Our Story | 980sauce

It all began by chance. I was living and working in Panamá when at the airport a fellow traveler heard my southern accent and asked if I was from South Carolina. It turns out that my soon-to-be good friend and future business partner Alexis Gallardo and I shared many of the same interests. We both were educated in the South, love Charleston, South Carolina and appreciate Charleston’s world-renowned food history and heritage.

As a former world-traveling pro tennis player with a background in resort real estate sales and marketing, I am also a devout foodie and have always appreciated clean artisanal farm to table foods. Alexis’ background is in food science manufacturing and he holds a degree from Georgia Tech. Since 1964, his family has owned and operated Proluxsa, a Panamá City based corporation that operates several food manufacturing facilities in Latin America and is one of the largest producers of distilled vinegar and gourmet sauces in both Latin America and the Caribbean. They are a vertically integrated company, and in addition to owning their own farms and farmland, they grow all their own ingredients, fruits and vegetables for their world-class sauces, marinades and food products.

Soon after our initial meeting and seeing that Latin America has all the freshest ingredients at our fingertips, Alexis and I began dreaming to "develop our all-natural, gluten-free healthy line of cooking sauces and marinades that would enhance and compliment all foods and recipes". Together we spent the next year experimenting, creating and tasting our artisanal all-natural recipes in the Panamanian fields. We perfected our favorites and 9°80° Gourmet Sauces and Marinades was born! Alexis and I are extremely proud to bring you the finest all-natural sauces and marinades to your kitchen and table. Enjoy!

- Smith Anderson

Alexis & Smith

Alexis and Smith are proud and excited to share their creations that have come straight from the fields of Panamá to your kitchens and tables.

About the name

Latitude and longitude are units of measurement in degrees that depict a location on a map. 9° and 80° are the geographical coordinates of Panamá City, Panamá, where our ingredients grow freely and are bottled before being shipped to the United States. Coincidentally (or maybe not), Charleston sits at 80° longitude and is directly above Panamá City, Panamá

Health Benefits of 9º80º

In addition to being all natural and prepared with the freshest ingredients straight from our fields, 9°80° sauces have multiple health benefits. This is simply another reason why 9°80° should flavor all of your favorite foods all of the time!

Healthy Ingredients

Vegetables & Spices

9°80° sauces are created from habanero, jalapeño and bell peppers, cumin, cilantro, garlic and vinegar, which are all ingredients proven to be good for you in so many ways. Our bright, colorful peppers are rich sources of Vitamins A, C and B6. Our peppers also include Capsaicin, a chemical compound that is rich in antioxidants which strengthens our body’s ability to fight disease and kick-start metabolism.

Cumin

We also use wonderful herbs and spices in 9°80° sauces, each with their own special benefits. Cumin, a member of the parsley family, has a nutty flavor that is found in the cuisines of many cultures. It gives the perfect amount of flavor and spice to each of our 9°80° sauces. Studies have shown that cumin can help with digestion, insomnia, common colds and memory.

Cilantro & Garlic

Two other ingredients used to craft 9°80° sauces are cilantro and garlic. These are considered to be nature’s best antioxidant foods. Regular intake of cilantro has been proven to help reduce bad cholesterol (LDL) and increase good cholesterol (HDL). Garlic has been shown to lower blood pressure, reduce cholesterol and regulate blood sugar.

Vinegar

The last but certainly not least of our special ingredients is vinegar. Vinegar has many helpful qualities with one being that it is high in acetic acid which can increase the body’s absorption of important minerals in our foods. Vinegar also is believed to help the body balance blood glucose levels which may help people suffering from diabetes.

Testimonials

Amazing taste, healthy, low calorie and gluten free. I used mine, especially the wild cilantro & pineapple coconut within a week!
Lydia Warren Roberts

By far the best sauces I’ve ever cooked with! If you can find 980 in your neighborhood shop, buy it up! It doesn’t seem to stay on the shelf long...
Tom Mauldin

"The Everyday Ingredient"..... an article from Mt. Pleasant, SC Magazine

A sprig of this, a dash of that, maybe a teaspoon of an elusive ingredient you’ve never used before – all for that perfect “amp” to your home- cooked dinner. For me, having endless spice containers or just needing to run to the store for a pinch of cilantro is slightly inconvenient.

So imagine my joy when I met Smith Anderson with 980 Sauces and Marinades and learned that he and his partner, Alexis Gallardo, have a one-stop-shop line of sauces and marinades. But don’t be fooled: These aren’t your average macho, over-the-top hot sauces but rather a staple ingredient to incorporate in your daily meals. With the most popular varieties ranging from Wild Cilantro
to Garlic Mustard, Smoky Chipotle, Pineapple Coconut, Sweet Chile and even Worcestershire, there really is a sauce to lend a burst of fresh flavor to any meal, dish or side.

“All of our ingredients come from our farms in Panama and Costa Rica, where we have fields of pineapples, peppers, coconuts, cilantro, limes – all that. We also make our own vinegar. We truly are farm-to-table. We use no preservatives, and our focus is on flavor and enhancement of any foods. ... My partner and I wanted to create an all-natural healthy line of sauces and marinades that would enhance and compliment all foods and any recipe,” Smith explained.

More than just the wonderful culinary product Anderson has to offer intrigued me; his background and how 980 Sauces and Marinades came to be is a story in itself. A former Realtor, he was in sales and marketing for an oceanfront real estate project in Panama. While waiting in an airport in Tocumen, Gallardo overheard his Southern accent and inquired if he was from South Carolina. With both men possessing a love for Charleston and Southern food, the two quickly struck up a friendship while Anderson was living and working in Panama.

But how did the two wind up in business together? Gallardo, a Georgia Tech graduate and food scientist, runs the production of his family’s vinegar business. A former world-traveling pro-tennis player, foodie and Mt. Pleasant local

Anderson brought to the table his many years in the Lowcountry and experience with both Southern and worldly flavor.

“We make a great team because our backgrounds complement each other; I’m on the marketing and distribution side, while Alexis is the farmer and manufacturer – he’s out there running our plant where everything is grown,” Smith said.

From the beginning, the two agreed on the mission of 980 Sauces and Marinades: “When I met Alexis and saw his capabilities in Panama and saw that they grew all their ingredients, I said, ‘Let’s don’t make it hot sauce, let’s don’t make it barbecue sauce but let’s make a cooking sauce, a finishing sauce and a marinade for all foods.’ And he said, ‘That’s great!’”

Anderson brought to the forefront flavors he knew Americans would like: mustard, cilantro, pineapple, coconut, smoky chipotle, Worcestershire, sriracha. Gallardo then brought those flavors to life on his farm in Panama.

All sauces are gluten free, without preservatives and made in a kosher kitchen, which means everyone can enjoy – from the young person learning to cook to the busy parents feeding a large family to the national restaurants that add 980 Sauces and Marinades into their recipes.