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Behind every bottle of Queana Ivory’s hot sauce is a story. And with her company, Fresh Eats LLC, she is setting out to build a new world of flavors.

 “This isn’t just an LLC.” Queana said. “Fresh Eats is a whole universe full of unique characters. The Confident Cayenne sauce is vivacious and confident, there’s also my Sweet and Sassy sauce. These all show how you can be different and bring color to the world.”

Hailing from St. Louis, Missouri, Queana Ivory has always had a bold creative instinct. Not only did she grow up with a passion for music and theater, but she has always loved experimenting with different flavors and textures in the kitchen. And when she set out to make the perfect sauce for her chicken wings, she realized that she was creating something special.

Queana moved to the Twin Cities as an adult and began documenting her life and recipes on YouTube to share with her family back home. With the encouragement of friends, family, and community members who had tried her sauces, she established a Fresh Royals LLC, followed shortly after by Fresh Eats LLC, and acquired a cottage foods license to begin selling her creations commercially. And from here, her creativity exploded; soon enough, she began experimenting with pickle, popcorn, and potato chip recipes.

“I’m a huge ball of energy and have so many different ideas” Queana said. “One time I poured a jar of hot sauce on my pickles and thought ‘This is so fye.’ So once I learned to make my own basic pickles I started experimenting with the textures and flavors. I really threw myself into it.”

Soon enough, Fresh Eats had built a following of excited customers through events like “Sunday Funday,” a weekly community tabling event Queana started at her apartment complex to hand out samples of her products, sell bottles of sauce, and get to know her community. She also graduated from Acidified Food Manufacturing School, became certified in Food Management and Sanitation, and began designing her own marketing materials.

After years of building Fresh Royals and Fresh Eats, Queana reached out to MCCD for funding to continue expanding her business. Working with MCCD Business Advisor and Loan Officer Tyler Hilsabeck, Queana designed a business and contingency plan for Fresh Eats. She then applied for and received an Advisor Express loan.

“Some people can really drain you or speak fear into your dreams,” Queana said, “but with MCCD I have not felt that once, and Tyler has pushed me to grow as a business person by thinking of things I hadn’t considered before, like a contingency plan.”

What matters the most to Queana as a business person, she says, is building community, not only by working with organizations like MCCD, but also by keeping her products affordable, encouraging bottle recycling to reduce waste, creating a loyalty program to provide discounts to customers, and attending events across the Twin Cities metro. She has also delivered many orders to Barnes & Noble for dedicated customers. “A business is not just about myself and what I’m doing.” Queana emphasized. “I also want to connect with other people. Spreading kindness and joy is a huge part of what I do.”

With summer now in full swing, things are moving quickly in the Fresh Eats world. Queana has a new, colorful tent with the official Fresh Eats logo that she will be displaying at the Mahtomedi farmer’s markets. She is also working on securing a mall kiosk, another space where she can build community and connect with people through flavor.

Stop by the Mahtomedi Farmer’s Market on Saturdays to say hello to Queana and try out her hot sauce, pickles, popcorn, and more. Stay tuned for her online shop, which will be launching soon at fresheatsllc.com