If there is one thing local business owner Jimmy Kelley knows, it’s hot sauce.
As president of Savannah-based Mo Hotta Mo Betta, he understands that concocting a well-received hot sauce is as much of an art as it is a science.
“We are in the mindset that a lot of people can just come up with a hot sauce that can just burn the fire out of your mouth,” he said. “But our stuff is really built on flavor and then heat. We are really focused on the flavor side of it, not just the heat side. Heat is important to us for sure, but we want people to enjoy the experience and not just remember the pain from the experience.”
In fact, Kelley and his staff’s devotion to quality and customer service made Mo Hotta Mo Betta a perfect candidate for C3 entertainment to allow the company to launch a new line of Three Stooges-themed sauces, said Ani Khachoian, C3 executive vice president of Licensing and Consumer Products.
Mo Hotta Mo Betta’s staff is working to perfect unique recipes influenced by each of The Three Stooges. The product line, which is scheduled to launch mid June, will include “Curly’s Knockout,” “Larry’s Lightning” and “Moe Hotta” packaged in a 5-ounce bottle, with each character’s black-and-white mug affixed to the label.
“It just kind of fits hand-in-hand with what we are doing — the kind of zany funny side of (The Stooges),” Kelley said. A lot of the sauces we carry are off the wall.”
Kelley said The Three Stooges have a certain appeal that has stood the test of time and the license will allow his company to reach a market segment not only composed of hot sauce enthusiasts but fans of the comedy trio as well.
“Curly has always been the funniest one to me,” he said. “What is so great is I can still sit down and watch The Three Stooges with my son. It’s black-and-white and compared to all the stuff that is going on now — all the different cartoons and stuff — he still thinks it’s absolutely hilarious, which is great. It’s 60 years old, and it’s still relevant to kids and people today.”
Mo Hotta Mo Betta has championed the hot sauce industry since 1989. In addition to the line of hot sauces, the Internet-based company internationally distributes spicy snacks and barbecue and hot sauces by makers from around the globe.
Kelley said his company also plans to bottle The Three Stooges barbecue sauce in the near future and continue developing new versions of their signature brand.
“We are working on some new products for Mo Hotta,” he said “But it takes us a while to bang out something new because we are so particular about the ingredients being natural and different.”