About Oma & Popie’s | Small-Batch Hot Sauce & Seasonings made in Idaho

We Went Looking for Great Hot Sauce. We Decided to Make It Instead.

Hi, we're Gail & Jan Zarr, Founders of Oma & Popie's

It started with a date.

Jan told Gail about his love of dive bars, chicken wings, and the hunt for the perfect hot sauce. One date turned into a cross-country adventure, with hundreds of miles driven and a whole lot of wings tasted in search of the best sauces in America.

The problem?

They all started tasting the same.

One note. Bland. Boring.

So we decided to change that.

Sweet Meets Spicy = Swicy.

Back in our kitchen, we rolled up our sleeves and started experimenting. We wanted hot sauce with more: more depth, more balance, and that irresistible sweet-meets-heat combination we now call “swicy.”

Our first creation was Winging It, our original wing sauce and still the flagship flavor in the Oma & Popie’s lineup.

But we didn’t stop there.

We kept pushing, creating bold hot sauces, wing sauces, spice blends, and beef jerky that bring big, layered flavor to the table. Sweet. Spicy. Swicy. Sometimes unexpected. Always balanced.

Small Batch, Big Flavor & Made With Heart.

Along the ride we became grandparents, and now every bottle of Oma & Popie’s carries our name for a reason.

We make our products in small batches, obsess over our ingredients, and care about every bottle and jar that leaves our kitchen. We’ve won awards, grown our following, and found our way onto tables across the country—but the way we do things hasn’t changed.

Quality always comes first.

So does our community. We make products we’re genuinely excited to share with our own friends and family - and we hope you feel the same way when you bring them to your table.

Oma & Popie’s is rooted in tradition, but as you can tell, we’re not afraid to shake things up. We respect the classics but like turning up the flavor. No matter what, we believe great food should taste interesting, make you reach for another bite, and give you something to talk about.

Because at the end of the day, great flavor brings people together.