Amy Lasley's dream of having a thriving food business was years in coming to fruition. From humble beginnings in a small farming community, she learned the basics of cooking from her mother. At the ripe age of 13, her mom, the oldest of 3 children, was put in charge of caring for the kids and feeding the family! Self-taught out of necessity, her mom developed into an amazing cook, blessed with a natural sense of spices and flavors, which she taught Amy.
As a registered nurse for many years, Amy loves caring for patients and their medical and health care needs, and she also enjoys feeding people’s souls with delicious food. She started making salsa and started her business while in nursing school, and found that making food brought out her creativity. Amy and her husband, Gregg, have loved snacking on chips and salsa from the day they met. Since salsa options in the stores were limited at that time, Amy decided to create her own - a unique salsa that would entice the taste buds with exciting fresh flavors.
After a year of experimenting with many different ingredients and recipes, and testing with friends, Amy Lasley's Rocky Mountain Salsa™was launched in 1991. After a few years running her woman-owned business with her family’s support, Amy hired her husband to handle sales, in order to grow the business. At one time, she and Gregg were selling at 6 farmers markets a week! Whew! Her son, Keegan, joined the company, and now all 3 family members produce the salsa, continuing to make the highest quality possible. Keegan is developing and launching new salsa recipes for the company, and he and Gregg have introduced the brewery market (and others) to Rocky Mountain Salsa.
As salsa sales continued to increase steadily over the years, Amy purchased a commercial kitchen for her salsa production. She also rents her space as an incubator commissary kitchen to about 20 local food vendors. Amy provides advice from her own experience, as well as space and equipment. This helps launch new food companies in Colorado! Northern Colorado businesses that work with her include: FOCO Pickle Company, Hot Gringas, Java Raiz, Loco Bueno LLC, Rouxful Gourmet, Shak-Shouka LLC (Middle Eastern foods), Koby’s East Coast Snowball Stand, Evans Front Range Salsa, Northern Lights Coffee Roasters, and Mac’N, Rocky Mountain Coqui, and other food truck vendors. Amy encourages Coloradans to support these small businesses and buy local whenever possible.
2020 has been their best year ever! Due to national distribution channels being overwhelmed this year, more restaurants, grocery stores, and individuals are purchasing from local Colorado companies like hers. Many Rocky Mountain regional stores and Whole Foods and Safeway/Albertsons, substantially increased their orders of Amy Lasley's Rocky Mountain Salsa™ this past year. From 50 gallons per month in 2006, production has averaged between 800 - 1200 gallons per month in 2020! And that’s for only 2 recipes! In December 2019, they hit the 10,000 gallon mark. This year, in October, they surpassed that volume and will finish past the 12,000 gallon mark in 2020.
Amy Lasley's Rocky Mountain Salsa™ is available at Whole Foods and Safeway/Albertsons in the Rocky Mountain region (UT, WY, KS, NE, NM), and at local NOCO stores such as The Cupboard, Beavers Market, Mountain Avenue Market, Lucky's Market, Overland Foods, Ace Hardware (Loveland), Hays Markets (Johnstown & Berthoud), Jax Outdoor stores, Heritage Market, plus stores in Estes Park, to name a few. Their salsa is also sold at Estes Valley Farmers Market in the summer.
