When she was growing up, Hannah Yee remembers that her mother, Kelly Han, always was having people over for dinner. “She made her barbecue sauces for our meals,” Yee said. “And everyone would tell her, ‘Your sauces are so delicious. You should sell them.’”
While Han was intrigued with the idea of selling her sauces, she didn’t really know where to start.
In 2013, Yee was in graduate school in California and learned about colleges and universities that had incubator programs for small businesses. She put her mother in touch with Foodii, the food innovation institute at Louisiana State University. Han would drive from Atlanta to Baton Rouge for a week at a time and learn about food safety, food handling, making products shelf-stable and getting them into the market.
Soon, the family’s metro Atlanta-based Southern Art Co. was born. The labels indicate the order in which the products first were brought to market. Han’s hot sauce is labeled “No. 1.”
“Then, my aunt, Kristy Han, encouraged Mom to lean into our Korean background and start selling Korean barbecue sauces,” Yee said.
Southern Art worked with Atlanta-based design firm Family Bros. on the branding and packaging, to get a modern feel while referencing the family’s Korean roots.
So, the company started offering Korean barbecue sauces in original and spicy flavors. The barbecue sauces are spicy, sweet and savory, thanks to the use of red pepper flakes, sugar, rice syrup, sesame oil, onion and ginger. The product labels, as well as recipes on the website, suggest they also work well as marinades.
Han began marketing her sauces at trade shows for specialty foods and consumer packaged goods. Yee would help when she could, and she joined the company full time in 2021. At first, they focused their efforts on getting into retail shops, including Alon’s Bakery & Market and Star Provisions. This year, they landed their first large wholesale client, the Fresh Market.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
After Yee joined the company, a line of seasonings was launched. “We have always made seasoning mixes to use at home and realized they could help make weeknight cooking and entertaining easier for customers, too,” she said.
Southern Art product No. 4 was One and Done all-purpose seasoning, a combination of garlic, pepper, salt and parsley flakes. Then came K-Spice, lemon pepper and spicy everything bagel seasonings.
The sauces and seasonings are produced in the family’s Sandy Springs commercial kitchen. “Regular production is Mom, my aunt and me,” Yee said. “Seasonally, we bring in others, but generally it’s just the three of us.”
They’re in production two days a week, with one day devoted to sauces and the other day to seasonings.
The products are sold in stores mostly east of the Mississippi River, but with online sales the family is finding that Texans really seem to love the hot sauce. And many online buyers become repeat customers.
“They want to buy sauces by the case or gallon,” Yee said. “We see them buying six to 12 bottles at a time. They love it so much they share it with their friends and families. We know people who will buy a case together with a friend. It’s so gratifying.”
The family members use Southern Art sauces and seasonings at home, too. The company website features more than a dozen recipes, including air fryer rice with hot and spicy shrimp and game-day Korean nachos. Yee and her husband use the spicy Korean barbecue sauce to marinate seafood, saute vegetables and top rice bowls with tofu.
“My mom wanted to create products people could feel good about serving to the people they love,” she said. “We’re really proud that we use only high-quality ingredients we’re comfortable feeding to our family and friends.”
Southern Art Co. southernartco.com
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