My Business: How Dubai’s ‘chief chilli officer’ turned his sauce obsession into a business

Dubai: There are very few people in the world as obsessed with sauce as Dubai entrepreneur Faisal Al Mutairi — and that’s saying something in a city that loves bold flavours.

The self-styled chief chilli officer at House of Habanero – a dedicated speciality retailer for all things spicy - owns more than 1,000 bottles of sauce, four shelves’ worth behind him, with more tucked away in a dedicated sauce sampling fridge.

Al Mutairi’s long-running obsession has now turned into a small but growing Dubai-based business that imports and sells artisanal hot sauces and spicy condiments from around the world — many of which were previously hard to find in the UAE.

“When I travel to the US or the UK — which I do often — gourmet, artisanal condiments are just a normal part of everyday life. Then I’d come back to the UAE and find almost nothing,” said Al Mutairi, who identifies as that person who goes to the supermarket and heads straight to the condiments aisle.  

“Yeah, I’m obsessed with sauces. But the brands I was used to just weren’t there,” he said. When Al Mutairi started digging into why he couldn’t find his beloved sauces in the UAE, he realised no one was importing them.

“That’s when it became clear there was a genuine gap. I spent months researching and tasting — probably 800 to 900 samples — before importing anything,” he added.

At this point, Al Mutairi had decided to share his love for sauce with the UAE. House of Habanero officially launched online in September 2024, after securing its trade licence the year before. Today, Al Mutairi swears he can even match you with the sauce that perfectly fits your personality.

Born to a Saudi father and American mother, and raised in Bahrain, Faisal grew up surrounded by food, family and spice. Long before entrepreneurship entered the picture, chilli already had a seat at the table.

“My earliest food memory is eating shatta with my family,” he recalls, referring to the fiery hot sauce or chilli paste sauce common in Arab homes. “That flavour just stuck.”

Professionally, Al Mutairi spent years in large-scale operations, rising to the position of Chief Operations Officer at one of the GCC’s largest art and events agencies. Formula One bookings, international art biennales and complex corporate events were his day job — but sauces were always his side obsession.

At the same time, food — and especially condiments — remained a constant personal interest. “When I travel, the first place I go is the supermarket,” he says. “I always start in the condiment aisle.”

That habit slowly turned into a collection, built over years of travel, experimentation and taste-testing. Sauces were bought, opened, compared and, in many cases, stored for later reference.

The turning point came with fatherhood. With a second child on the way, Al Mutairi made the leap out of corporate life, determined to build something of his own — and something closer to home.

Despite the name, House of Habanero isn’t a place that tests your appetite to rate high on the Scoville score - a system measuring chilli pepper heat (pungency) based on capsaicin concentration.  

“People think hot sauce is just fire,” Al Mutairi says. “But I wanted it to be about flavour.”

Around 70 per cent of the range is mild to medium, designed to pair with everyday meals — from falafel and shawarma to pizza, pasta and eggs. There are tahini hot sauces, blueberry dessert sauces, plum sauces for duck, chilli crisps, spicy maple syrup and even Mexican chilli sweets.

Today, the business stocks nearly 40 global and local brands, with up to 150 SKUs in peak season. “We want sauces that make food better, not unbearable.”

Education has been key. At markets like Ripe Market and food festivals, Al Mutairi and his wife Katy Gillett, House of Habanero’s Chief Creative Officer, spend hours converting sceptics. “There’s always someone who says, ‘I don’t like hot sauce,’” he laughs. “That’s my favourite challenge.”

By pairing sauces with foods people already love, Faisal has built a loyal community — currently around 3,000 subscribers, with roughly half becoming repeat customers.

Today, House of Habanero also supplies several UAE stockists, including butcheries and barbecue retailers, alongside its direct-to-consumer online store.

Like most online-first businesses, growth hasn’t been without its challenges. Marketing, Al Mutairi says, is the hardest part.

“You’re competing for attention with very large brands spending a lot of money,” he says. “And the algorithms change all the time.”

While the business remains primarily online, House of Habanero now supplies a handful of UAE stockists, including butcheries and barbecue retailers. Al Mutairi is also exploring more B2B opportunities and food trade events to support growth.

For now, the focus is on keeping the business lean and sustainable. Any profits are reinvested into stock, marketing and events.

Longer term, Al Mutairi plans to launch a House of Habanero-branded sauce range and potentially distribute select high-performing brands across the GCC.

“There’s still a lot to figure out,” he says. “But I don’t see myself going back to corporate life.” For someone who eats every meal with at least one sauce — sometimes two — that seems unlikely.