Small Axe Peppers

Small Axe Peppers began in the Bronx in 2014. That spring, the team partnered with GrowNYC and Bronx Green-Up to donate serrano seedlings to five community gardens, with a clear commitment to buy the harvest at premium prices.

The next year, more than twenty additional Bronx gardens joined. Together, they grew nearly a ton of serranos. Those peppers became the original Bronx Hot Sauce and proved that community gardens could generate real, earned income.

Today, Small Axe works with more than 120 community gardens nationwide, but the model remains the same: distribute seedlings, purchase peppers at fair prices, and turn them into small-batch hot sauce. Revenue flows back to the gardens to support maintenance, tools, and programming. It started in the Bronx. It still reflects that foundation: a working supply chain built around community growers.