The Missouri Botanical Garden will celebrate its 22nd annual Best of Missouri Market this weekend, October 4-6. This local shopping event will host 30 diverse vendors and more than 120 Missouri food producers.
Among those vendors will be Deborah and Freddie Lee Jr., makers of Freddie Lee’s Ghetto Sauce. They hit upon the idea of this hot sauce after having a conversation about moving out of the ghetto.
They were making sauce for family and friends one day when they sat together outside after finishing the batch. It was a hot summer day. Deborah remembers seeing a speeding car and hearing gunshots, followed by police cars with sirens screaming.
Freddie looked at Deborah and said, “One day God is going to bless us to get out of the ghetto.”
That was when Deborah realized what they should name their hot sauce “Freddie Lee’s Ghetto Sauce.” Freddie told her they needed to pray on the name. When they woke up looking at each other, they began laughing again about the name of the sauce. After the laughter, they discusses memories of their childhoods and growing up. And the name stuck.
Freddie started his journey in his kitchen in North St. Louis after working in construction for 40 years. He always purchased sauce from grocery stores, but felt the need to add his own spices. Last year he combined the recipe he had evolved over 25 years of tinkering with his wife Deborah’s special touch to create the sauce that’s on store shelves today.
After making sauce at home, they moved Downtown into the St. Patrick Center, which has a small business incubator with a commercial kitchen. Freddie earned the necessary health and corporate certifications to set up production facilities at the center. For the past six months, Freddie has worked four- to six-hour shifts making his sauce while still maintaining his full-time construction job.
Freddie Lee’s Ghetto Sauce received their first break in retail when The Wine and Cheese Place began carrying their product. Now their sauce is being manufactured at King Foods Product Company and sold at over 30 different locations in St. Louis city and county.
The sauce can be used on grilled, fried, smoked and baked meats; as seasoning for soups, salsa, chili, sloppy Joes, spaghetti; and on any pasta dish with a red sauce. It’s sold in pints jars, quart jars and gallon jugs, by the case or individually.
They have committed customers who contribute to the success of the business through repeat purchases and referrals. They are extremely humble in the new journey their lives have taken thanks to this gourmet sauce.
About that name? “That is what God gave us,” Freddie said, “and it’s not meant to be negative.”
For more information, visit freddieleesghettosauce.com.
The Best of Missouri Market, presented by Schnuck Markets, will be held October 4 – 6 at the Missouri Botanical Garden. Admission to the garden is $12 adults (ages 13 and up), $5 children (ages 3-12), $5 Garden members and free for member children (ages 3-12). For more information, visit http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/.
