Mark Cregan’s Fermented Kimchi sparked the gullets of Hugh Jackman, a.k.a. the Wolverine, and Ryan Reynolds, a.k.a. Deadpool, on an episode of Hot Ones on YouTube.
Some may think Mark Cregan is in the colonics trade.
Cregan is founder of Mark’s Hot Sauce, whose products have been known to clear out the intestines of tasters as well as their sinuses, not to mention bring them to tears and leave them sweating yet gasping for more.
Cregan, a Toronto native who has made Montreal his home since 2004, has been fashioning his mouth-numbing sauces the last 10 years. But it wasn’t until the Wolverine sunk his teeth into a chicken wing laced with Cregan’s Fermented Kimchi creation that many took heed. His business has been sizzling ever since.
The mouths of Jackman and Reynolds were further anesthetized on the same episode after savouring Cregan’s considerably spicier Barbados Style sauce.
The hot-sauce market is saturated with thousands of products, but, clearly, all it takes are shout-outs from the likes of Jackman and Reynolds to turn a business around. Nor has it hurt that Cregan’s concoctions have also been praised by Vince Vaughn, Chris Hemsworth and Lewis Hamilton, among other celebs.
Prior to these props, Cregan was selling about 25,000 bottles a year of his sauces and marinades. This year, he expects to top 100,000 in sales.
The Hot Ones team, which also distributes sauces, has already ordered 50,000 bottles of the Fermented Kimchi alone.
Cregan, 37, is a virtual one-man show. He does the buying of his produce — mostly all local. He concocts and cooks his sauces. He markets them. He packages and then ships them out.
“Plus there’s the R&D (research and development) that goes into coming out with a new sauce. That can take about two to three years,” Cregan says.
He operates out of an unlikely spot, a rambling 2,500-square-foot facility in a Mile End edifice that was home to the city’s once-flourishing textile trade.
Surrounded by a clutter of fridges, stoves, barrels, bottles and bell peppers, Cregan is putting together another order of the Fermented Kimchi sauce.
“I’m running really low on it now, so I’ll have to put together another batch quickly,” says Cregan, who has to bring in a part-time staffer on occasion.
“But no question, the YouTube exposure has really turned business around. The Wolverine was licking his fingers after tasting, so I guess he really liked it.”
Credit Cregan for having the marketing smarts to send his sauces to Hot Ones for consideration. There are few businesses more volatile and more evolving than his, so getting this kind of exposure really does make a difference.
In the old days, there was Tabasco. Now the market is flooded with brands that are as terrifying as their taste sensations: Voodoo Prince Death Mamba, Dr. Chilemeister’s PHD of Pain Hot Sauce, Iguana Radioactive Atomic Pepper Sauce, Hemorrhoid Helper Hot Sauce and the relatively more subtle Tingleberry.
But Cregan clevery decided to take an entirely different, non-tongue-twister route.
“With a name like Mark’s Hot Sauce, I really do stand out in this business. I probably have the most boring name out there,” Cregan cracks.
At present, he sells five hot sauces plus a Jamaican Jerk Marinade and a Peperoncini Piccanti condiment. They are available at more than 120 specialty food shops throughout Canada, including 50 in Montreal. Supermarket chains could be next on his hit list. And he is now making inroads in the U.S. and United Kingdom.
“This couldn’t have all come at a better time. Things were pretty slow during COVID. So this has been such a big boost,” he says. “I had a lot of debt to pay off, which I’ve already done. Now I’m just trying to keep up with all the orders coming in and I’m going to be investing back in the business with new equipment.”
Regardless of the reaction they may induce, Cregan’s sauces are hot but aren’t among the hottest out there and that suits him just fine.
“On the Hot Ones, they have sauces that go from Level 1 to Level 10. I’m usually within the first five, despite the fact that they have made guests sweat a lot,” says Cregan, who dabs his sauces on his every meal. “I’m not looking to overpower meals with my sauces. My goal is to complement them.”
Having sampled his sauces, I can concur that it’s mission accomplished.
Despite his acumen in the field, Cregan doesn’t come from a business administration background. He came to Montreal to study biology at McGill. The plan initially was for him to follow in his dad’s footsteps and become a dentist. But he fell in love with the city and all its flavours, particularly on the food side.
“I had to follow my heart — and my gut,” he says. “Even as a kid, I loved tasting and eating everything. Neither of my parents were exactly the most adventurous cooks at home, but as soon as I moved here and started cooking for myself, I fell in love with spicy foods.”
COVID may have affected his business, but not his body. Coincidence?
“I have yet to come down with COVID, but I have to believe the hot sauces with all their vitamins helped,” he says. “From what I’ve heard, people who eat spicy foods live longer.”
Doubtless, Deadpool and Wolverine would certainly concur.