Community Corner

Getting Sauced in Alexandria: 'Queens' Grow Their Empire

Sauce Queens Creamy Horseradish will give you a kick in your bass.

Eli Rakis, Sally Eastman and Mary Ritley-White are the royalty of Sauce Queens, the business they founded in Old Town Alexandria and have spread across Northern Virginia and into Washington, DC.

The queens, though, are not letting success go to their crowns. Their message regarding the masses in the coming days: "Let them eat Chilean Sea Bass."

On Friday, 11 Whole Foods Markets will feature Sauce Queens Creamy Horseradish sauce as part of the Whole Foods Friday One Day Deal.

"It's a perfect pairing," says Rakis, who, far from looking down from upon a throne, spends her days pedaling her sauces and dealing with her kids. 

"We're moms, moms, moms," she says — again, again and again. "You know, we're real."

And real successful. Sauce Queens, has taken off in just a few months with their products now in 11 Whole Foods stores, including in Old Town, Arlington, Vienna, Georgetown and Reston, among others.

The Queens submitted a plan to Whole Foods around Halloween of last year. The grocery chain cautioned them that their chances of seeing their products on the shelves were “slim.”

But not "none."

The team now has a commercial kitchen in Old Town, an executive chef and seven part-time employees.

And it still has the hustle. Rakis will spend Friday morning at the Old Town store on Duke Street.

"Right after I drop off the little one at daycare," she says.


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