Boon Sauce started as a hobby. That's not a marketing line — it's just what happened.
Max Boonthanakit grew up in a Thai-Chinese household where chili oil was always on the table. Not as a condiment you reached for occasionally, but as a fundamental part of how food was supposed to taste. Heat, oil, aromatics — layered into almost everything.
When he started cooking professionally, that foundation stayed with him. Max went on to become a pastry chef, which sounds like the opposite direction from a chili oil brand, but the instinct is the same: balance, layering, building complexity from simple ingredients.
The chili oil came later, when Max started making his own at home because the versions he could buy never tasted quite right to him. Too thin. Too one-dimensional. Not enough going on beneath the heat. He started experimenting with his own blend — chilies, anchovies, shallots, garlic, fennel, Sichuan peppercorn — slow-cooked in canola oil until everything melded together into something that tasted like what he'd been looking for.
He started giving jars to friends and family. They started rationing their supply between batches. That's when he knew he had something.
Boon Sauce launched out of Los Angeles, small batch from the start. Each batch is numbered. The recipe has been refined over time but the philosophy hasn't changed: more flavor, not just more heat. The anchovies are still in there giving it a savory backbone most chili oils skip. The Sichuan peppercorn still adds that gentle tingle. The heat sits in the middle — enough to notice, not enough to take over.
The name Boon comes from Boonthanakit. It's personal, which is the point. This isn't a product that was designed in a focus group. It came out of a kitchen, from someone who grew up eating this way and wanted to make a version that actually reflected that.
Boon Sauce is still made in small batches in Los Angeles. That's not going to change.