A Specialty Hot Sauce/Spice Shop Flourishes In Booming Kingston, New York

About 90 miles north of New York City, Kingston, N.Y., a once gritty city of about 23,000 people, has been bouncing back, fueled by second-home and transplanted New Yorkers who can now work from home. And North Front Street in the Stockade neighborhood of Kingston is where Richard (Ram) Rajkumar opened Ram’s Valley Outpost, his specialty spice and hot sauce shop in 2020.

A native of Trinidad and Tobago and current resident of Kingston, N.Y., Rajkumar says hot sauce and spices “are in my blood and my culture.” He says the shop offers about 30 different sauces of various types including bbq sauces, hot sauces, chutney, marinara sauces, and fermented garlic pastes.

Niche businesses such as Ram’s Valley Outpost’s spice shop can establish a reputation, build sales, and thrive.

He launched Ram’s Valley as a business in 2016, starting at farmer’s markets in Saugerties, N.Y., Vassar College, and Uptown Kingston.

Then Rajkumar thought the time was right to open a retail shop. “No one had a spice shop in the Hudson Valley,” he noted. And spices are nutritious; they “improve your immune system, they’re all natural, filled with probiotics, good for your stomach, and have no chemicals or fillers,” he added.

He opened, however, during the pandemic and had to scramble to stay in business. Loyal followers who bought his spices enabled him to pay the rent.

Though Ram’s Valley has an online business, those sales are rather small, and in fact, about three quarters of his income stems from the farmer’s market and the rest from the retail store and catering services. Business has been picked up weekends at the store as some tourists find Kingston as a destination.

Caribbean people are reared on hot sauces and gravitate toward spicier flavors, befitting the scotch bonnet that fuels jerk chicken. Many Americans choose the milder sauces such as green chili salsa and green hulk.

Most of his customers marinate chicken or beef in his sauces for barbecuing or preparing meals, or use it as a hot sauce to put on the food after it’s made.

Asked how many products he offers in his stores, he replied that he doesn’t know the exact number. “Hundreds of them” is all he can say.

Asked to describe his target market, Rajkumar says it’s “People who support local businesses and have curiosity about the hot sauces I make. I cater to everyone who has taste buds.”

Ram’s Valley has five employees that help run the brick-and-mortar store and also work aside Rajkumar at the various farmer’s markets.

In addition, he caters weddings, birthday parties and events. Indian by heritage, he also prepares roti dishes. And he also produces his own peppers in his garden.

“I’m a farmer, producer, manufacturer, caterer. I do a little of everything,” Rajkumar explained.