#173 Knockout Punch - Laura Dadap, Djablo Sauce

Meaningful Marketplace Podcast

In episode 171, our hosts reviewed the Winter Fancy Food Show in Las Vegas. They will be attending the Summer Show in New York and so will this show’s guest, Laura Dadap, co-founder of Djablo Sauce. Laura and company will be in the Incubator Alley section and the trip to the show won’t be a long one; Laura was born and raised in Queens. For the genesis of the company, let’s start with the name, Djablo. It is Philippine in origin, and in the region where Laura’s father grew up, the letter “I” is replaced with the letter “j”. The original recipe came from Laura’s father and the letter “j” made the family think of a boxing jab punch, so the hot sauce with a punch made perfect sense. As with any business name or logo, one has to be careful with infringing on trademarks, especially those owned by mega corporations. Laura started quietly to make sure she did not raise the ire of big Taco Bell and their Diablo Sauce, which is sold by the bottle as well as inserted into food orders by the packet. Laura started by doing an Internet search for companies spelling the word using a “j” and saw an opening. Flying under the radar until they had some money to lay a strong legal foundation, she then hired an attorney with a solid background to file the trademark correctly. Laura and our own Sarah Marshall of Marshall’s Haute Sauce share a bond. Both were on season 22 of Hot Ones, the show about hot and spicy foods. And Bobby Flay, the Emmy Award-winning food TV pioneer and acclaimed restaurateur has recommended both Sarah and Laura’s hot sauces. Djablo Sauce is the first locally produced, family owned and operated small batch Filipino hot sauce in the United States. Their zesty ginger and garlic forward sauce packs a punch with round, comforting heat is the answer to the ingredient focused, flavor fanatic searching the shelves of their local grocery shop to make any food more interesting. They officially launched sales in June 2019 with 2 flavors in 2 sizes ranging from $10-20 for those who like a little bit of spice, to those who want a Djab on every bite. They use all natural superfoods like beet and spirulina to keep the colors consistent, and they hand pick all the produce that goes into the sauce. Laura also thinks out of the box, offering recipes to spice up foods you probably had never thought about. See those recipes and shop online at their website: https://djablosauce.com/. Follow them on IG: @djablosauce and TikTok: @djablosauce. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall.