For Cody and Rebecca Gilmore, Salsa Sanchez LLC is the realization of a longtime dream — but also a labor of love.
The couple sells their salsa at St. Philip’s Plaza Market, 4280 N. Campbell Avenue from 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays and Sundays.
They hope to soon sell their brand of salsa at local golf courses and bars. A brick-and-mortar store is in the offing.
“That’s more the route we are going is longevity as opposed to weekend warriors,” Cody said.
Recently, Salsa Sanchez won a people’s choice award for salsa at the Backyard Eatz Salsa and Guacamole Madness event.
Using her maiden name, “Sanchez,” Rebecca wanted to honor her family, whose recipe she used for the salsa.
“Because it is traditionally how my family does it, I think it would be not paying homage to where it’s due if I didn’t incorporate the Sanchez name into it. It really is the root of loving salsa, being raised with it and being indirectly shown how to do it,” Rebecca said.
Rebecca’s family enjoyed salsa during family gatherings and dinners. It was omnipresent.
“It could be Christmas, New Year’s, Tuesday, there was always salsa,” Rebecca said. “There still is. My grandma, still, if you go to see her at any point in the week, there’s salsa.”
The couple obtained their business license last July and started selling at the local farmers market in November.
Salsa Sanchez grew quicker than they expected, and it took them some time to adjust.
“I would probably say for at least two months, we doubled and tripled our business every weekend,” Cody said.
“We’re just now hitting our stride. We’re now at a normal pace. I know what to make every weekend, what to expect. We were having to go to the farmers market, come back and make more Saturday night to bring back for Sunday.”
Rebecca said others encouraged her for years to start her own salsa business. Cody’s business background complements her culinary skills. He previously managed nightclubs and worked in finance and insurance jobs.
“My wife has been told by everybody who has tried the salsa that she needs to sell it,” Cody said.
“She’s been told that for 20 years, and then, I come from an entrepreneurial background. Lineage-wise, my great-grandfather was one of the founding two members of the Tucson Conquistadores, which is a huge charitable organization. That was my grandma’s dad…. And my grandpa owned a sheet-metal business. My dad owns an air-conditioning company. Now, me and my wife own this salsa company. I’ve seen all of them do it and work for themselves. The way my family was brought up, it was awesome having everybody be able to be at everything.”
When the couple collected enough money, they took the leap.
They sell one type of salsa in medium and hot varieties. Cody said it is authentic salsa — or made with tomatoes.
“It’s a blended tomato sauce. Not that many people do it. Me and my wife work every weekend, and we are always talking to our customers. We’ve gotten people that are native to Mexico, who’ve come up and said, ‘This is my family’s salsa. This is like how we make it,’” Cody said.
He described the medium salsa as having a “kick,” similar to a restaurant’s “hot.”
“It’s not an uncomfortable heat, but it’s enough where you have to either keep eating it or stop and get some water. It’s not going to burn your mouth. It’s just got good flavor, and that’s what most people tell us,” Cody said.
Cody said guidelines say tomato-based salsa must be prepared in a commercial kitchen.
Cody and Rebecca struggled to adapt the recipe and spice mixture for production.
“It took a while to get the recipe down because we had to go off of sprinkling stuff onto plates and measuring it out because nobody ever measures anything,” Cody said.
“It took at least a month to get the salsa to where we were able to write down the recipe. That was a lot of tweaking. We ate a lot of salsa, and our families ate a lot of salsa.”
Rebecca said salsa is nostalgic to her, as it’s been passed down in her family.
“My dad had a lot of brothers and one sister,” Rebecca said.
“The boys tended to be around their mom more. He would watch her make it. Me and my dad are really close. He started making it at home with me.”
Cody and Rebecca have five kids. The business allows Cody a flexible schedule so he can stay at home with the kids. Rebecca works a full-time job in the mobile ultrasound industry.
Getting ready for weekend farmers markets adds to their already busy schedules.
“We do anywhere from 6 to 10 gallons on either Thursday or Friday night. It’s just me and my wife. So, we’ve got my wife on the blender mixing all the stuff, and I’m typically sanitizing and cleaning as we go,” Cody said.
“I’m the one tubbing the salsa, and she’s putting stickers on, and then we’re putting expiration dates on them and stacking everything up. We’ve gotten it down to somewhat of an assembly line, but just running it with me and her is getting cumbersome. We sell 10-ounce tubs of salsa,” Cody said.
Two of the couple’s children are involved in the business. Their 11-year-old son helps with sales and shares information about the product. Their 8-year-old daughter assists with taste testing.
Cody hopes that through their business, they impart values to their children that will stick with them throughout their lives.
“They’ll see my wife’s hard work and dedication over the last 20 years with the recipe, and they’ll see the perfectionist that comes out during the actual crafting and what it takes to build the recipe and the process,” Cody said.
“On my end, they will see the business side of it, how to submit this paperwork, how to deal with local people, how to deal with your health inspectors and how to scale the business. They see how to build a solid foundation from my wife, and they see the growth aspect from me.”
