Springfield Trading Co. set to open hot sauce shop

May 9 is the planned grand opening for the first brick-and-mortar shop for Springfield Trading Co., which produces small-batch hot sauces and seasonings.

Owner Anthony Brent said the 1,600-square-foot shop in the Executive Office Center at 225 E. Sunshine St., Ste. 102, will double as a new headquarters for the company he launched in 2022. The venture’s previous office space was at 1920 E. Meadowmere St., Stes. 8A-8B.

“With the new office space, it has a pretty large reception area out front,” he said, noting the company has doubled this year to a staff of four. “We don’t need a reception area and we thought it would be really cool to just carry our products.”

The shop will sell all 11 of the company’s hot sauces and its two dry seasonings, as well as branded merchandise and other local products, such as rubs and seasonings from J.B.’s Gourmet Spice Blends and coffee from Roast of the Week LLC.

“There’s a sample station so you can try every product in here,” Brent said of its hot sauces. “Some of them you won’t be able to get online. You can only get them here in the shop.”

Relocation and renovation costs were roughly $15,000, he said, declining to disclose lease terms.

Brent started Springfield Trading Co. two years ago, turning his hobby into a business venture. The first hot sauces were sold at Farmers Market of the Ozarks and have since expanded to local and national retail locations, such as Bass Pro Shops and Prospect Butcher Co. in Brooklyn, New York, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting. Company revenue in 2023 – its first full year in business – was $179,000.

He said Springfield Trading Co. products are now in 17 states, including Idaho, where the company recently expanded distribution to five gas stations operated by Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX).

“We’re doing a beta run out there. Once we figure out how well we do in the market out there, we should be going in somewhere between 250-500 Chevron locations on the West Coast,” Brent said.

Locally, the company is available at retailers including The Restaurant Marketplace, a brick-and-mortar store for restaurant owners and operators, as well as the public, along with Maschino’s, Horrmann Meats, Outdoor Home in Nixa, Park Central Market and several locations of Brown Derby.