Written by Rita Kanji – Founder, Thousand Apologies
Being hot sauce obsessed, I’m that person who always asks for hot sauce. Add to that a love for cooking, feeding, growing up eating hot food, and the idea that a pocket-sized bottle could solve my (and others’) daily need for hot sauce.
Being female-led, I was acutely aware of an industry dominated by men and the clichés. I didn’t want to be another brand with devils, bad bum jokes and flames — it had to be flavour-first, story-led, and actually sustainable.
With a formidable collection of hot sauces, I started checking the ingredients and realised there was an opportunity to do something better — all natural, flavourful, and just a little better for you. I started making hot sauce for friends, demand grew and Thousand Apologies was born.
I grew up eating some of the best Indian food — bold flavours, unique ingredients, and plenty of heat. Food was a huge part of my culture from the moment you woke up to the last bite of the day. I was taught to cook from an early age (preparing for marriage). The marriage didn’t happen — but the love of food and heat is bigger than ever.
I’ve always been curious about ingredients, and using Australian natives just made sense — for their heritage, their flavour profile, and because they’re wildly underused. I started learning from chefs, watching how First Nations people used them, and began experimenting. There were some fails and some wins — but in the end, I landed on pairings I hadn’t tasted before.
Cue imposter syndrome. I’m not a trained chef, and I didn’t come from hospo — but I’ve always wanted to do something in food. A chronic back condition ruled out the traditional chef route. Turns out, the hot sauce business is just as physically challenging, but I’m completely in love with it. I love that we’re one of the few women in the industry. I love how food brings people together and crosses cultural boundaries.
Trying to do it all — starting as a side hustle while running a design business as a Creative Director — meant forfeiting my social life to get it off the ground (so worth it, and my friends still love me). With brand in my blood, brand was always going to be a big part of the story. The hip flask-shaped bottles are pocket-friendly — playing on addiction, but in a good way. The idea being: a true hot sauce lover takes their sauce everywhere. The crazier the pattern, the hotter the sauce — designed to echo the chilli high you get. The art direction and tone of voice is fun, irreverent and definitely not blokey.
Sustainability underpins everything. From sourcing and production to packaging and waste, we aim for zero plastic — down to switching suppliers if they don’t align. We started a return-and-reuse program, and even donated to six charities in our first year (despite not turning a big profit yet). We work with local growers and social enterprises where we can, especially when it comes to sourcing native ingredients.
So here we are. Thousands of bottles later — tears, chilli burns, a house-turned-hot-sauce-warehouse and beyond. We’ve picked up a gold at the Royal Melbourne Show, a couple of bronzes at the RAS, an International Flavour Award, a couple of Sustainability Awards, and one for packaging. We’re now stocked in nearly 30 stores — and the goal? To get our sauces into as many fridges, pantries, handbags, manbags and gloveboxes as possible.
Try This Tuna Tartare Recipe
Ingredients:
300g sashimi grade Yellow Fin Tuna
2 tsp Davidson x Habanero hot sauce
1 tsp ground cumin
Pinch of salt
½ blood orange juiced + julienned rind
1 knob ginger, julienned
1/8th red onions, thinly sliced
1 bullet chilli, deseeded and julienned
1/4 cup pomegranate seeds
1/4 bunch coriander leaves, picked and washed
50ml extra virgin olive oil
2 ½ tbsp black sesame seeds
Green chilli rice pappadams
Procedure:
1. Fry the rice pappadams in hot oil until crispy then set aside.
2. Slice tuna into 1cm x 1cm cubes.
3. In a mixing bowl add the hot sauce, blood orange juice, cumin, salt and mix.
4. Add onion and ginger, give it a mix to lighty pickle it before the other ingredients go in.
5. Add tuna, ½ of the chilli, ½ of the orange rind, 2 tbsp of the black sesame and coriander.
6. Mix, plate and drizzle with olive oil.
7. Garnish with remaining orange rind, chilli and sesame seeds.
To check out the brand or shop the Thousand Apologies range, visit their website, or check them out on Instagram.
