Jae Lee and Jason Rom spend their days as software engineers, but in their downtime, they have two passions: jiu-jitsu and making and selling hot sauces and chili oils.
The pair run Tapped Sauces out of their homes in Satellite Beach. The name comes from jiu-jitsu, where the goal is to get your opponent to submit or tap out.
“We wanted people to get tapped out,” Lee said. Not on the spice, but on the flavor.”
The jiu-jitsu team also comes into the naming of the individual sauces.
“So we got bow and arrow, which is a kind of choke, d’arce is a kind of choke, kimura is an arm lock, armbar is another arm lock, too,” Rom said.
The pair met at Accent Technologies, the software company where they work in Melbourne.
“One day, (Rom) wanted to go to the gym, and he was gonna go with someone else and his buddy at the time canceled,” Lee said. “So I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll take you,’ because I loved working out and he ended up going with me. Then we started hanging out a lot and we hung out a couple of times before, but like when you go to the gym with someone, you really get to know them.”
The pair started hanging out more often, having cookouts after sessions at the gym. Lee had already been making hot sauces for some time on his own, and started sharing them with Rom.
“We made this dish called mapo tofu which is a Chinese Sichuan dish — it’s like tofu with some protein and it requires Sichuan pepper oil,” Lee said. “So I was like, ‘Jason, can you like pick that up from the Asian grocery store?’ Because you can’t really find that at Publix? So he’s like, ‘No, I’m gonna make it.’
“COVID got me to cook,” Rom said. “I was wanting to try different things and one of the things that I wanted to try was chili oil.”
The experiment was a success, but the duo decided to refine the product. After sharing it with friends and seeing their reactions, the pair decided to take their project and turn it into a business.
“It’s nothing like (our friends have) tried before,” Rom said. “So that convinced me to actually join a business with (Lee.)”
Currently, Rom and Lee have two hot sauces and two chili oils in their line-up, all of which can be found in their online shop.
“This was something that we could do and design and have fun with it,” Lee said.
“For me, I just fell in love with the process of like, starting my own business,” Rom said.
The pair are hoping to grow Tapped further.
“We’re trying to figure out different paths in order to grow this thing because we want this to be like a household Asian item,” Lee said.
“We want to turn this more into like a lifestyle or like a food brand, almost, expanding to different kinds of products — like energy drinks or healthy snacks, things like that.” Rom said.
On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Rom and Lee talk about what goes into making their chili oils and sauces. They also talk more about their love of jiu-jitsu and what their families think about their sauces.
Please follow our Florida Foodie hosts on social media. You can find Candace Campos on Twitter and Facebook. Lisa Bell is also on Facebook and Twitter and you can check out her children’s book, “Norman the Watchful Gnome.”
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Orange Blossom Candies & Cream embraces small-town charm
Willie’s Bar-B-Que brings people from all over to a small Florida town
Top Hat Catering helps feed thousands of seniors
The Fry Shoppe is a passion project decades in the making
Ghost Kitchen Orlando thrived during the pandemic and it's getting ready to expand
Hollerbach’s German Restaurant is a transformational force in Sanford
Plate Above Catering helps keep Second Harvest’s Culinary Training program free for students
La Maison Du Macaron brings a taste of Paris to Florida
Pine & Oak Tavern offers delicious food with a side of history
Central Florida roasters Barnie’s Coffee still going strong after 43 years
Big Taco aims to build a new Tex-Mex empire
Build My Burgers is ready to franchise, expand
Couple behind Zymarium Meadery sees success with brick-and-mortar location in Orlando
Central Florida woman went from stay-at-home mom to working cook, running her own cottage bakery
Love of anime inspires family-run Florida restaurant chain Soupa Saiyan
Crooked Can Brewing remains focused on Central Florida as it readies for big expansion
Pizza hobby becomes nostalgic business for SoDough Square’s owner
Owner of Dancing Empanada ready to sell business he started out of trunk of his car
Husband, wife behind Pho Wheels dish out Asian street food all across Central Florida
Owner of Winter Park’s Hen & Hog battles serious health issues while keeping his business open
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Into Thin Air
The Best Advice Show
Mismatch
Frankenstein
Black Beauty
The Eyes of Texas
Florida’s Fourth Estate