Bellingham — A local Bellingham hot sauce company has been named the grand world champion of the New York City Hot Sauce Expo and is the first company from the Pacific Northwest to rank so highly.
Funky’s Hot Sauce Factory was not only named the 2022 Grand World Champion, but also won the first-place Screaming Mi Mi award with its Carolina Reaper hot sauce. The competition had 400 entrants, according to a news release from Matthew Mini, the owner of Funky’s Hot Sauce Factory.
Mini started the family-run hot sauce business in 2019 after years of growing peppers and making homemade hot sauce. Mini moved from Northern California to Bellingham and then started Funky’s Hot Sauce Factory, using his homegrown peppers to test new sauce flavors.
There are eight various hot sauces, all gluten-free, 100 percent vegan, non-GMO, and mostly organic. The hot sauces are also made with local ingredients when they are available, such as apple cider vinegar from Bellingham and Carolina Reapers from Burlington.
Funky’s hot sauces can be purchased online for $10-12 a bottle on the company’s website with $5 flat rate shipping on all orders. Funky’s Hot Sauce Factory is also on Instagram and Facebook.
