E.Z. Earl Heat Up Renton
A hot time in Renton
by Emily Garland
Earl and Mark Greiner’s hot sauces fit their labels: They are Blazin’ and Smokin’ Hot Stuff. The Renton father and son sell bottles and cases of their popular pourables not only on their Web site and out of their Kent warehouse, but also out of car trunks, at restaurants and over the front porch railings of their neighboring Rolling Hills homes.“Anywhere we hang out we have a little hotbed of customers who get to know us and know what we have,” says Earl, 70, who goes by E.Z.
E.Z. recently sold eight bottles and gave out six samples at a Bend, Ore., restaurant.
“I was just trying to have lunch,” he says. “The managers looked at me and I said, ‘I didn’t come here to hustle sauces, I came to eat lunch.'”
“The hot sauce has a mind of its own,” E.Z. adds. “We couldn’t control it if we tried.”
