Five Hawai‘i-grown companies. Five original hot sauces. One big moment for local collaboration.
Leading the charge (and bringing the heat) is Maui’s own hot sauce maker HI Spice, teaming up with fellow Mana Up alumni for a fiery, first-of-its-kind box — dropping exclusively at Showcase 2025.
Each of the five new sauces features a key ingredient from another Mana Up alum —companies that, like HI Spice, built their businesses in Hawai‘i and stayed connected through the community Mana Up helped foster.
“We are always looking to utilize local products and produce to keep innovative flavor combinations developing,” says Justin Orr, co-founder of HI Spice. “We fell in love with the idea of using Mana Up companies to collaborate using their amazing products to infuse with our spicy concoctions.”
The box features flavor collabs with Big Island Coffee Roasters, Mānoa Chocolate, Kō Hana Rum, Wai Meli, and a fifth partner soon to be announced. The result is a mix of spice, creativity, and shared vision—all created by entrepreneurs who came up through the same accelerator and kept building together.
“Collaboration is the most fun way to share the creative coming out of all of these amazing companies! You get to take the best of the best, mix it in a pot (literally), and it’s guaranteed to come out a certified banger!!”
Built in the Islands. Crafted Together.
The first sauce that sparked the idea was Kona Ghost Roast, made with a dark roast coffee vinegar using beans from Big Island Coffee Roasters.
“We featured a Black Garlic sauce a while back with our Subscription Model and did a side quest by featuring a coffee-infused vinegar,” says Orr. “The Side Quest was a HUGE hit with our subscribers, so we reached out to BICR to see if we could use exclusively their dark roast coffee to make the vinegar.”
That same vinegar became the base for Manoa Mole, a rich, smoky mole made with Mānoa Chocolate’s cacao nibs, along with pasilla chiles, kiawe-smoked poblano peppers, and dried fruit. “It hits all the flavor notes—sweet, savory, and spicy,” says Orr. “Incredible on enchiladas or a burrito.”
The third sauce, Kō Hana Heat, brings in Kō Hana’s Koko Leka honey and cacao dark rum. “We immediately thought dark rum = Mai Tai,” says Orr. The team soaked Maui Gold pineapples overnight in the rum, then smoked and charred them over kiawe wood. “It essentially turned out like a smoky & spicy Mai Tai,” he says. “Crushes on fish tacos.”
Then came Lilikoi Meli Mustard, a spicy honey mustard made with Wai Meli’s Big Island honey, fresh lilikoi, and HI Spice’s house-made stone ground mustard.
“We’ve made a few experimental mustard sauces, but then the team blurted out, ‘Why don’t we make a Spicy Honey Mustard?’ They won employee of the decade,” Orr laughs. “This sauce is going to transform how your brain thinks Big Island Honey, Lilikoi, and Stone Ground Mustard pair together.”
The fifth and final sauce will be revealed once labels are in—but it’s crafted with the same local-first, flavor-forward philosophy.
A Shared Vision for Local Business
At its heart, the project is about what can happen when entrepreneurs lift each other up and stay connected beyond the accelerator.
“Collaboration is the most fun way to share the creative coming out of all of these amazing companies!” says Orr. “You get to take the best of the best, mix it in a pot (literally), and it’s guaranteed to come out a certified banger!!”
HI Spice sees this as more than a product release—it’s a model for building momentum in Hawai‘i’s business community.
“I love working side by side to help each of us grow as companies, and you get that being fostered under Mana Up,” Orr says. “But it takes it to the next level when all the companies’ sleeves get rolled up and you create something new. It keeps the creative juices flowing and fosters more and more innovation.”
A Celebration of Trust, Taste, and Teamwork
Orr says the best part of the project has been the collaboration itself—the trust, the creativity, and the shared pride in what they made together.
“I am so proud and stoked and honored of the final result,” he says. “To have these other companies green light the project and put their trust in us to make the final product taste as well as they turned out is the biggest honor I can imagine.”
Even better? The chance to connect fans of one brand with the work of another—and grow the local food community from the inside out.
“All five of our companies proudly represent the greater Mana Up family… how cool is that?! I am excited for our fans to now get to know these other amazing Hawai‘i-based companies and their products—and vice versa for each of their fan bases. It will be an incredible opportunity for fans of Hawai‘i products to think outside of the box and see how versatile each of the ingredients we produce can be when you collaborate with others.”
How to Buy This Limited-Edition Hot Sauce Box
Visit HouseofManaUp.com on October 26 starting at 3PM HST to buy this Showcase Special and many others. Also, make sure to watch the Mana Up Showcase 2025 Broadcast and Global Livestream to discover the stories of the ten new companies joining Mana Up's 'ohana.
Don't forget to register to win one of more than 65 amazing prizes, including free flights on Hawaiian Airlines, hotel stays, jewelry and much more at ManaUpShowcase.com.
And come shop with us in person at the Mana Up Showcase Marketplace at Bloomingdale's Ala Moana Center on November 6. Buy tickets at ManaUpShowcase.com.
