By adding Maine-Tex Grilled Salsa to its store shelves Aug. 19, the West Falmouth Hannaford is playing a part in helping a Windham woman realize her entrepreneurial dream – a salsa factory primarily staffed by autistic employees.

In recent months, Stephanie Lay has produced about 200 jars of the new brand of grilled salsa a month in her home kitchen, with help from her 15-year-old son Bryce, who is autistic. Lay has sold the salsa at county fairs across the region. The West Falmouth Hannaford is the first supermarket to stock the salsa – which, she said, happens to be the only patented grilled salsa for sale in the entire world. It is available in three flavors, wicked mild, wicked medium and wicked spicy.

Lay, a native of Texas who moved to Windham in 2009, has been making grilled salsa since 2004 (“I’m from the South – we grill everything,” she said). Last December, Lay took a picture of Bryce cooking her trademark grilled salsa recipe, and posted it on Facebook. Within two days, 32 people requested to purchase the salsa, and within two weeks, Lay had received 109 orders. A friend suggested that Lay start a business, which inspired her to action.

Sales are swift these days, and Lay has since enlisted Bryce in the kitchen, where he sanitizes jars, carries produce in from the car and turns tomatoes on the grill. Lay said she has noticed a major temperament change with Bryce, who lives in a group home in Portland.

“When the salsa became huge, I started to get him involved and it seemed to calm him down and give him a sense of purpose,” she said. “It’s not only calming him down but it’s also giving him pride. You can see the sense of pride on his face when he’s doing these things, when he’s helping me.”

Lay’s intermediate goal is to move production to a commercial kitchen and get the salsa stocked in as many supermarkets as possible. A longtime autism activist who has testified in favor of autism-related legislation in Augusta, Lay would eventually like to start a factory where 80 percent of the workers are people on the autism spectrum. Once Maine-Tex Salsa becomes profitable, Lay said, a portion of the proceeds would go to another entity that she started, the Special Foundation for Autism. The foundation would then hire “one-on-one” behavioral aides to help the autistic Maine-Tex Salsa employees on the job at the Windham salsa factory, according to Andrea Myhaver, the president of the foundation.

“They need that one-on-one coaching and help, so that’s where special help comes into play because we’ll actually have staff that are skilled with working with people on the spectrum to do that one-on-one coaching,” she said.

In the immediate future, Lay plans to move her salsa production operations into Danielle’s Sebago Diner. The diner has offered her access to the kitchen during off-hours, and Lay believes the commercial kitchen space will give her the capability to produce 500 jars of salsa a day.

To Lay, it’s been a “crazy” but fulfilling year.

“I have always treated my son like my son, but I’ve always treated my son’s autism like a business,” Lay said. “I’ve been enjoying doing this because somebody had asked me, ‘Are you going to be stressed out running a business?’ I said I would much rather be stressed about running a business than stressed about my son banging his head 25 to 30 times a day.”

To Tom Bartell, the executive director of the Windham Economic Development Corp., Lay’s drive is simply impressive.

“I am somewhat amazed, let’s put it that way, at what she’s been able to do and the drive that she has in order to not only produce a product and develop a product and get it on store shelves but do it in a away that will incorporate her vision for helping people with autism and making their lives more productive and showing what they can do,” Bartell said.

The Lay enterprise isn’t Windham’s first foray into salsa production. Two years ago, Kelly Towle of Windham created Fresh Plucked Salsa in her home-based industrial kitchen. The salsa can be found in hundreds of locations including restaurants such as Pat’s Pizza and Rustler’s Steak House as well as Whole Foods Market in Portland.

Stephanie Lay, of Windham, stands with her son Bryce in their East Windham home. Together, they have produced jars of Maine-Tex Grilled Salsa in her kitchen in recent months. Lay hopes to open a salsa factory in Windham in the near future. Staff photo by Ezra SilkBryce Lay, 15, of Windham, stands at the West Falmouth Hannaford supermarket with dozens of jars of Maine-Tex Grilled Salsa that he helped produce with his mother, Stephanie Lay. Stephanie Lay started Maine-Tex Salsa after she posted a photo of Bryce Lay grilling the salsa on Facebook, and a friend encouraged her to start a business. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lay