Oct. 7, 2021

One man’s desire to make enchiladas at home that tasted as good as those in a restaurant has led to a startup.

Ed Paquette has created Drunkle Ed’s enchilada sauce, and it’s starting to find a home on local grocery store shelves.

“I just love enchiladas and Mexican food and was sick of only being able to order at a restaurant. I wanted to make them at home, but Old El Paso is just water in a can.”

Paquette, who most recently worked in marketing in Rapid City before returning East River, decided to perfect his own sauce and found that it was a hit with family and friends. He began selling jars of it at craft shows earlier this year along with the furniture, custom frames and paintings he creates.

“It became instantly a big success,” he said. “None of my work would sell, but my enchilada sauce would sell out. I thought I might be on to something.”

He needed a name for his business and came up with Drunkle Ed’s, which his nieces started calling him along with another of their “drunk uncles” at family gatherings years ago.

“We were always the only ones allowed to drink at the barbecues,” he joked, noting that they likely weren’t even inebriated.

To grow his business, he knew he needed to expand production beyond his kitchen. He’d read about how Julio Espino had taken Inca Salsa from the Sioux Falls restaurant into mass production and sales through grocery stores and reached out to him.

“He just held my hand and said ‘Here’s what you have to do if you want to get to where I am.’”

Paquette said he was grateful for Espino’s help, which came with no expectations of getting anything in return.

Espino said he was happy to guide a fellow entrepreneur.

“Our mission on this planet is to share our experiences, so there’s sunshine for everyone,” he said.

“He did it exactly as I suggested, and it worked out. Now, he’s in several stores, even more than I expected” in that short amount of time, Espino said.

Paquette found a co-packer in Minneapolis who follows his recipe and bottles the sauce, and he started meeting with grocery store managers to convince them to carry it.

Drunkle Ed’s is available at grocery stores such as the Sioux Falls Food Co+op and Hy-Vee and Fareway locations in the area. He keeps a list of where it’s available on DrunkleEds.com. The website also features recipes that he and family members have created.

Paquette said he usually makes the cheese ones because he can have a pan in the oven within five minutes.

Because Drunkle Ed’s is a small operation, he’s responsible for restocking his own product on store shelves. He kept busy placing the first 1,000 jars and is waiting for his next order of product to arrive.

For now, he has one sauce, which is red, but he’s working to expand his product line into different varieties and new types of sauces.

He considers the original enchilada sauce medium spicy. “It’s certainly not hot. It does have a little kick.”

His goal of making a sauce that’s as good as one served in a restaurant has been met.

“It’s the highest-quality enchilada sauce you will find. I’ve had restaurants that want to buy it.”

And Espino, the former owner of Inca Mexican Restaurant, is impressed with the product.

“Absolutely, I love it. It’s a great quality sauce for enchiladas.”