the beginning

Our story begins with a 15-year-old kid from Bondi who had just felt his world crumble around him after receiving the news that he had been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. Mishka had been living his life without a care in the world, long hair, leather jackets, skateboards and rock-n-roll were the only things he cared about. A local at Bondi Beach skate park, Mishka amassed a group of friends that he stuck with like glue. Although no matter how strong a bond between friends is, there is always something that can catch them off guard and threaten to tear them apart. Most would think that it would be over a girl or some sort of teenage rebellion, but for them it was the looming feeling of dread that one of them wasn’t going to pull through.

A core member of their tribe had just been diagnosed with cancer, one that needed an aggressive approach if it was to be beaten. Over 12 months of chemotherapy and multiple invasive surgeries were imperative in order to get the upper hand over this disease. Mishka was pulled out of school, forced to use crutches and walking sticks for a couple of years and had lost his teenage years, the years that were supposed to be the best years of his life. A lot of people would have given up, but Mishka is and never was the type of person to let anything get in the way of what he wanted from life. Five years on after all the surgeries, chemotherapy and setbacks, he got the all clear and was told that he was finally in remission. This is the moment he decided that no matter what happens, his dreams would be fulfilled to their fullest potential. As soon as Mishka left his hospital life behind, he began a new life, going back to school, finishing year 12 and even taking on an extra course in Music Industry.

After high school he moved to the other side of the world, Sweden, where he honed his music craft and cut his teeth as a musician for a few years before eventually settling back in Australia. The path of music continues to take him to places he never imagined. Living alone on the other side of the world forced Mishka to learn how to cook properly and take care of his diet. One thing he realised was that spicy food was hard to create without the use of hot sauces. Most of the hot sauces he found were either full of sugar, vinegar, carbohydrates, etc. and there was nothing in the market for the health conscious consumer.

After settling back in Australia he started working on creating a spicy condiment with none of the extra unhealthy additives, thus bringing forth the first prototype of Carolina Reaper oil. Initially, the Carolina Reaper oil was for personal use and the thought of building a company around it was unfathomable. Although, after hearing what his friends and family thought about this new condiment, Mishka realised that he may have created the solution to his own problem. Through various experiments, two more prototypes were born: Peri Peri and Chipotle. Mishka’s inner circle began insisting that he make more batches of the prototypes, bottle them up and send them so that they could add them to their own recipes and daily life. Through a series of variations, the recipes for The Carolina Reaper, Peri Peri and Chipotle had been mastered, bottles and labels had been bought and an industrial commercial kitchen had been sourced, thus the beginning of Bondi Heat had arrived.