Meet our Empresarios: HAB Sauce

Hacienda CDC’s Empresarios programming supports entrepreneurs to start, grow, and scale their businesses. Read more about our featured Empresario and learn about our amazing community of small business owners.

Business Name: HAB Sauce

Area of Origin: Los Angeles, CA | Portland, OR

Significance of Name:  David and his wife chose the name while brainstorming. They chose “HAB” because of the Habanero chili, which they use most. The final name being “HAB Sauce” due to the fact that they are a sauce company.

David’s Story

Meet David van Overeem, owner and creator, of HAB Sauce. He was born from diverse family lineage and a childhood filled with the flavors of Indonesia and Latin America. His father was born in Indonesia and moved to Holland to enroll in the Dutch navy. Later on, he moved to the United States in the 50s, where he would meet the woman who is Davids mother. She is from Latin decent, born native to Los Angeles California. It was there where David was born in 1981.

David grew up in a very diverse family household and community which played a huge role on who he is and what HAB Sauce is. Growing up he would spend time with both parents, whose cuisine variance exposed him to a wide range of flavors and recipes. All which would inspire his sauces today.

In his teen years, David moved to Selam, Oregon where he lived for a few years until 2004, when he moved to Portland, Oregon, where he currently still resides. David is a person of many virtues, and has experience as a DJ, Producer and Performer, amongst many other talents. Talent that has taken him around the world to perform as a turn tableist with other well known artists in the genre.

Through his adulthood, David settled down from his travels and worked locally in PDX. He built a family and settled down while continuing with his passion of music and art. Year later,David had a daughter, which led him to make the decision to become a stay at home dad—with the goal of spending his time raising his kid and planning out his next move in life. Eventually she grew older and he had to make the decision to go back to work or to find another way of making income. While on the verge of signing up to a coding class with the idea of becoming a coder, he stopped himself last minute and talked himself into making a hot sauce company instead. The idea came from his hobby of grilling and his love for spicy food growing up. He says that for along time, while getting together with friends for BBQ’s, he would always make the salsas happen somehow! “We wouldn’t have much, but I would take whatever ingredients we had and made it work. Make the most out of what you have!”.

Fueled by his desire to create sensational sauces that could be shared with family and friends, he began HAB Sauce using recipes he could pass down to his daughters. Drawing inspiration from his young age where he was able to taste flavors from all sides of the family, he now finds himself recreating those flavors from his childhood and expanding on them. Handmade in small batches with carefully selected fruits and an array of hot peppers. HAB Sauces strikes the perfect balance of sweet and heat. David’s passion for food and flavor radiates when he speaks, a passion he largely attributes to his diverse background.

About HAB Sauce

HAB Sauce is a company based in Portland, Oregon. Inspired by a passion of grilling and making sauces for friends and family, to now being an awarded, well known local sauce found in dozens of shelves around town. 

        When David decided to take the plunge into the industry, he enrolled in the Portland Mercado Business Foundations, Empresarios Boot Camp; where he learned the basics and procedures to properly establish his business. It is also there where he met a buyer from New Seasons who eventually helped him get HAB Sauce on their shelves.

      According to David, it’s not just the pepper that makes the sauce. It is the belief that a killer hot sauce starts with fresh, high-quality ingredients. He can find the highest-quality ingredients for his recipes through the strong relationships he has with farmers throughout Oregon. Such as the peaches and firewood he gets from a farmer in Dayton, Oregon. David’s passion for ingredients is evident when you try his sauces. They have a body and depth, unlike most commercial hot sauces. Together the onions, garlic, tomatillos, and chilis create an aromatic flavor that completely invigorates your palate.

       In addition to the unique flavor profiles that HAB Sauce sauce offers, consumers will also notice vibrant, beautiful artwork on each bottle they purchase. This is something that David is particularly proud of. “The labels are completely inspired by my friends and my brother, who is a graphic artist,” David explained. “I have friends from old graffiti crews I was in and they’re designing with me and it’s great. Their art inspires me so much and I want to put it out there in the world. Who would have thought that when you go to the grocery store you also see our art on the shelves?”

       Today, HAB Sauce has six signature hot sauce flavors with occasional limited-edition flavor releases, like their Smoked Cherrywood Hot Habanero sauce. You can find HAB Sauce in dozens of grocery

Learn more about our Empresarios program and other businesses at the Portland Mercado.