For years, Tyler Baumann toyed with the idea of launching his own hot sauce brand. The barriers seemed too high until he discovered Minnesota’s cottage food law, making it possible to start his full-fledged hot sauce business from home.
A passionate birder and wildlife photographer with a love for gardening and cooking, Tyler weaves his admiration for nature into the brand identity. The name of his business, Red Eye Hot Sauce, pays homage both to the heat of hot sauce and to Minnesota’s state bird, the common loon.
Safely bottling hot sauces
With a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science, Policy and Management and a Master of Science degree in Land and Atmospheric Science from the University of Minnesota, Baumann brings a scientific mindset to food safety.
Each sauce is carefully tested to ensure a pH below 4.0 — his are typically 3.01 to 3.5 — which ensures compliance with safety standards for hot-fill bottling.
Baumann uses a calibrated pH meter, keeps detailed batch records, and even sanitizes every bottle with Star San, a food-safe, no-rinse acid sanitizer solution popular among home brewers.
Did you know?
Ingredients for cottage food products can be sourced from grocery stores, farmers markets and even your backyard.
Wild harvesting is also allowed, as long as you follow all state laws and obtain any required permits.
Flavor by local design
Many of the peppers used in Red Eye sauces are grown right in Tyler’s backyard garden, where he enjoys cultivating and testing different varieties each season. To meet growing demand, he also sources fresh, seasonal produce from local farmers markets, ensuring that every batch is packed with high-quality, locally rooted ingredients.
Every Red Eye Hot Sauce variety is intentionally crafted with a distinct flavor profile, developed through hands-on, trial-and-error testing with friends and family.
Tyler’s favorite creation, the Spicy Miso, was designed specifically to enhance ramen and other Asian-styled dishes, embodying his goal to create sauces with a clear purpose: bold, original flavors that level up foods and can’t be found anywhere else. For more experimental flavors, Tyler launched the Laser Loon Series, which features specially labeled, limited-edition small batches that highlight homegrown ingredients and creative flavors, like Pickle Bawlin’, a sauce infused with homemade pickles.
Looking beyond the home kitchen
As Red Eye Hot Sauce continues to grow, Tyler is setting his sights on becoming a licensed food handler, an essential next step toward expanding into local restaurants, vegan cafes, and independent grocery stores across Minnesota.
Minnesota’s Cottage Food Law made it possible for him to take that crucial first step, allowing him to start small, build his brand, and refine his products. However, as he transitions into a licensed food handler, Tyler will no longer be able to produce his sauces out of his home. Instead, he must prepare, package and hold them in an approved facility.
Advice for cottage food producers
Tyler’s advice is to just start. Don’t wait to perfect everything; experience is the best teacher. He recommends prepping your brand assets early, like the logo, website and photos, to be ahead of the curve when things get busy. Then once customers come, you can focus on making products to meet their demand.
He also recommends researching vendor opportunities early, and following local market and event pages, venues, and other local makers on social media to catch calls for vendors. Once you participate in an event, you’re often added to email lists for future events.
Interested in selling cottage food?
Minnesota allows individuals to make up to $78,000 in gross annual sales, making and selling certain non-potentially hazardous food and canned goods. Extension offers training and resources on how to prepare cottage foods safely.
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