Keeping salsa local

When Duane Thompson pulled on his jersey for a big Virginia State University football game in the fall of 1991, he had no inkling that the day's events would lead him to rewrite his personal game plan.

Seventeen years later, sitting in front of his salsa store at the Five Points Community Farm Market in Norfolk, Thompson, now 34 and a resident of Hampton, vividly recalls that day.

He had to report to the stadium early, which left no time to visit with his family beforehand. He knew that his grandmother, Alma Echoles, would be bringing him a grocery bag of produce from her Newport News garden, like she always did on game days. He asked her to please leave the tomatoes, bell peppers, herbs and such in his dorm room.

The Trojans got trounced that day. The post-game rant and review of films persisted until 8 p.m. Thompson left empty and exhausted. The dining hall was closed. The nearby Hungry Trojan eatery was open, but he wasn't going there.

"The Hungry Trojan wasn't cutting it," Thompson said. "I didn't like the food; it didn't agree with me."

Diving into his grandma's produce - plus the fresh roast beef he'd left in the fridge - would be the highlight of this day. But when Thompson reached his dorm room, he found a dozen of his friends hanging out, watching television, having a good old time. He opened the fridge.

"Y'all ate my food?" he exploded. "That was my food!"

Thompson banished them all and tried to make dinner with what food was left. He boiled onion, celery and tomato on his hot plate and scooped it up with a bag of corn chips - a prehistoric version of the award-winning salsa he sells today.

"It wasn't the best-tasting stuff in the world, but I didn't get sick, and the next day, I felt sustained."

Perfect salsa became a mission. "I became almost infatuated with it," he said.

Thompson tried all the brands he could find, studying the ingredients. He noted that tomato was the base for most every salsa on the market. He also noted that the acid from the tomatoes gave him heartburn.

By his junior year, Thompson was making his own salsa. After a while, he hit upon the idea of a roasted red pepper base, which alleviated the heartburn. He made batches of it, adhering to the idea of "sustainable agriculture" by using local ingredients whenever possible, and kept it around as a condiment.

A few years after graduating, Thompson mentioned his "sustainable" salsa to a deli owner in a retail complex he was managing in Maryland. The deli's supply quickly sold out. He made some for holiday gifts for his family, prettying up the jars with seasonal paper and bows. They loved it.

His mother, Pat Thompson of Hampton, began gifting salsa to friends. They craved more. Soon she was selling it out of the trunk of her car.

By 2000, the demand "was out of control," Thompson said. When he wasn't working, he was standing over the food processor in his kitchen making salsa.

So Thompson quit making salsa altogether.

Instead, he spent his spare time studying how to bring a product from the kitchen to the market, and how to do it using local, wholesome ingredients. In 2002, he started interviewing co-packers, companies who could make and package his product to his - and the FDA's - specifications. On trips to Mexico and Trinidad, he learned the word "sabrosa." That's Spanish for "tasty" or "delicious." In 2006, he incorporated Sabrosa Foods and now makes roasted red pepper salsa both mild and hot at a co-packing plant in the Pungo section of Virginia Beach.

It works like this: Thompson brings produce he procures from local farmers to the plant, and they whirl it up and package it.

Farm Fresh began stocking Sabrosa, and so did Ukrop's, a grocery chain with stores from Williamsburg to Richmond. It costs about $6.50 for a 12-ounce jar.

Since then, he's been scooping up the spotlight - stories in regional magazines, a chat with Donnie Deutsch, host of

CNBC's show about Americans following their business dreams, a spot on MSNBC's "Elevator Pitch," and a bit with Adrien Sharp, a former contestant on "The Next Food Network Star."

But his biggest bump in sales came after winning Best New Food Product in this spring's Virginia Food and Beverage Expo sponsored by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

The salsa is selling, but he's not a sultan yet. "It's hard making ends meet, especially in this economic climate."

Thompson continues to honor his "local, local, local" philosophy. That extends to his work with Biz4Kids, a company that provides education through entrepreneurship. As part of the program, Thompson will purchase a crop of cilantro grown by Norview High School students in Norfolk and use it in his summer batch of salsas.

Eventually, he'd like to expand Sabrosa nationwide but still have it made in small batches using local ingredients wherever it is sold.

"Let's keep the focus on what we grow right here in this country," he said.

Lorraine Eaton, (757) 446-2697, lorraine.eaton@pilotonline.com