When I first tasted San Angel Mole’s mole and cascabel sauces at the Fancy Foods Show, I knew they were on to something: good, natural,  ready-to-use mole sauces, which I’d never seen in the US.  Mole sauce as it’s made in Mexico takes lots of spices and other exotic ingredients…not something you’d be inclined to make very often. And it’s yummy.

San Angel Mole opened a store on Foodzie. Now a mere six months later, Florence and Tim McCarthy, a wife and husband team, won a coveted sofi Gold award for their Cascabel Sauce from the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade (NASFT).

In the first of a series of articles written to help aspiring food entrepreneurs, we’re thrilled that Tim McCarthy took a moment to share their experience with getting their Los Angeles-based business to this point:

How did you decide to produce this line of food?

With the passing of several older family members, we began hosting an annual Dia de Los Muertos  (Day of the Dead) party. On my day off I made mole from scratch and after a day of shopping and another cooking I was exhausted before the party started. I was working at Patina at the time and one day wondered why I was able to purchase a Thai curry base but not an authentic mole. The similarity of the sauces intrigued me. Both are made with a complex blend of ingredients: spices, chiles…and have numerous regional variations. We guessed we weren’t the only ones looking for authentic, ready to use mole so we looked into the business opportunity.

How did your business come about?

Part planning, part serendipity!

We started out with a plan, based on Stephen Hall’s [very well known and famous] book Sell Your Specialty Food. We also took a class at UC Davis, which actually used Stephen Hall’s book as the text. The class helped us with research, education and helped us to determine if this was a viable concept.

We knew we had a product idea like none other on the market. So we asked: Was that for a reason or was there really an opportunity out there?

Has everything gone according to “plan?”

The idea came about 5 years ago, and we’ve been making the sauces now for 2-3 years. We introduced the sauces at a few gift shows as a chance to get feedback from the market.

Hall’s book says it takes 3-5 years to get traction in the marketplace so we knew we were on track. It didn’t feel like it was a plan because when it happens, it happens quickly. For example we spent months trying to get meetings with various retailers. Once we met with Whole Foods we were quickly accepted and now are in both Northern and Southern California.

What do you love most about it?

We enjoy introducing people to something new but you know you’re on to something when someone has a Ratatouille moment. That moment when someone, sometimes skeptically, tries the mole and it triggers a sense of nostalgia. We like to say that your grandmother will always make the best mole but in this case we strive to be second best.

What have you learned?

Distributors are especially important for getting into the supermarket chains. However working with distributors can be a chicken and egg scenario as they usually only want to carry you if customers have asked for your product.

Finding and maintaining a relationship with your producer is important for the success and longevity of your business.

Originally I’d buy all the ingredients and work with a co-packer who had the right equipment for filling the bottles etc. We didn’t expect it to take a year to find a co-packer who could make small batches of our sauce (about 100 cases at a time). We chose to work with a co-packer simply because available commercial kitchens didn’t have all the facilities to bottle a cooking sauce.

Over the years we’ve had many challenges with this and found that constantly networking and talking to other food businesses was the best way to ultimately connect with the right co-packer.

What’s your favorite way to use the Cascabel Sauce?

The recipe on the jar makes an easy chili con carne and often times we use this to make burritos for a quick and easy meal. For parties and guests we make a great shrimp cocktail that takes just a couple of minutes.

Cascabel Shrimp Cocktail

• 1 jar San Angel Cascabel Sauce
• 2 pounds of cooked shrimp
• 1 diced red onion
• juice from 2 limes
• 1 diced avocado

Mix the ingredients together and serve on a platter and garnish with cilantro leaves and lime wedges. Quick and delicious!

Black Mole Pizza

Black Mole Pizza (aka Mole Negro) is something we came up with for a class we taught. We just wanted to feed everyone who didn’t get a chance to have dinner before class. It turned out so well they wanted the recipe for the pizza!

• Pizza dough
• Cooked chicken breast pieces
• 1 jar San Angel Mole Negro
• Oaxacan cheese or mozzarella
• Cooked fresh or canned corn

Roll out the pizza dough and cover with a layer of black mole. Top with cheese, chicken and corn. Bake 20 minutes or until cheese bubbles.

Tasty Bits of Advice

• Joining NASFT (National Association for the Specialty Food Trade) has been extremely helpful. The association is very active and aware that their members are small and need support.
• Try to find a local food support group or start one. Being able to connect and exchange advice with people in the same situation is great. For example we’re in the LA Fine Foods Group – a local group of manufacturers.

More Info:

• Links about Starting a Food Product Business
• Stephen Hall’s Food Entrepreneurs network
• San Angel Mole store on Foodzie