hi - i’m ash.
i’m a 34-year-old single female entrepreneur running a small food business, & if i’m being honest, i still have no idea what i’m doing most days. but i am doing it - & that feels worth writing about.
not bad cooks officially became a sauce company in 2021, but before that it was just a food instagram account i started in 2020 during covid. i was cooking a lot, sharing meals, & slowly repairing a lifelong love-hate relationship with food. teenage ash would never believe i’d one day own a sauce business in denver, colorado - it still feels a little unreal in the best way.
long story shorter: my company is called not bad cooks, & we make not bad sauces - along with a few other not bad things we’re slowly bringing to life. we primarily sell at farmers markets across colorado, & over time we’ve expanded into retail shops, grocery stores, & a meal kit partnership. shipping is the next chapter.
my goal is simple: i want more not bad cooks in the kitchen using our not bad sauces.
i want you to know these sauces were made for me first.
i grew up reading every single ingredient on every label, with a mental list of foods i avoided because they didn’t make me feel good or i was allergic to. this is the sauce company i always wished i could find on the shelf - one where you don’t have to overthink what’s inside.
all of our not bad sauces are named after - or inspired by - my family.
not bad sauces:
jimichurri - chimichurri named after my dad, jimmy
peter’s pesto - pesto named after my golden doodle, peter
you’re hot - it’s mild. meet our roasted garlic buffalo.
happy days - vodka sauce - named for how we cheers drinks in my family
crispy italian - my take on a chili crisp - but we’re italian
no strawblems - strawberry lemon - a nod to the strawberry sauce i grew up with & a little “no problems” energy
them apples - apple butter - “how do you like them apples”
i’m building a sauce company you can trust & one where you can taste the difference.
we make small-batch, preservative-free sauces using only organic extra virgin olive oil. we source locally in colorado, partner with local farms, & focus on not bad, all-good ingredients - & i promise we mean that.
our not bad sauces do not contain fillers, artificial ingredients, seed oils, gluten, gums, lecithin, dyes, stevia, additives, or preservatives.
add your email to our shipping list & we will notify you when we start.
you can follow along on instagram for recipes, & on tiktok for the more personal, day-to-day reality of running this business.
we’re a small sauce company with big shelf dreams.
thanks for being here. truly.
ash