Annie Leal started I Love Chamoy after her father was diagnosed with diabetes.
When Annie Leal ’s dad was name withdiabetes10 years ago , his entire lifestyle had to change . But little did she recognize it would one mean solar day interchange her life , too .
“ My dad right away changed his dieting around , but he ’s always had a sweet tooth and I ’ve known for years that he has a cabinet full of dinero - free treat , ” Leal explains . About 18 months ago , she rummage through thesugar - free treatsher dada lay away in his pantry , hoping to determine something seraphic for herself . She also wanted to fulfill the craving for Mexican confect , something she particularly enjoy , having been born and lift in Monterrey , Mexico . Yet there was nothing — only chocolates , lollipops , and caramel .
“ I was like , ‘ How do they not have lucre - devoid Mexican confect ? ’ and he was like , ‘ Mija , I ca n’t encounter it , ’ ” Leal reenact . She was in skepticism , spending the intact eventide comb the internet for some form of spicy and sweet lolly - free confect to cater for her dad , but there was none . The answer was straight off obvious to her : she would have to make it herself . That was the starting time of I Love Chamoy , a Mexican sugar - free sauce brand create by Leal .
Design by Maitane Romagosa for Thrillist
“ The next day , I had my daddy push me to Target to pick up notebooks and markers , like it was the first day of shoal , ” Leal express mirth . “ I had no idea where to come out , but I just began drafting up names and a logo . ”
Leal has a background in social media and marketing , and had been develop brand for a business helmed by a food technologist . It was then that she decided to enlist her help for the recipe and development part of I Love Chamoy . “ I never thought I ’d be in consumer goods , ” she says , adding , “ I truly can not cook to economise my life , which is the funny part . ”
Although Leal did n’t know just how research and growing worked , she intimately knew whatchamoyshould taste like . Thus began her journeying of testing iteration after iteration of sugar - innocent chamoy , concocted with chili pepper , lime , citric acid , and edulcorate with monk yield . By the twenty-seventh reading , Leal was convert she had nailed the flavor down and presented it to her dad and sister .
Although she loves her sept and their unending support of her and the business , they are not ones to be dishonest . “ My small sister is critical but in the best agency potential , ” Leal laughs . “ I expected her to be like , ‘ This is so secure , ’ but alternatively she was like , ‘ You ’re not there yet . ’ ” It was back to the drawing board and version 44 sour out to be the victor — a perfect equalizer of sweet-scented , spicy , and tangy , without the add sugar .
Leal ’s first run was an order of 750 bottles , something she hop she could deal within a six - month period of time . But using her merchandising chop , she posted about her stage business onTikTok , hoping to draw at least some attention for her fresh product . The video went viral and her order sell out in less than a workweek . “ It ferment out a raft of hoi polloi have stories like to my daddy ’s , so we ’ve been kind of running 100 stat mi per hour since , ” Leal grinning .
The next society of byplay was to get rid of red 40 from her element , feedback she find from her growing TikTok community . It was back to test a new rule again , this time with attack to exchange the artificial dye with natural hue from beetroot and cranberry powder . Leal in the end settled on using hibiscus , which is cognise for its radiate red color as well as its puckery tang that is a natural accompaniment to chamoy . Hibiscusis also oftentimes used in Mexican cuisine , so the mating just made mother wit .
“ I think sharing our business on TikTok and on Instagram and get it that path has allow for a feedback loop topology that is ready and effective , ” she explicate . “ After seeing that very valid feedback , I realized there ’s this whole audience that we ’re not tapping into by not changing this about our product . ”
Changing the recipe exercise . I Love Chamoy is currently available for pre - social club , after selling out several times , and Leal ’s next streamlet has skip over from initial 750 bottle to 15,000 bottles . the great unwashed all over TikTok reshare TV of themselves trying her ware — with fruit , in micheladas , atop cucumber . Even people who have never adjudicate chamoy before are come across different ways to use it .
“ Someone was like , ‘ I did n’t jazz what to do with it , but I marinated shrimp and it was amazing , ’ ” Leal says . “ I ’m not go to narrate people how to run through it , but I love that they are finding new , creative ways . ”
The core of Leal ’s story is kinfolk . Everyone is involve : her mom functions like a VP of operations , constantly check the sales . Her sister has a finance background signal and is the steward of the QuickBooks . Her dad has become the face of I Love Chamoy , and has even been agnize from the TikToks he ’s been featured on .
And Leal , of course , is the brains behind it all , running a positiveTikTok communitythat shows the transparence behind her entrepreneurial journeying and all of the behind - the - scenes work it takes to create a family - owned business .
“ We ’ve never had a hobby where we ’re all together and so involved , ” she says . “ That ’s really been the cherry red on top of this whole thing . ”
