Kansas City is full of underrated, niche spots and cult small-batch favorites, requested in hushed tones lest someone else snatch the last bottle. H Sauce, Kansas City’s answer to a flavorful hot sauce, might just be the new hot-sauce boss in town. A darling of the local business community, H Sauce and its partner product, Hot Honey, are already stocked in several local restaurants, including Billie’s Grocery and Homegrown.
Maggie and Howard Laubscher praise the local business community for their help again and again, with Maggie saying, “I literally just ask so many questions.” While expansion is on the horizon for the entrepreneurial couple—their sauces are already in some high-end stores across the country—they enjoy the connection of selling directly. Kansas City’s holiday markets and seasonal pop-ups are sure to feature these two fan-favorite hot products.
Take me back to the beginning of H Sauce.
Maggie: We started it almost by accident, just making it for friends one Christmas. After a trip to New Orleans—they have so many different hot sauce shops and tasting rooms there—but we just couldn’t find the flavor we wanted. And Howard said, “I think we can tweak this.” After we gave it to our friends as gifts, they were like, “No, we want to buy this. You have to make more.”
Howard: It was fun. Obviously, hot sauces are red and green, so that’s very Christmas, which is great. And to Maggie’s point, I made 50 bottles, she posted them to a little website, and we sold 80 overnight. So we said, well, maybe we should make more. Maybe someone would put it in their store. And then people did! People started reaching out out of nowhere, just asking for it.
What has the response been from the local community?
M: We’re so thankful for the Kansas City community. I feel like everyone supports everyone. When Billie’s Grocery reached out, we dropped off a sample for them, and I was so intimidated at first and then I was like—oh, they’re amazing. And now we chat with them all the time. They’re so open to giving advice to us, and I feel like all the vendors here are like that.
H: It’s very cool. Or they put it on their menu, like, “We want to use this in a dish.”
M: Yeah. It’s been a very cool community to nurture this idea. It’s really a hot sauce born in a barbecue town.
Have you always been hot-sauce people?
M: Yes! Howard is the hot-sauce person. He’s always been really into hot sauce, but not like a hot-hot sauce.
H: We’re more about flavor, I think. We love condiments.
M: Love a condiment.
H: And with more barbecue-style sauces, it was always about adding things that would add flavor and get rid of heat. You have barbecue sauces that are spicy and flavorful but without heat, you know? And then there are hot sauces that have heat but are a little less flavorful.
What makes H Sauce unique?
H: Most hot sauces are pretty thin, but ours is really thick—much more like a sea of ketchup or barbecue sauce.
M: I’m obsessed with it being fermented; we include fermented peppers in it. I like condiments like mild sauces. Howard played around with that and then I mixed it with honey just personally at our house on a cheese board—I was really into that. And he made me a recipe with that, so now we have a hot honey!
H: People come up to us for the Hot Honey all the time, actually. They like it a lot because hot honey is pretty trendy. There’s not a lot of it out still and ours is quite a bit different. Some people just put spices and honey together, and ours is actually additional flavor.
What have been some of the most fun parts of the H Sauce journey?
M: There are lots of fun stories along the way. A couple of weeks ago, we got a call from a woman who travels through Kansas City often. She tried the Hot Honey at the airport and asked, “Is there any way I can like buy it locally for pickup? I’d love a case if possible.” She just wanted to give it out to her friends. It’s very cute and fun, connecting with fellow foodies.
H: The whole idea of barbecue teams having used this as their secret sauce in their sauce, that’s fun. And we just did a wedding party giving out the sauce as gifts, like 300 mini bottles. They were just obsessed with it, which is always nice to see.
Any recommendations on how to use H Sauce or Hot Honey?
H: I would say if people try it on eggs, they’re probably lifelong fans. Once you try the sauce on that, they’ll never taste the same.
M: Yes. And the hot honey on pizza—put it on Waldo pizza with soft cheeses, like goat or cream cheese in a pinch. But I’ll also just do goat cheese, pour the Hot Honey over it and eat it with crackers. It’s so good. It’s really creamy. And I also love it with fried chicken, just at home.
H: She mixed it with ranch; she loves it.
M: I mixed the H Sauce with ranch like a true Midwesterner. So embarrassing—but it’s really good!
This interview was lightly edited for clarity.