Welcome back to our customer spotlight series and welcome to Steve Rushton from Lazy Scientist, who was kind enough to take the time to answer a few of our questions about his business.
Lazy Scientist is a hot sauce company based in London. Established in Brixton in 2018, it boasts some impressively hot sauces.
The first question that I think everyone will be asking is are you really a Lazy Scientist?
Haha, well I truly am a Scientist. I have a PhD in Chemistry and spent 7 years working as a Synthetic Organic Chemist in a laboratory in Sussex before choosing to change careers and become a Secondary School Science teacher in London and start my own company. I also help out at a local brewery a couple of times a month. The “Lazy” part is more tongue in cheek!
What did you do before you got in to making hot sauces?
I’ve been in to cooking, spicy food and chillies since I was about 15 years old. I think I made my first sauce just before going to uni from some chillies I picked up at the local Tesco and things just carried on from there. When I moved out of the family home I started growing my own too and things just sort of snowballed to where they are now from that.
What makes Lazy Scientist unique?
I like to think that I have some very unique flavours as to me this is more important than everything being about the burn. I also pride myself on using only fresh ingredients purchased from local sellers and UK based growers where possible and have spent a lot of time creating mutually beneficial relationships with some of the finest independent sources there are in the UK.
Where does your passion for ‘melting faces’ with your sauces come from?
I’ve always had a huge passion for cooking for others and sharing food. It all started with an Indian cookery book my mum got me when I was 14. I tried every single recipe in the book. One day I screwed up the amounts big time and made something almost inedible… except to me. It was then that I started looking further afield for hotter chillies and using anyone close by as a guinea pig. Eventually some childhood friends persuaded me to set up a company and find a bigger audience to share my passion with.
I like the cartoons on your labels. Did you draw them? What was the inspiration?
Sadly, I don’t have the skill set to draw the cartoons. They were produced by a guy I used to live with, although the inspiration came from me. They are very his style of artwork though as he was huge fan of cartoons and was always drawing or making short animations.
I see you have a sauce simply called ‘Brixton’ what flavour is Brixton?
Brixton is my homage to the vibrant, local community where Lazy Scientist started. It’s a West African styled creamy, tomato and herb based sauce which has a hefty dose of roasted Scotch Bonnet chillies in. I came up with the recipe as I was trying to emulate the Domino’s Pizza Garlic and Herb Sauce, but with a bit of a kick to use as a crust dip!
What made you decide to choose Sen5es as your bottle supplier?
I actually just came across you on Google and was enticed by your price point and the fact you are a small independent business and felt we should stick together!
Which bottles do you purchase from us and how do they suit your products?
I use both the 150ml Worcestershire sauce bottles and 50ml mini spirit bottles for my sauces. The 150mls are pretty much industry standard and the 50mls are really great for using as sample bottles to send to prospective stockists or new customers who don’t want to commit to a large bottle without trying first. They are also great as gifts and super handy as they fit in a pocket or handbag!
How would you rate us as a supplier? Would you recommend us to others?
10/10 as a supplier. Stuart has impeccable customer service and the way that you package your bottles so they don’t arrive all scratched and scuffed is really important to me as a producer. I tried most of your competitors before finding Sen5es and won’t ever go back. I’ve recommended you to many others in the growing commercial UK chilli community as well as posting in a number of Facebook groups for novice producers. Can’t recommend you enough!
Another awesome chat with another awesome customer. Thank you so much Steve for being part of this series. We love hearing all about our customer's businesses and their successes. If you want to find out more about Steve and the Lazy Scientist hot sauces click here.
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All the best
The team at Sen5es