Always Flavored, a women-owned and community-owned business, recently opened a new location at 610 Caroline St. in downtown Fredericksburg. The bistro and market sells breakfast items and sandwiches, as well as “flavor of the week” specials curated by owner Rita Witte.Always Flavored, a women-owned and community-owned business, recently opened a new location at 610 Caroline St. in downtown Fredericksburg. The bistro and market sells breakfast items and sandwiches, as well as “flavor of the week” specials curated by owner Rita Witte. Witte began making hot sauces during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to use up excess vegetables from her garden. She quickly discovered that she had a talent for creating unique and flavorful sauces. Her Ritabeata’s Mild Sauce and Ritabeata’s Sweet Virginia Love BBQ Sauce won two “Scovie Awards” in 2023. In addition to its recently reopened location on Caroline Street in downtown Fredericksburg, Always Flavored has a location in Stafford that serves as a production kitchen for all of its hot sauces, seasonings, and other condiments. Witte’s hot sauces and seasonings are also available for purchase online.
Always Flavored offers various hot sauces and characteristic regional rolls. (Photo by Noëlle Clark)
What started as a way for Rita Witte to get rid of some overgrown vegetables in her garden in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic quickly turned out to be a fruitful endeavor.
“I became a butcher, baker and candlestick maker and had a garden during COVID,” Witte said. “We had too many hot peppers and decided I would teach myself how to make hot sauce. I let my friends and family try it and they really enjoyed it and the rest is history.
The final chapter of that history took place on June 21, when Witte opened a new location of Always Flavored, a women-owned and community-owned business, at 610 Caroline St. in downtown Fredericksburg. The bistro and market sells breakfast items and sandwiches and also offers “flavor of the week” specials curated by Witte.
When you first walk into the restaurant, the wall near the entrance displays the various hot sauces, seasonings and condiments, all made by Witte. In addition to its recently reopened location on Caroline Street in downtown Fredericksburg, Always Flavored has a location in Stafford that serves as a production kitchen for all of its hot sauces, seasonings and other condiments.
Witte won two “Scovie Awards” for one of her hot sauces, Ritabeata’s Mild Sauce, and her BBQ sauce, Ritabeata’s Sweet Virginia Love BBQ Sauce in 2023. The award is a nod to the Scoville scale, a benchmark for spiciness of peppers.
Witte strives to combine her unique sauces and seasonings with traditional dishes from all over the country.
“I try to find sandwiches that are unique and that we can use our sauces and spices to make it a little more unique or to make people feel at home,” Witte said. “We have a Cuban sandwich and people tell us that our Cuban sandwich is the best they’ve had since they’ve been in Miami, where it actually originated.”
Another popular sandwich at Always Flavored is the Muffaletta, a sandwich that originated in New Orleans and features Ritabeata’s Hot Sauce.
“One of my favorite places to visit is New Orleans,” Witte said. “I spent my first holiday there with my husband, so if we can give people a taste of that from there, then we have done our job.”
According to Witte, every time she let people taste the hot sauces she made, they always asked her to make a hotter sauce. The first sauce Witte made was Ritabeata’s Mild Green Hot Sauce, a green hot sauce. Then came her Ritabeata’s Hot Sauce, which can be used on any food for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
“I made our Thai chili sauce at our first event, The Frosty Brew Thru at the Fredericksburg Fairgrounds in January 2021,” Witte said. “That was our first official sale and then we were inspected and licensed. Then it all blew up because demand from our customers has grown over the years.”
