Joseph “Chaka” Santos chief executive officer and chairman of RayMik Corp. first started bottling his sauces on Oct. 30 1989 in Union City Calif. More than 16 years later Santos has around 20 employees and his sauces which can also be used as a marinade are sold nationwide at many different stores including Costco Albertsons Ralph’s Supermarkets and Safeway.

In a long distance phone call from California Santos told the Journal “Chaka sauces are the No. 1 selling marinade in Northern California. In 2005 we sold over 50 000 cases of sauce.” Santos could not give the Journal a specific number but said sales for 2005 were in the six-figure range.

Santos sells two kinds of sauces “Chaka’s” MMM Original Recipe Sauce and “Chaka’s” MMM Sauce Zesty Recipe. Both of the sauces contain no MSG sugar molasses chemical preservatives fat or cholesterol. Customers can buy the sauces online at www.chakas.com or www.chaka.com. The sauces are sold in whole cases with 12 36.5 ounce bottles of sauce half cases with six 36.5 ounce bottles or quarter cases with three 36.5 ounce bottles. If 36.5 ounce bottles are too big customers can also purchase a sample pack with one 14 ounce bottle of the original recipe sauce and one 14 ounce bottle of the zesty sauce. Santos said.

In addition to the sauces Santos is also introducing other products. He said “We are coming up with an array of pre-marinated meats and pre-marinated chicken beef and pork stir fry.” Santos also owns a restaurant in California called Chaka’s Come And Get It. There he sells a variety of different items including rice French fries and hamburgers. Santos said “All of the meat sold at my restaurant is charbroiled so it retains the flavor of the sauce.”

Guam residents eager to try Santos’ sauce can go to Burger King and order the Pika Wopper. The Pika Wopper is a regular Wopper with Chaka’s zesty sauce added to it.

Rudolph Rudolpho managing director of Pacific Fast Foods Associates LLC which does business as Burger King told the Journal “We were looking to add something new to our menu. Something with a local flavor that locals would like.” Rudolpho said that he had heard about the Chaka Sauce through an associate and after conducting taste tests decided to use “Chaka’s” Zesty Sauce with Burger King’s sandwiches. On September 2004 Burger King started selling sandwiches with the Chaka sauce. Rudolpho describes the sauce as being similar to finadene but thicker.

“At Burger King our motto is “have it your way.” If our customers ask us to put the Chaka sauce on other sandwiches besides the Pika Wopper we will do that for them ” Rudolpho said. He also said he has seen many customers ask for extra sauce and then use it to dip their French fries in much like ketchup.

Santos said “I wanted to do something special for Guam that is why the Pika Wopper is only sold on Guam.

“Our customers really seem to enjoy the sauce. Burger King likes to keep its menu fresh so it will advertise new items every month. The Pika Wopper is so popular that even when Burger King doesn’t advertise it people still come in and order it ” Rudolpho said.MBJ

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