People lose their minds over Ogre Sauce. Company generates $21,519 on a $6,000 Kickstarter campaign goal with 980 backers.

I just had it on my Frank the Ripper hot dog at JJ’s Red Hots and it was both unique and tasty.

You can’t tell me you don’t want to tear into this piece of Ogre drenched meat…

Growing and bottling the sauce

The sauce company was previously a side-hustle, but the team — Michael “Ogre” Weeks, Mike Vagianos and Chris Lawson — is raising money on Kickstarter to take it to the next level.

They’ve annihilated their original goal of $6,000 and at the time of this story, the campaign has generated $21,519 from 979 backers with 8 days to go. That’s a lot of Ogre love.

Money raised will go toward Ogre Sauce product innovations that include: Annual sauce subscription plans, craft 6-packs, new varieties such as vegan and spicy and work towards becoming certified organic and certified gluten free. View the supporter options.

Origins of the name and sauce recipe

“The name came from my nickname since high school, I was called Ogre,” said Michael Weeks. “It’s a family recipe that originated from my grandmother.”

The team has heard from happy customers that use Ogre sauce on ribs, salmon, chicken wings, steak, pretzels, Brussels sprouts, burgers, scrambled eggs, bloody Marys and much more.

How to get Ogre Sauce

You can typically find the sauce at JJ’s Red Hots, Earl’s Grocery, Reid’s Fine Foods, Blackhawk Hardware, Sandwich Max and 6 Whole Foods stores. They had one of those big squeezy bottles on the table at JJ’s.

You can also purchase Ogre Sauce on their website where options include: 16 oz bottle ($20), 12 oz bottle ($12) and a 1 gallon jug ($100).

“We can not keep this stuff in stock,” said JJ’s owner Jon Luther. “We cook with it and our customers use it as a condiment.” Hand raised.

Max Nicholson, the owner of Sandwich Max in Elizabeth, recently stopped me in the voting line and talked for three minutes on how his customers are obsessed with the sauce.