edible notables
SERIOUS SALSA
Fresh, natural ingredients are highlights of this local product.
WRITTEN BY BARBARA TWITCHELL
PHOTOS BY CYNTHIA FERRIS-BENNETT
Fran Pritchard will never forget Super Bowl Sunday 1993. Not because of the teams that played or a winning bet. It’s because that was the day she sold her first containers of Killer Salsa. Out of a gas station, no less!
 Fran, the owner of Killer Salsa |
Having moved to Minden, Nev., a year earlier, Pritchard was frustrated by the lack of jobs in the sleepy little town, especially for someone so experienced in food service management. Desperate, she finally took a part-time job at a mini-mart/gas station.
But her true passions would not be denied. Years before, she had created a special salsa recipe for her cafeteria customers in California, who had affectionately dubbed it Killer Salsa. She decided that the time had come to try to market her creation, as her appreciative diners had often suggested.
Super Bowl Sunday 1993 she offered salsa samples at the gas station counter and the rest is history.
Nineteen years later, Killer Salsa now can be found on the shelves of no fewer than 90 supermarkets in Reno-Tahoe and the surrounding communities. New flavors have been added along the way, and the label now boasts 12 different products of fresh and bottled salsa in assorted flavors and spiciness.
Despite the phenomenal growth of the company, Pritchard points out that they have remained true to their roots.
“I think the secret to our success is it is just good food. I don’t put any chemicals, any preservatives in it,” she says. “My feeling is if you can’t pronounce it, you shouldn’t be eating it.”
Remarkably, this astounding volume of salsa still is all made by hand, four gallons at a time, in a 2,000-square-foot facility in Gardnerville, Nev.
“Sometimes people will say, ‘I like the chunky consistency of it’ and I’ll say, ‘It just depends on whose finger is on the blender,'” she adds with a laugh. But joking aside, she knows it is that wonderful, homemade character that has created a loyal customer base.
Always on the lookout for something new and different, Pritchard has just added a dehydrated salsa, which can be reconstituted in 10 minutes with warm water.
“I think that one’s gonna be fun! We live in backpacker paradise,” she says, adding that this product will be marketed this summer on a limited trial basis. Where will it be available? A place where campers and hikers can have ready access: mini-marts and gas stations, of course. And so, Killer Salsa seems to have come full circle. How perfect!
For details on Killer Salsa, visit www.killersalsa.com.
Barbara Twitchell is a Reno-based freelance writer who loves a great salsa, both on the dance floor and on her plate.
