodies. It's honestly kind of bizarre. I was putting those on my mom's cooking before I was old enough to start school. 😂

You’re probably right. I like insanely hot ghost pepper hot sauce. I love it and enjoy how food tastes with it. But most people are buffalo or Frank’s hot sauce level.

Your sauces sound great!

You might actually do well offering a tasting flight.

Sauces can be presented in a fun way that can be dipped along with some cooling ranch if a sauce is too spicy. People can maintain optionality while exploring interesting flavors.

It also can be a way to potentially justify a slightly higher price for a unique tasting experience and a more natural way to market the follow-up action of buying a bottle of anything they like from the tasting flight.

Ontario Canada or Ontario California? I imagine the definition of what makes a popular hot sauce will change drastically between the two.

Either way If you want to know what “regular people” like go to Taco Bell and grab some of their sauce packets. You’ll never be able to match the consumer research abilities of a multinational corporation so just steal theirs.

Also look how other brands use color and keywords to inform the consumer of the heat involved in their sauces. I think everyone who has ever bought artisanal hot sauce has had at least one instance where they thought they were buying something nice but ended up with a bottle of sour battery acid. You can help your customers feel more “adventurous” if they have some idea ahead of time just how much adventure they are signing up for.

I love spicy hot sauce but when im out with my friends for a football or hockey game, we tend to just get the mild/sweet chilli/honey mustard/garlic parm style flavors cause it appeals to everyone

I’d say regular people go up to 20000 SHU and then they can’t handle much more - keep that limit in mind

Most normal people wont order something with suicide in the name, yes. bet if you just called that one something simple like "extra hot" people would get it

Regular people want tasty food that doesn’t hurt. A little spice here and there is great but it should be pleasurable to consume.

I like heat so long as there's good flavours in there too.

There used to be this little Indian restaurant called Maazas (I think that's the spelling) in Ipswich (QLD) on Ellenborough Street between Limestone Street and Brisbane Street. Whenever I ordered something spicy they would ask,

"Would you like that mild, medium, hot, or Indian hot?"

Well hello, I've never heard that option before I started going there, so I got my vindaloo "Indian hot". And it was hot, and I'd be sitting at home and eating it and crying and sniffing and loving it. It wasn't just hot, it was a really rich creamy sauce with nice big chunks of fatty marinaded beef and loads of flavours.

It also just happened to completely burn out your sinuses and clear your head of any illnesses. :)

Come down to Buffalo and sell me your sauce and their beer lol

Everyone’s different. Some think it’s some kind of flex to like hot things, some just eat what they like. Hot sauce people tend to get a bit craft beery which gets funny

Wings generally aren't inexpensive anymore. I wouldn't want to drop $20+ on something that sounds great but ends up being way too spicy.

Everyone is on a tighter budget these days.

All you have to do is look at what the majority of restaurants offer. They offer what the majority wants. Hot and spicy dishes are a small fraction, a niche market. The USA is the same with the exception of certain areas.

"Regular"? What are you implying? *jokingly

I like some heat but I don't want super insanely hot sauce on my wings because they're messy and it will get all over my face and lips and fingers. Ideally if I eat something very spicy I only want it in my mouth 

I absolutely love super hot sauce, but usually shy away from ordering it on a menu. More than 90 percent of the time when I order a restaurant’s XXX SUPER SHIT THE BED BUTT BURNER SATAN SWEAT, it tastes like shit. You can tell they basically added some capsaicin extract to their shittiest hot sauce instead of developing a super spicy flavorful sauce.

Maybe try emphasizing how good the sauces taste instead of how spicy they are?

A lot of people out there love to say “i like hot stuff”

It's crazy because a bunch of my coworkers like superhots, along with some others I've met here, yet all the restaurants I've tried here don't pack the heat. My favorite Thai place that did went out of business, unfortunately.

Go Leafs Go

My taste in wing sauce is very different in my taste in hot sauce.

Come to New Orleans, we have a population raised on hot sauce.

