If you’ve walked into an International Food Market, the local African or Latino grocery store, you’re likely to find KoTo on the shelf of spices, usually taking up an entire section with its hot pepper sauces.   KoTo was founded by Sierra Leonean Chris Bickersteth who currently operates the warehouse where the sauces are made in Dumfries, Virginia.

KoTo currently features six of its hot pepper flavors including its well known Hot and Mild Fried Pepper Sauce, Garlic Chipotle, Mango Heat, Pineapple Habanero, and Tropical Heat.  According to Bickersteth, some of the flavors are common among the Kroo of Liberia.

In 2016, KoTo took things one step further announcing the launch of its new set of Ginger Beer beverages that have also joined its other popular spices on the shelves of supermarkets.  The new KoTo beverages comes in four different flavors, Traditional, Passion Fruit, Sorrel, and Tamarind.

Bickersteth and his KoTo Team, which includes his wife Nemata, children and cousin continue to make waves in the community, landing their products in stores across the Eastern US in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina.