By Micha Green
AFRO D.C. Editor
mgreen@afro.com
Brothers Andrew and Nyles Burton turned their mother’s homeschool assignment of creating a business into a true money making opportunity. With their business Andy Factory and famous product, Uncle Dell’s Mambo Sauce, the two young men are not only creating financial opportunities for them and their families, but also inspiring others through their young entrepreneurship.
Before the Burton brothers knew mambo sauce would be their big product, they were creative children with a mom-teacher to impress.
Brothers Andrew and Nyles Burton turned a homeschool project into a flourishing business with their company Andy Factory and product Uncle Dell’s Mambo Sauce. (Courtesy Photo)
“Our mother assigned us business projects because we were homeschooled. I’ve been homeschooled- for me since the first month of first grade,” older brother Nyles explained.
Andy Factory is actually one of younger brother Andrew’s ventures; however Nyles has been there helping guide since the very beginning.
“Andy Factory is a company that I informally started when I was five- that’s why the name is Andy Factory and not Andy’s Factory. I didn’t know about the ‘s. Ever since I was five I’ve been selling stuff on the side- first it was cookies and then 2015 it was mambo sauce,” Andrew explained.
“I’ve been there since the beginning, mostly as just a help in the first stage. And what ended up happening was he needed help with the cookies because he was five years old and he wouldn’t pay me actually,” Nyles said, before explaining that their grandfather settled the score by emphasizing to Andrew the need for good businesses to have a payroll.
“It took me two weeks to pay him over $20,” Andrew recalled.
Days after Nyles’ 18th birthday, he and their mother sat down to officially incorporate Andy Factory and their signature mambo sauce.
The trio of Uncle Dell’s Mambo Sauce includes, original, spicy and their unique “Cocktail Mambo Sauce.” (Courtesy Photo)
“We incorporated it last year in August because of family situations and we wanted to make sure our family was secure in our future and make sure that we were able to provide,” Andrew told the AFRO.
In a little over 10 months, the young men have found major success with their famous Uncle Dell’s Mambo Sauce, which now has a trio of flavors that include their original, spicy and unique “Cocktail Mambo Sauce.”
“We started in August and we’ve been doing great ever since then… and we’ve sold at least 2,000 bottles by now, been on some news interviews, in four or five restaurants and we’re just continuing to grow every day.
While the entrepreneurs created the business as a means of financial security for their household, the product itself also honors the Burton brothers’ family.
“The name Uncle Dell’s- the uncle part relates to the beginning of me selling sauce. When I was younger I was really affectionate, and I’ve always been good at watching after kids, and so my younger sister Blair used to call me ‘Uncle Andy’ for some reason. So that was the original name of the sauce, but we found out that there was another company that was making a pretzel sauce and calling it ‘Uncle Andy,’ so we couldn’t use that,” Andrew said. “So we chose Uncle Dell’s to honor our late grandfather, Lt. Colonel Wardell Guyton.”
Guyton was the same grandfather who originally convinced Andrew to pay Nyles, but in general, he was a major influence and inspiration in their lives. As their grandfather motivated them, the Burton brothers hope to be inspirational to their younger siblings and other untapped entrepreneurs.
“I think it’s important because I have a younger sibling and he really looks up to me. Sometimes I work late into the night and he’ll just sit with me and fall asleep. And I want him to know that he doesn’t have to just follow one path,” Andrew said. “He doesn’t just have to get a job somewhere working for somebody and he doesn’t have to take his chances and ‘Am I going to get accepted to this job? Am I going to be accepted into this college? Is this going to be able to benefit me or do they want to help me?’ I want him to know that he’s able to help himself. He can provide for himself.”
