The branding will pay homage to the legendary hot sauce brand with limited-edition 50th anniversary emblemed signature packaging and will be available to buy in all major supermarket groups and convenience stores.
The hot sauce market has been booming in recent years and is expected to reach $4.8billion by 2028, which will represent an incredible increase of 90% in eight years, from 2020. Mintel market research reports that a decade ago, hot sauces made up one-third of total UK table sauce launches, a sector that includes ketchup, mustard, brown sauce and so on. This year, hot sauces make up nearly half (48%).
Encona was a pioneering brand in this sector from the start: born in London in 1975, the Encona West Indian Original Hot Pepper Sauce was the first authentic Caribbean hot pepper sauce to appear on supermarket shelves in the UK and was catering for the growing UK Caribbean population following the Windrush generation. Popular ’80s Trinidadian actor Rudolph Walker (Love Thy Neighbour, The Thin Blue Line, EastEnders) added some celebrity sparkle to the launch.
The sauce, still today in its unmistakable square-shouldered glass bottle, remains a best-selling hot pepper sauce, and has a multitude of celebrity fans, many of whom have publicly declared their love for the sauce, including Naomi Campbell, Alesha Dixon, Gordon Ramsey, Rylan Clark, Jade Thirlwall and Romesh Ranganathan. A bottle of Encona was even used by then Prime Minister David Cameron to spice up his sardines on toast in the Downing Street kitchen in a TV show following a day in his life in 2015.
This classic recipe hasn’t changed in more than 40 years – blending only the very best habanero and scotch bonnet peppers with traditional island spices. But there are now a further nine delicious sauce varieties in the range, as well as chilli jams.
Encona has a rich heritage in the Afro-Caribbean community, as well as Indian and Asian households in the UK, but its enduring popularity is due to the cross-over into British households.
“The Brits have a passion for hot sauce, and for Encona in particular,” says Kimberley Lue Lim, Head of Marketing for Grace Foods UK. “Encona is still one of the leading hot pepper sauces in the UK, and we are very proud of that. But customers’ palates have become increasingly diversified and so we now offer a range of fantastic sauces and jams made with inspiration from not only the Caribbean but also from India, the Far East and the USA.
“Research frequently shows that this passion for hot sauce is growing, and in particular Gen Z, are very keen on spicing up their food. This is due to the globalisation of food, as a result of social media, but also to people just realising that hot sauce can change the game in terms of eating quick, healthy, non-expensive food that is also phenomenally tasty. And there is also a growing number of hot-sauce connoisseurs, who know that the quality of hot sauce is as important as the quality of wine or meat. And Encona represents the gold standard for hot sauce in this country.”
Alongside the limited-edition 50th anniversary branding, Encona will be celebrating its five decades by teaming up with Time Out London for Hot Sauce Summer. Encona will be the hot sauce partner of Time Out Eat Street at Between the Bridges – an exciting seasonal food and entertainment pop-up venue on the South Bank, nestled between Waterloo Bridge and Westminster Bridge, featuring an outdoor beer garden, street food, live music and DJ nights.
This year, Between the Bridges has partnered with Time Out which has curated London’s best street food vendors for the food area, now called Time Out Eat Street. Here, for two months, four of the handpicked Time Out foodie faves at the pop-up – Rack City Ribs, Homeslice, Patty & Bun and Rogue Sarnies – will serve an exclusive Encona-inspired dish. There will also be a bespoke ‘Hot Sauce Station’ at Time Out Eat Street.
Time Out London will also be working with its network of food connections from food writers, chefs and passionate home cooks on ‘50 Dishes for 50 Years’, a curated digital guide to delicious Encona-powered dishes focusing on barbecue-ready food – ideal for the summer and for its sauces and jams.
“We are sharing 50 new Encona dishes with the country. The dishes proposed by top chefs, food writers and passionate home cooks have been handpicked by Encona in collaboration with Time Out,” continues Kim, “which we hope will inspire a new generation of hot-sauce-lovers to discover the brand, get cooking and really spice up their summer this year!”
Encona will also be partnering with Great British Chefs, which will see the creation of five recipes – one for each decade of bold Encona flavour – that will be shared across all of the go-to-website for foodies’ social media channels. Journalist and food writer Melissa Thompson has written a Love Letter to Encona in which she talks about her lifetime connection with the hot sauce brand as part of the campaign, while the Great British Chefs Kitchen in-house recipe development team have created the Encona-inspired recipes.