Founded by Marine veterans George and Claudia Botoulas, PSI Legacy Food makes chef-crafted hot sauces and seasonings under its Day of the Dead Food Products brand. The family-run company draws on more than 40 years of restaurant experience, Claudia’s Mexican heritage, and recipes carried through generations, with a focus on balanced flavor rather than heat alone. Its products bring professional-kitchen technique and family culinary traditions to home cooks and food-service customers.
Minority Business Enterprise (MBE)
Veteran-Owned Business
Vesper Bros. FoodsTwin brothers John and Bill Vesper carry on a family food tradition shaped by their father’s Wayne deli and Southern Italian roots. Vesper Bros. Foods packages the homemade “gravy” they grew up eating, preserving family recipes for home cooks beyond their parents’ store. The company’s signature sauces are made without preservatives or added sugar.WAYNE, PA
Jose Madrid SalsaFrom a Zanesville restaurant kitchen to a growing Ohio food brand, Jose Madrid Salsa makes New Mexico-style salsa shaped by the Zakany family’s Mexican heritage. Mike Zakany developed the recipes through research, experimentation and customer feedback before launching the company in 1987, naming it for his beloved grandfather from Clovis, New Mexico. First sold in gourmet and grocery stores in 1988, the company now offers 25 different salsas, with fruit-forward flavors and heat levels that reflect its willingness to move beyond traditional red salsa.COLUMBUS, OH
First Spice Mixing Company IncFamily-owned and operated since 1940, First Spice Mixing Company makes custom seasoning blends and food ingredients for manufacturers across the food industry. Founded by Felix Epstein after he immigrated to the United States, the company grew from a Lower Manhattan spice business into a three-facility operation with research and development teams at each plant. Its history in sausage and meat seasoning remains part of the company’s identity, alongside technical support for product development and food-safety programs certified to FSSC 22000.LONG ISLAND CITY, NY
Cantina Royal Hot SauceBorn from the Williamsburg Mexican restaurant and bar Cantina Royal, Diana Beshara and Executive Chef Julio MM make inventive hot sauces in Brooklyn using chiles thoughtfully sourced from Mexico. The proudly woman-owned and minority-owned company became a three-season Hot Ones feature, while its Tamaulipeka sauce was named Saveur’s “Best Overall Hot Sauce.”