Mike's Hot Honey

The origin of Mike’s Hot Honey goes back to 2003, when founder Michael Kurtz was first introduced to the concept of chili pepper-infused honey while living in Brazil. Upon his return to the States in 2004, Mike began experimenting with honey infusions and created his first batch of chili pepper-infused honey which he aptly named Mike’s Hot Honey. Mike continued to hone this recipe and, for the next several years, enjoyed making small batches of Hot Honey for his own personal use and for family and friends. He especially enjoyed drizzling the spicy honey on his favourite food: pizza.

In the summer of 2010, Mike’s passion for pizza brought him to the, then recently opened, Brooklyn pizzeria Paulie Gee’s. While having his first pie from Paulie’s wood-burning oven, Mike met the restaurant’s owner Paul Giannone. The two quickly struck up a conversation about all things pizza. Recognising a shared passion for pizza, Paulie invited Mike in to become a pizza apprentice at the restaurant and later that week Mike began working at Paulie Gee’s learning the art of Neapolitan-inspired pizza-making.

A few weeks into his apprenticeship, Mike brought in a bottle of his Hot Honey for Paulie to try on a pizza. Impressed with the homemade concoction, Paulie asked Mike to make enough Hot Honey for the restaurant to use on top of their pies. Later that week, Mike began making small batches of chili-infused hot honey for the pizzeria.

Frequently, while making pizzas at the restaurant, Mike would receive requests from customers for to-go containers of his Hot Honey.  Eventually, the demand for Mike’s signature honey grew so great that it was only natural to go into business sharing this special treat with the rest of the world and thus Mike's Hot Honey, Inc. was born.