SEATTLE — From the start of Ruby Sparks and Rob Griset's relationship, family and food have always been at the forefront of their lives.
"Some people like to go to museums. We just like eating, that's it. That's all we want to do," Rob said.
"We've been to Mexico, South America Japan, and China. Thailand," said Ruby. "I come from a multicultural family. I'm half Japanese and African American and half Irish and Italian. And so, I grew up with a lot of very strong influences and that's reflected in the food I grew up with."
One of the foods the couple loves is chili crisp: an oil and chili-based condiment popular in Asian cuisine.
"We just really got into chili crisp several years ago. We got interested in what would be our perfect chili crisp," said Ruby. "We just started iterating batch after batch after batch and tweaking small things and testing it with people and running it again for a really long time until we got to that ultimate version."
That ultimate version became the chili crisp, KariKari.
"We named it KariKari for my grandma. KariKari is a Japanese word, one of the many words that mean crunchy or crispy in Japanese," Ruby said.
Chili crisp may have gotten its start in the Far East, but Ruby and Rob make their creation in a commercial kitchen near south Seattle.
"We went through dozens of chilies, just tasting them, and then combining them in different ways to create this bouquet that as you eat it, you get kind of like a heat a little smoke a little chew," Rob said.
"The number one thing that most people notice right away is that big crunch because we have those really big pieces of crispy golden garlic that float to the top," Ruby said.
KariKari's unique flavor has gained a huge following - with fans putting it on just about everything.
"Everybody loves it with eggs, with grilled meats. Any kind of protein like that. But it's also really fun to mix it in with fats. Mix it in with the cream cheese, mix it in with the sour cream. Mix it with an ice cream," Ruby said.
"In the beginning, we were making just a few hundred a week and now we make around 2,000 jars a week," Rob said.
Ruby added, "Even though we've grown so much, we started with one store, and we're in close to 400 now. That's barely scratching the surface as far as like, where people buy food so there is still way more runway to grow."
Food and family - two ingredients that have given Ruby and Rob a recipe for success.
"We're just so grateful and so thankful for all of the support. I mean, truly, truly, truly," Ruby said.
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