Meet Rosa Salsa—One of Our Favorite New Texas Brands

Nick Fenn is an optimist—he says he comes by it naturally. So when he was laid off in 2024, he could either find another job selling software or he could go all in on his passion: the salsa he’d been perfecting in the evenings and selling at farmer’s markets on the weekends. 

“I decided to do the latter,” he says. “I thought, ‘Things are going to work out, right? Even if this thing fails, I know I can reinvent my life and be OK.”

He made the right decision. 

A year later, Central Market is launching Rosa salsa in its stores, giving Nick the opportunity to share the recipe his family learned 20 years ago while living in, of all places, Egypt.

Rosa salsa's Nick Fenn dropping off his salsa at Central Market

Rosa salsa

Nick with his Rosa salsa at Central Market

“My dad grew table grapes and made us move around a ton,” he says. “When we were [in Egypt], we met a family that was from Texas. And they were like, ‘Oh, this is how we make salsa….’ They showed us grilled salsa. It's really interesting because when you grill something, especially tomatoes, there's so much water and sugar, but grilling almost naturally caramelizes the sugar…. you cook the water away, which is really cool. And so when you blend that together, it has a thicker consistency.”

Nick’s salsa is so thick, you can dip your chip into the jar and it comes out coated in his hand-blended puree of grilled tomatoes, fresh herbs and ripe peppers. He calls it the “salsa that sticks,” and it stands out in a sea of traditional watery, chunky options. 

Watch Nick's Instagram Reel to find out why he calls his Rosa salsa "the salsa that sticks."

When he moved from California to Austin in 2021, not knowing anyone and unable to find any salsas he liked in grocery stores, he turned to the one thing he did know: his family’s recipe. “We were always the new kids in the community,” he says. “So we have a really close-knit family, and we were always making this salsa…. Every time we're back home, we're all around the grill…. It's funny when everyone goes to like their corners of the world, they make salsa for their friends.”

His new friends’ reaction was incredible, he says. So with their encouragement and his family’s support, for the next three years, each night after work, he perfected his take on the family salsa, crashing networking happy hours, setting up at farmer’s markets, passing out samples—asking anyone and everyone for feedback on how he could improve his recipe, his logo, his flavors. 

Check out Nick's farmer's market stand on Instagram

In fact, it was at a happy hour where he gave a sample to a man who suggested the name “Sabrosa” (“tasty” in Spanish), which Nick shortened to “Rosa.” And it was at his first farmer’s market where he asked the homeless man sitting next to his booth to critique the setup. (“He said it was terrible—I didn’t have any colors. It looked like I was selling candles. The next week we came up with the ‘salsa that sticks.’ ”) 

It was that drive to improve that led him to delivering his first store order Austin’s Parker + Scott the same day he lost his job. “There were basically two paths,” he says. “I could get another job or just take a risk and do something that brings me a lot of joy and happiness…. This is what I love to do, so I was like, ‘OK, I think this is my calling.’ ”

He emptied out his 401(k), rented a commercial kitchen space—you can’t grill vegetables in an Austin apartment, after all—and dove head-first into introducing Texans to what he calls his “soul food.” 

Taking that risk and putting himself out there, day in and day out, is paying off. Central Market ordered 2,000 jars and Nick is traveling Texas to personally introduce Rosa salsa to shoppers.

Nick passing out samples at Central Market

Central Market has had the one-man team busy, keeping him up until 6 a.m., grilling and blending enough salsa to fill his biggest order yet. It’s a good busy, though, he says, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. “My hands are feeling it,” he says. “But I was praying for this. For my 2025 goals, I wrote down ‘Central Market.’ And now, oh, my God, we got it, so I will sacrifice my body physically to make all these jars.”

So what does the future look like for Nick Fenn and Rosa salsa? Always the optimist, he says, “I’m really dialed in to winning over Texas, and from there getting into as many pantries as possible…. I'm not from Texas, but I feel very Texan…. Texas is very much a spirit, and I love how Texans support Texans—it’s like no other place I've ever lived.”