Just my opinion but I think the Gen pop’s baseline tolerance for heat used to be much lower but with cultural events like the Hot Ones show and One Chip challenge I think the bar is rising. That being said, the super hot market seems to be super saturated at the moment because the pandemic gave every enthusiast an excuse to try on their Sauce making Company hats. Eventually there will be more of a market for hot/super hot but the general public needs time to adjust. There will always be thrill seekers but I don’t think super hot sauces will ever take the lion’s share.

Interesting post thank you.

I‘m starting a micro sauce company right now with my best homie. I live in rural France, and I‘ve been super surprised by the amount of people already asking me to be on the list to get our hot sauces as soon as they are ready, and we still have months to go… We are only using reapers and 7 pots. I think they are in for a surprise lol

Like most more niche interests, if you went by the crowds online it would seem like we’re everywhere..but in my personal life, I’ve only met a handful of other people that enjoy intense heat, hot sauces, and the actual flavor of very spicy peppers..and two of them are my parents!

Are you able to find chili pepper/sauce festivals near you? Even craft shows, flea markets, anything that draws a crowd where food wouldn’t be too out of the norm will get new people tasting your creations. I’ve been lucky enough to find a few different local-ish crafters this way, and I’m always on the look out for more.

I went through my "heat" stage. Then I realized what I actually needed was everyday sauces. I'm way more concerned about flavor now. Another thing is cost. I pour hot sauce on everything so I can go through bottles quickly.

This honestly sounds like an amazing endeavor and super awesome! I hope you succeed my dude. Hot sauce is like brewing beer in a lot of ways. Its all about the passion.

In another sense, if the mild sauces have great flavor and sell well, then it makes the business work and you can afford to make those hotter or one off sauces that you love and still pay the bills.

A local brewery I used to work for, the brewmaster put it this way: "our best selling beer is a grapefruit lager. Is it my favourite? Fuck no, but we sell a shit ton of it. So because of that making the business part work, I can do small batches of weird IPAs and sours or whatever I want, and not have to worry about them. They do sell, but I don't make much of them and it's to a more niche audience".

My takeaway is there's 2 sides to this game. The passion side and the business side. I hope that helps you out man.

I know Ontario is a big place but where is this wing night with fancy curated hot sauces?

When I visit my mother and stay for dinner, if we're having curry or something similar she makes an extra effort to make it really spicy for me. She'll be eating hers, fanning her tongue, gasping and remarking how spicy it is, asking if mine (which she had added extra to) is too spicy. I haven't the heart to tell her that I literally can't taste it at all. It might as well be bolognase sauce. So yeah, I think our ilk are probably freaks of nature compared with the general population.

Still can't get over the time she said for me to "be careful!" because instead of using the 'mild' sauce pack she used (brace yourselves) half mild and half medium. I genuinely don't know how I managed to keep a straight face.

Where can I try this suicide hot sauce?

But I do agree, there a lot of people that have little to no tolerance. I get so pissed when I’m asked to pick up from the grocery and make sure to get “mild salsa” or “mild nacho cheese”. Like damn, I didn’t know regular nacho cheese was even hot

Might wanna add a garlic dill parm rub/sauce for those who didn't like heat and maybe a traditional buffalo. I'd 100% go for the suicide sauce but I'm a creature that enjoys ghost pepper haha.

Also, maybe a wing challenge or some other form of advertising would help. Most people aren't aware of local events or changes to their breweries menus.

Just the other day my local Kroger store had Crystal Extra Hot and Marie Sharp's Habanero/Beware on clearance. A couple years ago, a local restaurant watered down their truly spicy Scorpion buffalo sauce before eventually taking it off the menu. It is a persistent uphill battle to get real spice in a dish from Chinese/Thai/Indian/etc. restaurants, no matter how much I beg and reassure them.

To me, it seems clear that the average person either understands, or overestimates, their low tolerance for spice. They either avoid it, or complain when they can't handle it.

Yes, regular people normally don’t like heat. And the ones that do like it, have different level of tolerances. And then there are de mad ones like me who consider the Torchbearer Garlic Reaper Sauce not that spicy. As already suggested, try marketing your sauces as a challenge. People like challenges. Best of luck!

That pineapple sour sauce sounds dank ... would 100% support your biz. Do you have a heat chart/scale/color code for your sauces? Might help. Also, advertising your hottest sauce as a challenge might help. Best of luck to you!