Meet Mike, the Salsa Guy

If you have ever called the Jose Madrid Salsa office, you talked to Mike.

If you have ever been to a tasting, met us at a festival, ordered a custom jar for a fundraiser, asked a weird question about heat levels, or messaged us at 11 p.m. wondering if we ship to Alaska — you talked to Mike.

He runs this place. He also packs your jars.

The short version

"I'm Mike. I make salsa. I do the books. I answer the phone. I'm at the festivals. I'm at the office. I'm the guy."

The long version

Mike grew up in the family business — Jose Madrid Salsa was founded by his father in 1986 in Zanesville, Ohio, with recipes from Clovis, New Mexico. Mike's been around the kettles since he was a kid.

He has been offered, more than once, to scale this thing up. National grocery chain distribution. White-label deals. The whole "exit" pitch. Every time, he says no.

His reason, in his words:

"We make a small thing. People taste it and tell us. That's the point. The minute it gets big enough that I don't know who's eating it, I lose the only thing that makes it good."

What "we don't ship sadness" means

It's on the wall in the office. He says it about three times a week.

What he means: nothing goes out of the building that he wouldn't eat himself, that day. If a batch comes off the line and tastes flat — it doesn't ship. If a label is crooked — it doesn't ship. If a customer's reorder is missing the Hot Pineapple they always get — especially if it's the Hot Pineapple they always get — Mike calls.

You'll meet him

We are at events all summer and most of the fall. The Where is Jose page is the schedule. Come say hi. He'll remember you.

Mike is the reason this place exists. The website is the reason you can find him.