We had the good fortune of connecting with Cara Nelson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cara, how do you think about risk?
Risk has been an essential player in our lives both personally and in business. It’s what drives us to be better people and better business owners. It takes grit to take your first big risk, but when you come out on the other side you feel stronger, smarter, more empowered and hungry for more.

It’s played a major role in both our lives and we wouldn’t be here without it. We both moved from Georgia to California on our own after college, independently of each other. And there is nothing comfortable about leaving family, friends and your home town at such a young age. But we both have this incredible drive and ambition to live outside the box and leaning into discomfort and risk is the only way to get there.

We’ve gone after big jobs, moved around the country and quit great jobs to explore new things. It’s all prepared us to start our own business which is one of the biggest risks of all. But our motto is, take the risk, or lose the chance.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
We pride ourselves on being the first craft buffalo sauce on the market. We think outside of the box when it comes to flavors, ingredients and branding and go beyond what is considered a traditional buffalo sauce. We use real butter, which most companies shy away from because it’s expensive and hard to cook with. But it is what makes a true buffalo sauce and you can taste the difference.

Craft goes beyond sauce production and is at the forefront of all our decision making, including branding and design. We’re very proud of our awesome labels and Adam hand designed each one. We’ve designed everything from our cool chicken stickers to our website to our social media campaigns, which just picked up a Silver and Bronze medal in a national award show!

And speaking of award winning, Holy Hell just took home the Gold and Black Magic the Bronze in the same national competition. We can now proudly say we make Award Winning Sauces!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
D’Corazon off Blake has the best Mexican in town. Drinks at Terminal Bar at Union Station for friends taking the train. Red Rocks is a must, Biking on Green Mountain, hiking up North Table for views, rafting in Golden and of course get up to the mountains.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
No doubt, this is a group effort full of hard work, support, encouragement and mentorship. No way could we do it on our own!

One of the most important people we do this for is our 3-year old son, Jack. We want to be the best role models for him and encourage him to follow his dreams and show him how to work his ass off to get there. We love the idea of starting a family business and have dreams of it continuing for generations. He’s our biggest motivator.

Our parents and family are our biggest cheerleaders and supporters. They could have had very different reactions when we said we were quitting our careers to make wing sauce, but from the get-go they were the ones that said, “Do it.”

Our friends are our sounding board. They are our taste testers, we bounce ideas off of them, they tell us what we don’t want to hear. Their tireless encouragement keeps us going and reminds us why we are doing this.

Our colleagues and peers have encouraged us and inspired us more than they know. Denver is such an ideal place to start a business because we are surrounded by so many small businesses and entrepreneurs. It’s a part of the culture, the lifestyle and is one of the reasons we were motivated to start our own business.

Our suppliers, manufacturers, vendors and marketing team. They all make it feel like we are on a team, working together to win the same game. They provide insight, help us solve problems and work really hard to help us succeed.

Website: https://blondebeards.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blondebeardsbuffalo/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blondebeardsbuffalo

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutColorado is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.