Rye Lane Hot Sauce is a new brand combining unique flavours to create a tongue-tingling product. And it’s all made at New Covent Garden Market in the shared kitchen facilities of Mission Kitchen

Creating the best hot sauce using the freshest ingredients, that’s the aim of Manchester-born Greg Mather. Now a proud resident of Peckham in south London, Greg’s followed his foodie dream to start his own business.

Plenty of flavours… not just heat

“The idea came to me in 2023, and I started small by making batches of sauce from the tiny kitchen in my Peckham flat,” says Greg, whose first goal was to create a delicious hot red sauce to use himself, with plenty of flavours, not just heat. “I began adding a lot of South Asian ingredients that I sourced from a local supplier in Peckham and that was how I changed the flavour profile. Adding the scotch bonnet chilli peppers offered a great combination of both flavour and heat.”

Making sauces in my flat’s kitchen had its challenges

“I had a full year of making sauces from home in small quantities to sell to local delis in south London, but that had its challenges,” admits Greg. A batch back then was around 100 bottles, whereas thanks to the state-of-the-art units at Mission Kitchen member Greg is producing 500 bottles each week. “Often I’m so into it,” admits Greg, “that I’ll forget to take a break and power through until we’re finished. My ingredients include lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, fresh herbs, and special spices, with a typical eight-hour production shift split roughly 50:50 on making the sauces then bottling them.”

Sourcing key ingredients

The bulk of Greg’s ingredients - mangoes, tomatoes, onions, garlic amongst other key flavours – are delivered directly from independent wholesalers, ready for him to start production at Mission Kitchen. “The problem I’ve had in the past – and still have to a certain extent – is that I’m buying smaller quantities, infrequently, which doesn’t match the profile that many wholesalers are looking for. As my business grows, I’m keen to source as many fresh ingredients as I can directly from wholesalers here at New Covent Garden.”

Peckham is my home – hence the name

“The company name came from the fact Greg made Peckham his adopted home and he purchases his chilli peppers from Rye Lane Market, around the corner from his flat. He says: “I’ve lived in Peckham for five years now and love the combination of produce you can buy, reflecting the neighbourhood’s diversity. There’s a big Caribbean and West African influence across the local restaurants and markets, alongside a Middle Eastern influence.”

It was thanks to a local shop called Khan’s Bargains that Greg discovered an amazing choice of herbs and spices. After tasting Pickle Masala for the first time – and loving it – Greg incorporated a combination of Caribbean, African and Middle Eastern flavours into his sauces to give them all unique flavours.

Right combination of flavour and packaging

After conducting research, Greg quickly realised marinades have a short expiration date, whereas hot-sauce products have a longer shelf life. “I also discovered there’s a massive social scene that has formed around hot sauces, with plenty of festivals and events that would allow me to promote the product,” says Greg.

“Although there were lots of established brands that I’d be potentially be competing with, I knew that with the right combination of flavour profile and brand packaging I’d stand out from the crowd.”

After first creating a classic red sauce, Greg opted for a Salsa Verde as his next creation, with the trademark hot twist. “You could purchase fresh Salsa Verde but it had a really short shelf life as a condiment,” he says, adding: “I blended together a lot of fresh ingredients to create my Salsa Verde, which quickly proved a hit. It has the consistency of a sauce and can be used as a cooking ingredient or as a dip. It’s the amount of fresh produce I use that gives it that perfect garlic, spicy flavour. You can use it across your cooking as it’s so versatile and lasts a long time.”

Beer-based hot sauce proves a fruity idea

Greg’s latest creation is called ‘Topple Sauce’ - a partnership with local Gypsy Hill Brewery - which has proved very popular. “I met the team from the Brewery at a hot sauce festival held in Peckham, that brings together like-minded people,” says Greg. “It’s one of the largest festivals in this part of south London and regularly attracts a big crowd. The brewery already supported the festival and as I loved what they were doing, I reached out about a collaboration. The Gypsy Hill team was keen to work together from the offset and suggested a mango-based beer that they thought would be a perfect base for a hot sauce, as it has lots of natural flavour.

