""Slavena Rodinova gives up a music career and finds herself on the family chili pepper farm. With her new perspective, in a few years she manages to increase Hot Farm's revenue many times over and launch the hot sauces to different parts of the world"
Just a day ago, Slavena Rodinova arrived from the United States. Across the ocean, she represented the family-owned hot sauce company Hot Harm, of which she is the CEO, at the major food and beverage industry trade show, the Summer Fancy Food Show, in New York.
Together with other Bulgarian companies, the company she manages participates in the Bulgarian booth, and Slavena Rodinova herself participates in a panel on stage. Despite the time difference, Rodinova returns full of energy and inspiration, and with orders for hot sauces, which will soon enter the American market.
"The competition is extremely high, but this motivates me a lot, because the path we have taken is niche for Bulgaria, but not for the world market. And what we do is quite different. Very few companies worldwide have closed the production cycle - from seed to final product. We go further and start taking care of the soil before the seed. The peppers we grow can be picked and eaten directly, without even washing them," says 27-year-old Slavena.
She has been the CEO of the family business for the last four years, during which time the family farm has grown from 900 square meters to 16 acres, revenues have increased from 80 thousand leva in 2019 to 628 thousand leva in 2023, and the Hot Farm portfolio now has over 80 products. She is also the face of the company on social networks, where she has a total of over 115 thousand followers, and all this has secured her a well-deserved place in the 2023 class of the "30 under 30" selection and the 2024 class of the "30 under 30" selection Europe.
You can read the entire article from Forbes Bulgaria here.
