Rich Moyette of North Reading shows off his line of Big Rich’s Hot Sauces. (Bill Laforme Photo)
Published in the March 9, 2017 edition
By Bill Laforme
NORTH READING – A North Reading family is building a hot sauce brand with a new selection of flavors and a growing presence in local stores.
In a recent conversation with the Transcript, Rich Moyette, founder of Big Rich’s Hot Sauces, said that the enterprise had its beginnings about eight years ago when he and his son Kevin began making their original hot sauce recipe, and giving mason jars full of the sauce to friends. Demand among the friends soon began to grow. “It got to the point where I was in the house making it all day,” said Moyette, who then started asking people about whether they would buy the hot sauce. The response was reportedly usually positive.
Moyette is a trained chef who spent about 25 years working in the Boston area, including at the Village Smokehouse in Boston. He considers barbecue to be among his specialties, and he said he is a lifelong hot sauce fan. Moyette, who currently works during the week as a truck driver with Arrow Paper in Wilmington, has also lived in North Reading for about 25 years, raising three children – Taylor, Morgan and Kevin – with his wife Jill, who he said is “very supportive” of the enterprise.
To go along with the original sauce, Moyette said he’s just introduced five brand new flavors – bacon, maple, peach/mango, spicy BBQ, and “Hot as Hell.” The Hot as Hell variety is reportedly made with Carolina Reaper peppers, now considered to be the hottest on the planet. For the bacon sauce, Moyette is particularly proud to have found a way to eliminate any bacon grease from the sauce, while still using real bacon. He suggests the sweet peach/mango flavor for fish, and considers maple to be the most unusual of the flavors. Along the way, there have also reportedly been a couple of flavors that didn’t make the cut.
The other sauces are reportedly made with habanero peppers, but a sample of them found the heat level relatively moderate with considerable flavor. Moyette also said that the sauces make a good marinade, and he added that they do not contain the vinegar consistency or flavor more commonly found in a cayenne-type hot sauce. “It’s different stages of flavor, that’s what I try to get out of it,” he explained.
So far, Moyette said his original sauce has been available at Ryers in North Reading, as well as a number of other local places, including Dom’s Sausage and the New Deal Deli in Revere. At Dom’s, Moyette proudly noted that he’s already sold 12 cases of his original sauce, just since it hit stores in January. Biltmore and Main in Reading reportedly uses the sauce in its bloody Mary bar, and this summer, Moyette said the sauce may start appearing at some area events such as farmers markets this year.
The sauce is currently bottled and made at an FDA-approved facility in Bernardston, Mass., typically in 60 gallon sized batches. When his son Kevin is home from college, he reportedly does some sales work for the hot sauce company, and Moyette said he typically spends time on Saturdays doing the same thing. Daughters Taylor and Morgan also help the company with tastings for prospective store partners. “It’s a lot of effort and a lot of work, but nothing ever comes easily,” he said. “I’m very proud of it. I put a lot of years and a lot of work into it.”
Looking ahead, Moyette isn’t done expanding his product line. He said that he’s thinking of a couple of potential new flavors, maybe for next year. Along with that, he also reportedly has three salad dressings and two dips currently in development.
To learn more about Big Rich’s Hot Sauces, visit www.bigrichshotsauce.com.