"I’d seen other mango-based sauces before, but our creation really stands out from the crowd," Greg says. "It has complex flavours of malt and barley, but with added heat and sweetness. As a summer special, we’ve experimented with smaller quantities. At the minute, I’ve got enough beer to create one final batch.”

Swapping prison for passion

Surprisingly, Rye Lane Hot Sauce is a side hustle for Greg, alongside his main career working in the justice system. “My first role after leaving university with a psychology degree was at HMP Pentonville – a big male prison in north London – and now I’m part of the strategy team working at the Ministry of Justice on Whitehall. They’ve been very supportive of me and I’m just about to take a career break in July, so I’ll be able to give all my time to the Hot Sauce project.”

Greg admits that while working at Pentonville was really interesting work, the desire to create his own business was always there. “While I was studying I’d worked in bars, coffee shops and restaurants. I started out making marinade for chicken, at first just for myself when I was hosting a barbecue, and then for friends and family who gave me great feedback as everyone loved the combination of flavours. I started making up small batches in my kitchen to share with friends and that was what gave me to idea to see if there was a wider market.”

Giving back to the community

Rye Lane Hot Sauce donates 5% of profits to food redistribution charity Food Cycle, (also based at Mission Kitchen). “The tie-in with Food Cycle was a total coincidence, as I didn’t realise their head office was at the Market. They’re a fantastic charity and have a branch in Peckham that does so much for the local community.

We donate surplus produce and they distribute it across the country. Being involved with Food Cycle and giving back to the community in which we trade is important. We want to lay the foundations for when the business grows,” says Greg.

Helping prisoners through food

With his justice system background, Greg’s sure there are more opportunities to combine his two areas of expertise. “There’s a charity based at Brixton Prison called ‘The Clink’, which is a fully functioning restaurant run by the inmates where the general public can go to eat,” says Greg. “It’s a fantastic initiative, training people to become chefs and also gain front-of-house skills so that when they’re released they can enter the catering trade. I really care about social issues and – because of my background – I want to help prisoners with their rehabilitations and outcomes once they are released.

"As a society, we need get better at reinforcing the message that people who go to prison will eventually be released back into their communities. Would people rather they come out as a good neighbour or a bad one? Anything that I can do to support this in the future would be amazing.”

Seasonal specials

Going forward, Greg says he’d love to continue producing seasonal specials, in limited numbers, based on what’s in season and what works well with the other ingredients. “I’d like to continue collaborating with local small to medium enterprise (SME) businesses, so that we can help each other build our respective brands and relationships.”

After that, Greg’s next goal is to expand the reach of his products via independent delicatessens across the country.

“At this stage we’re not seeking to work with a wholesaler as that would see our margins decrease and we’d have to rely on volume sales. Rye Lane Hot Sauce is already stocked in independent deli Panzer’s in St. John’s Wood and I’m keen to continue expanding our reach. For now, we’re going to concentrate on building up the business and work with a series of independent retailers. If anyone reading this would like to stock our product, please get in touch.”

Hot facts

Rye Lane Hot Sauce – owned by Greg Mather

• Four sauces made at New Covent Garden Market with ingredients sourced from Peckham’s Rye Lane.
• A traditional red-hot sauce, using a multitude of south Asian spices paired with scotch bonnet chilli peppers;
• A Salsa Verde sauce, using a selection of fresh herbs paired (again) with scotch bonnet chilli peppers to give it a kick;
• A romesco sauce, based on an authentic Spanish recipe – traditional flavours but with an added spicy kick from (you guessed it) Scotch Bonnet chilli peppers;
• A seasonal creation, made in smaller batches using ingredients at the peak of their flavour profile. ‘Toppler’ hot sauce is made in conjunction with the local Gipsy Hill Brewery, which supplies its mango-based Toppler beer as a key ingredient.