As a younger teen, Drew Davis bought actually into scorching sauce.
Davis, who has cerebral palsy, weighed 300 kilos at age 14, and medical doctors mentioned he’d be bedridden by 18 if he did not make a serious lifestyle change. The low-calorie condiment, together with different dietary changes, helped him lose 150 kilos over the course of the yr.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Crippling Scorching Sauce. Drew Davis.
The next yr, Davis needed to end a college task — and his scorching sauce passion got here into play once more. ”It was two days earlier than it was due,” Davis tells Entrepreneur, “so I seemed down, and I am like, Huh, I like making enjoyable of myself, and I like scorching sauce. Let’s do Crippling Scorching Sauce.“
Davis’s business idea was about rather more than the product itself, although: On a mission to encourage and help the disabled group, Davis dedicated to donating 5% of all gross sales to cerebral palsy analysis.
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Davis wrote up his business plan and offered it, satisfied that he’d obtain 100% on the task. However he bought an 82%, or a B-. When he requested his trainer why, he was instructed it was a “good concept” — however “unrealistic.” As an alternative of letting the suggestions deter him, Davis simply used it as motivation.
Utilizing $3,000 he’d saved up, Davis launched Crippling Hot Sauce in 2023 out of his dad and mom’ kitchen in small-town Missouri. He was 18 years previous.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Crippling Scorching Sauce
“We’re on a mission to point out that regardless of your scenario, something is feasible.”
Two years later, the model has bought greater than 500,000 bottles, generated $2 million in 2024 and is on observe for $5 million in 2025. It is obtainable in over 500 retail shops and has additionally gone viral on social media, racking up tens of thousands and thousands of views — all whereas staying true to its unique mission and donating 5% of its income to cerebral palsy analysis.
“We’re on a mission to point out that regardless of your scenario, something is feasible,” Davis says. “[We’re] rewriting folks’s perceptions across the disabled group by humor and breaking down stereotypes.”
Nevertheless, like all young entrepreneurs, Davis needed to cope with some ups and downs on his journey to success.
Davis put his preliminary $3,000 funding to good use. The cash funded a trademark, well being allow and competition charges. A Google search helped him discover a scorching sauce base recipe, which he tweaked to make his personal flavors.
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“Our humor is how we get by a number of issues in life.”
Leaning into his unique imaginative and prescient for daring, humorous branding, Davis first launched Only for the Parking (Delicate), Limping (Medium) and Crippling Agony (Scorching). Now, the model boasts three extra flavors: Life’s a Seaside (Delicate), Particular Therapy (Medium) and Ghost Pepper Palsy (Hotter).
“Rising up, the No. 1 factor all my buddies that had disabilities and I had in widespread was our humor,” Davis says. “[But for people who] aren’t locally, it was at all times this factor that you simply could not joke about as a result of they did not wish to harm any person’s emotions. We’d like folks to know that we do not have to be babied. The disabled group makes jokes similar to you. Our humor is how we get by a number of issues in life.”
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Crippling Scorching Sauce
At launch, Crippling Scorching Sauce bought out to household and buddies inside 35 minutes, and Davis was “hooked.” He made one other batch the subsequent week and landed his first industrial shopper, a neighborhood butcher store.
Davis notes that growing a brand requires a number of “boots on the bottom” efforts. Thankfully, he employed his greatest buddy from third grade to assist him in that facet. Though Davis says not with the ability to do the bodily work was difficult at instances, he by no means let it cease his enterprise’s progress. Crippling Scorching Sauce constructed on its momentum at festivals to get into its first large regional grocery retailer.
Earned media and social media have additionally been recreation changers for the younger model, Davis says. The model’s story took off on TikTok organically — a serious advertising push that required zero capital. The large attain has helped thousands and thousands of individuals join with the model and its mission, solidifying Crippling Scorching Sauce’s seven-figure standing.
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Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Crippling Scorching Sauce
“Life is brief, and when your time is up, you do not wish to have any regrets.”
As Davis appears to the way forward for Crippling Scorching Sauce, he is excited to see how rising his platform continues to foster new connections and amplify inspiring tales throughout the disabled group.
“ I need my platform to be a spot the place folks can get impressed and motivated and never down about their scenario,” Davis says. “It may be straightforward for that to occur regardless of in case you are previous, younger, regardless of your race. [Hopefully] having a teenager that’s disabled have [this] platform will resonate with underdogs.”
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For different young entrepreneurs who wish to chase large goals and begin companies of their very own, Davis has some succinct however indispensable recommendation: “Simply exit and do it.”
”Whenever you’re younger is the time to take all the danger on the earth,” Davis says. “I began with $3,000. You may do it with $100. You’ve gotten a means higher likelihood with going on the market and attempting to realize your goals than simply sitting on the sidelines and hoping your goals come to you. Life is brief, and when your time is up, you do not wish to have any regrets.”
This text is a part of our ongoing Younger Entrepreneur® collection highlighting the tales, challenges and triumphs of being a younger enterprise proprietor.
