Knox Your Socks Off

Knox Your Socks Off started as a pandemic project to keep me busy and has grown into a full-time entrepreneurial journey I never could have imagined.

Before starting KYSO, I spent years working in the oil and gas industry in a variety of roles, including land surveying, trucking, wireline, and crane operating. The work often meant spending a lot of time away from home and family, and I was ready for a change. I never set out with a dream of owning my own business. It all started during the COVID lockdowns, when slow days at work gave me the opportunity to experiment in the kitchen and start making my own hot sauces.

I began sharing samples with friends, family, and coworkers, and the response was incredible. People were telling me it was the best hot sauce they had ever tried, so I decided to take a chance and bring my sauces to local farmers' markets. The public response was just as positive, which encouraged me to keep going. I even entered a couple of sauces in an international hot sauce competition in California, where one of them took first place in its division. That win gave me a huge boost of confidence and helped confirm that I was onto something.

From there, KYSO continued to grow as a side hustle. I packed in as many farmers' markets, night markets, and special events as I could, while also building online sales and wholesale relationships with local retailers. Eventually, balancing a demanding job with a growing hot sauce business became exhausting, and I had a decision to make: step away from the sauce or take a chance and give it my full attention.

I decided to bet on myself and go all-in on hot sauce!

Three years into running KYSO full-time, I'm incredibly happy I took that leap. Today, Knox Your Socks Off supplies around a dozen retail stores, ships orders across Canada, sells at markets and festivals throughout the year, and supplies several local restaurants. What began as a little kitchen experiment has grown into a business far beyond anything I imagined when I first started. I'm grateful to be doing what I love, building something of my own, and excited to see where the journey takes us next.