PHOTO | ALVIN C. JACOBS

Larry Swayne, who built Wingzza food truck into one of Charlotte's best-known rolling food stops, now markets Wingzza Mambo Sauce.

Larry Swayne walks the line between corporate life and entrepreneur.

Swayne left the corporate world in 2010 to become a pioneer on Charlotte’s food truck scene with Wingzza through 2016 and a restaurant in Hickory in 2015. Swayne also won Food Network’s Food Court Wars in 2014. The secret, though, was always in the sauce.

Swayne, who grew up in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and attended Morgan State University, realized that Mambo sauce, a sweet, tangy, sticky red liquid that’s well known where he grew up, was missing in other parts of the country. He bottled and sold it on the truck, restaurant and online.

“Our Big Mac of that time was our Mambo sauce,” Swayne said. “That’s what people talked about. That’s what they wanted. When you refer a friend to the food truck you say, ‘hey, you have to try this.’ For us, it was the Mambo sauce. People started following us around for the Mambo sauce. It was like, ‘wow, we really have something special.’ I added it to the truck, because it’s indigenous from where I grew up.”

Today Swayne and his wife Robyn operate Wingzza Mambo Sauce, which is available at restaurants, including Uptown Bar & Lounge in Concourse A of Charlotte Douglas International Airport. They were the first to ask for the sauce.

“That was when the lightbulb sort of went off,” said Swayne, who also works in marketing at Central Piedmont Community College. “Airport employees to travelers were coming there to have the Mambo sauce.”

It is also available at the US Foods Chef’s Store in Charlotte, as well as the Columbia, South Carolina store.

Swayne had spread himself thin between the food truck, restaurant and a growing family that includes son Carter, who is now 7 years old.

“The food business is a tough business,” Swayne said. “I had a newborn at the time. My needs were different. I had left corporate America to get into the food business, and I had to pivot out of the food business because the restaurant in Hickory didn’t go so well, even though it was a Food Network restaurant. It just wasn’t the right time and place for it.”

Swayne made the decision to return to marketing, but continued to keep the sauce component of the business alive.  

“It’s about balance,” Swayne said. “I’ve been in the corporate space, and left it to dive 100% into an entrepreneurial venture. Some people have tremendous success doing that. For me, I needed a little more balance and a little more stability. I’ve got one foot in both sides pretty equally. Working at Central Piedmont, I get to help the community and really help develop the city of Charlotte in a specific way. Evenings and weekends are really dedicated to my passion.”

Swayne will have a pop-up tasting event in front of Dupp&Swat at Camp North End on July 2 from 6-9 p.m. Orders must be placed in advance by June 29 at wingzza.com. Walk-ups will not be accepted. Bottles of the sauce will be available starting at $20 per order. Options include pops from Popbar and custom shirts from MacFly Fresh, both of which are Black-owned.

“It is going to be an immersive experience that really helps elevate Black culture,” Swayne said. “That’s why we partnered with other Black-owned businesses at Camp North End.”

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