Harissa Hot Honey, a fiery mix of North African spice and candy honey, has shortly turn out to be one in every of New York Metropolis’s most talked-about gourmand condiments. However earlier than touchdown on cabinets at Zabar’s, Sahadi’s, Walmart, and JFK Airport, the model started as a selfmade sauce served at a Harlem restaurant that shut down in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The product is co-founded by Gloribelle Perez and her husband, Walid Mrabet, who launched Harissa Sizzling Honey after their restaurant, recognized for its Caribbean and North African fusion menu, closed in 2022 as a result of ongoing financial challenges introduced on by the pandemic.
“We constructed the whole lot from scratch,” Perez stated. “The web site, the labels, the pictures — we did all of it ourselves as a result of we didn’t have the choice to do in any other case.”
Perez and Mrabet opened their Harlem restaurant in late 2019, simply months earlier than the pandemic led to the closing of indoor eating throughout New York. Quite than let their meals go to waste, they turned their kitchen right into a group operation.
“We actually walked into our walk-in fridge, cooked the whole lot, and gave it away,” stated Perez, a mom of two. “We didn’t know what was coming. We simply knew folks wanted meals.”
Their fast pivot earned them contracts with organizations like World Central Kitchen and Rethink Meals. Nonetheless, regardless of their efforts, the restaurant by no means absolutely transitioned right into a sustainable enterprise with a daily buyer base. By April 2022, they made the troublesome determination to shut completely.
The story of Harissa Hot Honey started in 2007, years earlier than the restaurant, when Perez, raised on Dominican flavors, met her Tunisian husband and found the normal chili paste referred to as harissa.
“My folks’s meals is flavorful however not spicy,” Perez stated. “His folks’s meals is spicy. I used to be like, ‘Child, that is stepping into sizzling, popping out hotter.’”
They blended harissa with honey to bridge their style variations and commenced utilizing it as a marinade. It shortly grew to become a buyer favourite at their restaurant, particularly when drizzled on hen wings. Company began requesting bottles to take residence — an indication of the product’s potential even earlier than it grew to become a model.
Not like conventional sizzling honey, which regularly combines honey and chili, Harissa Sizzling Honey incorporates garlic, coriander, and caraway, giving it a layered and sophisticated taste. The mix works on each savory and candy dishes. You’ll be able to drizzle it on pizza, charcuterie, salad dressing, crispy hen, salmon, dumplings, tea, cocktails, ice cream, and even brownie batter.
After the restaurant closed, Perez and Mrabet centered totally on bottling and promoting the sauce. With out exterior traders or formal coaching in advertising or e-commerce, they constructed a direct-to-consumer enterprise totally on their very own.
“This was a full bootstrap operation,” Perez stated. “Whenever you don’t come from cash or have traders, your solely possibility is to be resourceful. I couldn’t flip to associates and ask for a test — possibly a MetroCard and a bucket of hen, however that’s about it.”
The couple launched on-line gross sales on Valentine’s Day, 2023, producing 2,000 bottles. Due to loyal prospects and group assist, the bottles bought out inside days.
As a substitute of scaling quickly, the pair adopted a slow-build method, specializing in intentional progress, product high quality, and group engagement. In 2024, Harissa Sizzling Honey secured placement at Lincoln Market and Walmart.com. A big milestone got here in 2025, when the product debuted at JFK Airport, introducing it to a world viewers.
“That was a turning level,” Perez stated. “We went from being a neighborhood favourite to being in entrance of individuals from all over the world. It was surreal — and humbling.”
Although the model has grown, the founders are selective concerning the future. Quite than launch new merchandise underneath their label, they’re pursuing collaborations with like-minded corporations, together with chocolatiers and yogurt makers.
“Every part we do needs to be grounded in relationship and goal,” Perez stated. “We’re not simply constructing a enterprise. We’re constructing group. This has all the time been about extra than simply promoting one thing.”
A Spoonful of Self-Care
In a time of financial uncertainty, Perez views Harissa Sizzling Honey as greater than a condiment. For a lot of prospects, it’s a small indulgence — and a reminder of care, tradition, and connection.
“You won’t be capable to splurge on one thing extravagant, however you possibly can deal with your self to a bottle of honey that’s daring, flavorful, and made with love,” she stated.
The model continues to function on a batch-production mannequin, balancing stock and progress with intention. As Harissa Sizzling Honey finds its place on extra cabinets and tables nationwide, Perez sees its journey as proof that success doesn’t require enterprise capital — simply imaginative and prescient, resilience, and group.
