Whenever I make a trip back home to Columbus, NC, I always like to stop by Mountain View BBQ and Deli to see how things are going there. As a past employee and chef, I occasionally sneak in the back door during slow restaurant hours to catch up with the owner Shane Blackwell and Jon Hampton. Recently, I was shooting the breeze in the kitchen with the guys when a couple bottles of this brown molasses-like liquid caught my eye. I asked Shane if it was a new BBQ Sauce or some kind of spice injection, and instantly his eyes lit up. "Man you've gotta try this stuff...it’s soap and Tawana Weicker makes it." I had to pause for a minute to let this marinate in my head. The jug of brown soap is made by my high school English teacher. Naturally, I laugh and ask him to enlighten me. So we spend the next 30 minutes to an hour discussing the cleaner’s uses, how it comes from "spent" fryer oil, and something to do with biodiesel. At this point I'm very curious.
The next step was to see if this stuff actually works. Presently, I work in historic downtown Savannah, Georgia at the B. Matthews Eatery, in a building and kitchen that dates back to the late 1700's. After I got home from my NC visit, I call Mrs. Weicker, and she ends up shipping me a gallon of WARHORSE. It arrives. So, I talk up this all natural soap with the guys, who could care less where the soap is from and about the process but just want to know if it works. With great expectations-- and even greater anxiety-- I bring the sample to the kitchen for a “deep cleaning” day, so this was a true test of what WARHORSE could actually do. With maybe 4 oz. of this green cleaner, the crew and I cleaned our entire line (steam tables, coolers, flat top, fryers, oven, etc.) I was shocked at how effortlessly the grease came off of everything! The crew was even more shocked that I found a soap made in the woods of western NC by an English teacher that worked better than any product we have ever used, and it works on every surface in our restaurant!
After a month or so of using WARHORSE, our entire restaurant has switched to this amazing product. From scrubbing floors and cleaning fryers, in one of the oldest kitchens in Savannah, to polishing the antique wood of Georgia's oldest bar, WARHORSE is the most versatile product in our family of restaurants and bars now. Weekly, it seems we find a new use for it, and the most amazing part is how gentle and green the product is. No harmful chemicals and the list of what’s in the soap reads like a recipe. With a much-needed movement towards a more sustainable and planet friendly products, not only in the food service industry but also everyday practices, WARHORSE is a frontrunner in this new market.
I have since visited the WARHORSE "factory" and have a better understanding of the process and people behind the product. Not only does this soap speak for itself, it also is a homegrown, grass roots kind of story with a person in charge that has passion for the product. I am hooked at first because the stuff is the best cleaner I have ever used in a restaurant and second for the person and vision behind it. WARHORSE is an affordable green cleaner that needs to be in every restaurant and home.
-Wes Sessoms
B. Matthews Eatery
Savannah, GA
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