The Origin Story

Friends First.
Flavor Second.

Two friends, 30 years, one bottle with no label — and a room that went quiet.

Ricky and Conor — then

Then

Conor & I

Conor and Ricky — now

Now

Conor & I

"Conor and I have been friends for over 30 years. We live a block apart. Our kids go to school together."

— Ricky, Co-founder

Conor and I have been friends for over 30 years. We live a block apart. Our kids go to school together.

A few years ago, we started trying the hot honeys that were out there — and honestly, we were kind of disappointed. Not bad, just... not what we thought it could be. Generic. Sweet with some heat. Nothing that made you stop and go "what is that."

Conor has been cooking in Central Florida fine dining kitchens for 20 years. High-end ingredients are literally all he knows. So we started tinkering. Made a few batches. Refined it. Made more.

"We braced for someone to tell us it wasn't that good. That feedback never came."

Then we started giving it to friends and family — and we waited for someone to tell us the truth. That it was fine, but not special. That feedback never came. Everyone said they loved it. We kept waiting. Still nothing.

CR Hot Honey — the bottle
Small batch. Made by hand. Every time.

The Moment

Conor took a bottle — no label, no branding, just a bottle — to a private event he was catering. Put it out on the charcuterie board without saying a word about it. He watched the whole room gravitate toward it. People picking it up, asking what it was, going back for more.

That was the moment he turned to me and said: this isn't a hobby anymore.

Three weeks later we had FDA approval, labels, and we were in our first grocery stores.

30+
Years of friendship
20
Years fine dining
4
Ingredients. That's it.

CR Hot Honey is made in small batches in Central Florida using chile de árbol peppers — the long, thin, burgundy ones that chefs actually use — along with raw honey, apple cider vinegar, and salt. Four ingredients. Nothing hidden. Nothing artificial.

We didn't set out to build a brand. We set out to make something worth eating. Turns out those two things aren't that different after all.

Ricky and Chef Conor Humphries

The People Behind It

Chef Conor & Ricky

Chef Conor Humphries has spent two decades cooking in Central Florida's best fine dining kitchens. He brings that same obsession with quality to every batch of CR Hot Honey — because he doesn't know any other way to cook.

Ricky has been his closest friend through all of it. Same neighborhood, same school for their kids, same high standards for what food should taste like.

CR Hot Honey is the first thing either of us has ever put our names on publicly. That means something to us.

Try the honey that started it all.

Small batch. Chef crafted. Made in Central Florida. Ships nationwide.

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