By Lon J. Berman, CISSP, RDRP
If you have attended a BAI training class you should have received a “special gift” from BAI – a bottle of “RMF Hot Sauce”. Naturally we hope you and your family or friends enjoyed our little spicy treat. Over the years, lots of people have asked about it. Perhaps you were wondering “Do they always do that?” or even “Why hot sauce?” We thought this would be a good time to finally tell the BAI “hot sauce story”. And, in the spirit of so many technology products, we thought it appropriate to tell the story in a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) format. So, here goes…
RMF Hot Sauce FAQ
Q. How long have you been giving hot sauce to your students?
A. The BAI Hot Sauce tradition began in 2006. It was DIACAP Hot Sauce back then and now it’s RMF Hot Sauce. So this year (2021) will be the 15th anniversary of BAI Hot Sauce!
Q. Why hot sauce?
A. Training providers have routinely given out pads and pens, coffee mugs or T-shirts to students. When we introduced our first DIACAP class, we wanted to do something a little different. BAI founder Lon Berman is an aficionado of all things hot and spicy, so hot sauce was a natural, and it turned out to be a big hit with our students.
Q. What if I attend one of your online classes? Is downloadable hot sauce even a “thing”?
A. Unfortunately, we haven’t figured out how to download hot sauce, or even how to send it by FAX! But don’t worry. If you attend one of our online, instructor-led classes, you will be sent a bottle of RMF Hot Sauce by mail. In order for this to work, please make sure we have a good shipping address for you (home or office, whichever works best).
Q. Do you actually make the hot sauce? Is there a BAI Hot Sauce Factory somewhere?
A. Well, maybe someday, but no, we do not actually manufacture the hot sauce. We’ve used a couple of different manufacturers over the years. Currently, BAI Hot Sauce is made by a company called J’s Small Batch Hot Sauce (jshotsauce.com). They produce and bottle the sauce and then apply our custom labels with the BAI logo and RMF life cycle steps. That said, we did conduct a “taste test” before selecting the particular sauce we provide. We hope it passes your personal “taste test” as well!
Q. Why such a small bottle?
A. Our original DIACAP Hot Sauce came in “standard” size hot sauce bottles, which are 5 oz. We quickly heard from some students who were upset that their hot sauce had been confiscated from their carry-on bag by TSA at the airport. Alas, “3 oz. or less” was … and still is … the rule for liquids in carry-on baggage! We switched to a smaller bottle, which, over the years has been either 2 oz. (the size of a Tabasco sauce bottle) or 3 oz., which we use now.
Q. Can I buy BAI Hot Sauce?
A. No, sorry. BAI Hot Sauce is normally available only to students who attend our training classes. However, from time to time, BAI attends various trade shows such as AFCEA West in San Diego, CA, AFITC in Montgomery, AL, or AFCEA Belvoir in Washington, DC. If you stop by our BAI booth at one of those events, you will most likely see a basket of hot sauce. Feel free to help yourself to a bottle.
Q. I have a bottle of RMF Hot Sauce from the class I took a few months ago, but I’m a little bit afraid to try it. Just how hot is this stuff?
A. I’m not going to lie, it does have a good bit of heat to it. But it’s nowhere near the heat level of those “physical challenge” type hot sauces you’ve probably seen. And besides, it’s got lots of flavor. Go ahead, give it a try! Accept the risk!