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It’s not every day one starts a thriving business on a whim. However, that’s more or less what happened to Conner Close, a Pleasanton native and general manager of Gay Nineties Pizza in downtown Pleasanton, with his Green Gas Hot Sauce.
“The funny part is, the whole thing sort of happened by accident,” Close told the Weekly. “It’s just because I made a product that people enjoyed and just kept asking for more, so I felt pressured to give them what they wanted.”
After more than two years of selling the hot sauce to customers at the restaurant, Close said his Green Gas can now be found in dozens of local stores throughout Pleasanton and has shipped as far as Reno, Nevada and even Japan.
“It’s exciting to see my own product come as far as it has,” he said.
Close is a homegrown resident who attended both Pleasanton Middle School and Amador Valley High School. He first started working at Gay Nineties Pizza when he was 15, and just recently celebrated his 20th anniversary with the restaurant.
Close said his love for hot sauce and spicy food started at the restaurant and eventually, he found himself collecting all kinds of hot sauces.
“I’ve always loved spicy food … the hotter the better,” he said.
One day, as he was having breakfast, Close said he read the ingredients list for a Tabasco hot sauce bottle and realized the ingredients are pretty simple. He was already growing peppers in his backyard so after picking up some additional ingredients, he decided to try his hand at making his own hot sauce.
“I didn’t think much of it at the time,” Close said. “I was mixing stuff together just trying to make something that would be good.”
Close said a lot of hot sauces either make the food taste just like the hot sauce, or they are too spicy for the average person. He said his sauce, on the other hand, packs a punch — heat wise — but it also compliments the food.
“I wanted to make a hot sauce that was for everyone,” he said. “It doesn’t punch you in the face but it kind of creeps and doesn’t linger for super long so you get the heat, but it’s more of a flavor enhancer.”
Close didn’t write any recipe down for the first batch he made, and that the flavor basically came as an accident.
He then put that sauce in a few bottles and brought them to work, not thinking much of it.
“I was excited because it turned out really well — it was delicious,” Close said. “And so I just let a customer try it … he liked it and his response was, ‘How much?'”
After that first bottle sold, Close began selling more bottles to friends and customers at the restaurant — and before he knew it, he found himself back at home recreating and improving the sauce. He then began making more bottles at a time as more people began to ask for the sauce at Gay Nineties.
Soon enough, Close said people would go to the restaurant just to ask about the hot sauce.
Six bottles turned to 12, which turned to 24. Close was forced to move operations to the restaurant’s kitchen in order to make bigger batches — he said his wife was beginning to complain about how much their home would smell of peppers.
“I made it because I wanted to see if I could make a good sauce,” Close said. “But in sharing it, I saw that there was a definite market and a need and a want. There was demand for it.”
For about a year, Close would stay late after the restaurant closed, cooking and preparing the hot sauces so that he would have enough for people who popped by the restaurant each day.
But eventually, he realized making hot sauces at the restaurant until 2 a.m. was not sustainable.
That’s when he made the decision to get his business license and create the company: Green Gas Hot Sauce. Close also was able to outsource production of the sauce with a facility that specializes in sauces.
He then sought the help from some friends who printed labels and assisted with the graphic design aspect of the business and eventually finalized his small business.
Close said others also helped him with custom-made merchandise and apparel for his business as a way to support him.
“It became like a group effort,” Close said. “It was really cool to see how many people supported the small business growing.”
Now, Close is on his second 100-gallon batch of hot sauce and is selling bottles to local stores like Vic’s All Star Kitchen, Jim’s Country Style Restaurant, Gene’s Fine Foods and many more. He even has a hot sauce representative selling bottles on the road.
Close said to this day, it’s surprising to see so much community support for his hot sauce that started on a whim.
“I think it’s hilarious and awesome, how far it’s gone, and I’m going to keep it going until there’s nothing left,” Close said.
But he also said he has the Gay Nineties Pizza customers to thank for helping his business get up and running because a lot of them were, and continue to be, his main clients.
“I’m here 10 to 12 hours a day so … I definitely use the fact that people are eating,” Close said. “Had I been working at a bank or something, I probably wouldn’t be able to do it.”
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