About US

It All Began In The Kitchen

David Ashley serves as President, Director of Marketing, New Product Development and Chief Alchemist for Ashley Food Company in Sudbury, Massachusetts. David has been creating all natural, mouth watering, and award-wining products since 1991.

Earlier on, 'round 1976, just round the back, a half mile from the railroad track in a town called Stockbridge Massachusetts, where they got three stop signs, two police officers, and one police car, David walked right in as the General Manager of Alice's Restaurant, made famous by the song bearing the same name by Arlo Guthrie. Managing a staff over 90, it was here that David claims to have learned the true value of fresh high quality ingredients and the fine art of mega multi-tasking.

The first steps of his own venture were launched in his tiny Brighton, Ma. kitchen..."The perfect barbeque sauce tastes great, contains natural ingredients, doesn't burn when you cook with it, and has a kick!" That's what Mr. Ashley was seeking when he started making Mad Dog Barbeque Sauce in 1985. Within five years, he was supplying so many salivating friends with Mad Dog; his wife took the next step and gently kicked him out of the kitchen and into commercial production. Ashley Food Company was started with credit cards, Ashley's stubborn determination and his very discerning taste buds.

Fresh-From-The-Kettle-Taste

To this day David ensures that every blend has a fresh-from-the-kettle-taste. All Mad Dog creations are made in hand-measured batches and cooked to perfection. Only the finest all natural ingredients continue to be used: fresh Habanero and Jalapeno peppers, premium unsulphured sweet molasses, the best Tamari (Soy Sauce) he could find, brewed in Japan, and fermented in wooden barrels for three years under ground to maintain the perfect temperature and rich flavor. We also use two kinds of imported cloves and the very best Caribbean spices and the exotic Bird's Eye African chili pepper containing their one of a kind fiery taste. Discerning might even be an understatement, with the above illustrating his consistent, mad dogged commitment to quality.

Chefs, Critics, Periodicals, "Chilli Heads", America's Armed Forces, Rock Stars and hot sauce aficionados around the world seem to agree wholeheartedly. Cook's Illustrated crowned Mad Dog BBQ Sauce as the "Original Best in USA". The July 2000 Southern Living named Mad Dog Best Original BBQ Sauce, adding that its is the "Best Bottled BBQ Sauce" they ever tried. Mad Dog Inferno Hot Sauce was honored as the first hot sauce ever to have the official title of the World 's Hottest Sauce, packing a 357,000-scoville hit that will blow your socks off! And in 2002 Mad Cat Hot Sauce garnered 1st Place Habanero Hot Sauce at the Scovie Awards by Fiery Foods & Barbecue Magazine.

His earlier beginnings at Alice's Restaurant might have planted the seeds for later stints working in the Rock and Roll biz. This included work with Led Zeppelin and Foreigner, and have now come full circle with business partnerships with Joe Perry of Aerosmith and Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead. David was approached by Joe Perry a year ago, who was an avid fan of Ashley's products, to create a new sauce to bear Joe's name. Thus Joe Perry's Rock Your World Boneyeard Brew Hot Sauce was born. The potent potion was enthusiastically received and is flying off the shelves with a slew of new products in the works. The recent partnership with Bob Weir, and his line of Wok Sauces, will solidify David's standing as the premiere purveyor of rock and roll hot sauces.

David has also finagled his way onto TV with his products appearing on "The Today Show", "Friends", "King of Queens" "Regis & Kathie Lee Show", "The Drew Carey Show", "Everyone Loves Raymond" and featured in "The Wall Street Journal", "Southern Living", "Cook's Illustrated", "Playboy Magazine" and the up coming movie Legally Blonde 2, as well as recent articles in the Boston Globe.

Constantly tinkering with new recipes and products, David's next concoctions will no doubt remain one of a kind in flavor and personality, like the creator himself.