The concept of creating his own hot sauce and naming it Surfin’ Sauce all came to Matt Hoffman when he got off of work at 5:30 in the morning. He had just finished from an all night shoot, where he was operating the craft services table on a film set in California.

Film crews are notoriously demanding diners and LA-based craft services cooks like Matt Hoffman are continually forced to come up with ways to turn quick-off-the griddle and grab-as-you-work foods interesting.

One of Matts patented gimmicks to keep the assorted grips and thespians happy was to feature a new and exotic hot sauce each day. And over the course of several years, Matt had introduced Tinseltown to well over 100 fiery sauces.

On the fateful morning in question, Matt should have gone straight to bed; but being an avid surfer, he caught the surf report on his car radio.  An El Nino related storm had stirred up some serious wave energy and a massive swell was due to hit Southern California surf spots.  Wanting to be there at first light with the hardcore dawn patrol, Matt headed straight for the Coast.

It was there, a few hundred yards out on the ocean, atop his board, waiting for the next set of waves, that the name Surfin’ Sauce flashed into his exhilarated yet sleep deprived brain. And it was in the rush of making the drop off the face of a double overheard wave, that Matt Hoffman made the decision to create his own totally tasty heat wave.

In the next several months, Matt started to create exotic blends of tropical heat in his kitchen; and instead of offering someone else’s fiery sauce on the craft service table, he presented his crews with the latest version of Surfin’ Sauce.

I got feedback from some of the toughest critics in the world; and believe me, every now and then I would concoct a real loser. But my intention from the outset was to create a sauce that the crew could splash on just about everything I served, omelettes, breakfast burritos, grilled sandwiches, stews; but also something that would bring a special signature of heat if I were to use it in complex sauces or simply blend it with other condiments like mustard and mayonnaise. I wanted Surfin’ Sauce to become an alternative to other forms of heat, and being a big sushi lover, I wanted it to taste great in place of wasabi, when mixed with soy sauce.

Finally after about four months of trial and error, Matt found the perfect secret blend of fresh peppers, mango, carrots and lime juice that everyone on set seemed to love. With his Surfin Sauce recipe perfected Matt called up his brother Rob, who was looking for something new to bring to market. Rob is probably best known for being the creative force behind the marketing and production of the Psychic Friends Network with Dionne Warwick. And since his departure from the Psychic World, hes been creating infomercials and commercials for phone companies and Internet startups.

I never marketed a food product before so I thought Surfin’ Sauce would be an exciting challenge. The tech sector is going flat, and I figured that food constitutes an old economy product.  The very first thing I wanted to make sure that we could do is to trademark the name Surfin’ Sauce, which we were fortunately able to do says Rob.

To help enforce their marketing, Matt and Rob sought the talents of a great illustrator, Peter Bernard, to create their fiery surfer art.  Carole Pixler of Shrimpton Design was then brought in to perfect the label.  And at last, on December 1, 2000 the first bottles of Surfin’ Sauce rolled off the production line.

Surfin’ Sauce will have its major public debut at the Fiery Foods Show in Albuquerque, NM from March 2 - 4, 2001.

It’s available on the web at www.surfinsauce.com and www.hothothot.com. It’s suggested retail price is $5.99. For more information call toll free 1-866-SURFINS.