Texas Pete / T.W. Garner Food Company

Texas Pete hot sauce has been made in Winston-Salem since the 1930s by the family-owned T.W. Garner Food Company, which traces to a barbecue stand Thad Garner bought in 1929; the hot sauce was first sold commercially in 1936 and the brothers formed T.W. Garner Food Company in 1946, registering the 'Texas Pete' trademark on June 9, 1953. The 'Pete' is the nickname of son Harold Garner; patriarch Sam Garner rejected the proposed name 'Mexican Joe,' insisting on an American name.