Chef Rich Taylor, dubbed Chef Tico Rico, has plans to spice up the local hot sauce community.
With two main sauces and a third seasonal bottle made under the Tico Rico name, Taylor’s efforts are focused on creating a product with not just heat but great flavor and natural ingredients. The chef’s specialty of Latin and Caribbean dishes contributes to his brand, and stems from simple beginnings.
Having grown up in Puerto Limón, Costa Rica, Taylor attributes his culinary knowledge to cooking with his grandmother and the Jamaican community of his hometown. With an 11-person household, Taylor’s grandmother made sure to always have food on the family’s table.
“I would be at her skirt tails. I learned at an early age that if you hang out in the kitchen with grandma, grandma’s going to feed you,” Taylor told the Business Journal.
In remembering the herbs and spices she used in her recipes, along with other homemade ingredients, Taylor was able to put everything together when developing Tico Rico’s sauces. The name Tico Rico borrows from the Costa Rican peoples’ nickname “Tico” and Taylor’s own name in Spanish.
Culinary Career
Landing in Chicago after high school, Taylor had moved into a role at a manufacturer as the middleman between the labor force’s Latin and African American population and upper management. The firm offered Taylor a more lucrative deal to stay on after changing partners, but he decided to turn it down.
However, the company then offered to pay for further education, and Taylor convinced the team to let him attend culinary school. After two years, Taylor had an associate degree from College of DuPage in Illinois and a more refined repertoire.
The original hot sauce was born during his time as an executive chef at a Chicago golf club. He remembers a group of regulars coming in and demanding a spicier option than the condiments available. Inspired by his grandmother, Taylor decided to cook his own sauce for the next time the guests came in.
“I brought some habaneros in one day, threw them in the blender, and later heard yells from the table,” Taylor said. Once Taylor presented the sauce and received demands for where it came from, he realized the potential of developing his own sauce.
Trio of Sauces
Taylor moved to San Clemente in 2016 and spent his free time developing a second sauce.
His wife, Karen, during a taste test had suggested adding lime to the serrano mixture. Unsure, Taylor added a single lime to his next batch and now credits his wife as the catalyst for his second creation, called Serrano Lime.
The specialty Tico Rico Trio was introduced after a stream of requests for an even hotter sauce. Taylor turned to the hottest peppers in the world, the Carolina Reaper and the ghost pepper, and began his own garden due to its high prices. Come harvest, he can make about 250 bottles.
All are made in a commercial kitchen in Oceanside, and batches of the Original, Serrano Lime and the Trio is available until sold out. Taylor hopes to partner with a local grower in the future to keep the trio year-round.
Individual bottles range from $6 to $7.99. There are no preservatives, less salt, and each serving has 5 calories for a more natural product, the company says.
Online Focus
A week prior to the pandemic, Taylor had quit his local chef job to focus on the hot sauces full time. He had only begun selling at a nearby street fair in Oceanside in 2019. With the shutdown, he rushed to debut the business website and started selling online mid-2020. .
“It’s made from the soul. It’s a passion. I wholeheartedly believe in the product itself, and the pure nature of it,” Taylor said.
While noting the difficulty of breaking into OC’s competitive food market, Taylor is focused on developing his online clientele that has grown steadily in the past two years. “That’s how I know it’s only going to go up.”
