We have a good amount of Guests asking us if we would sell our Pie Sauce. Has anybody seen any success with bottling and selling your sauce, in-restaurant?
You can do it BUT you’re on thin ice. How will you ensure the safety of the bottled sauce? How will you handle and reported cases of illness (real or imagined) resulting from your sauce? Be sure to check with your local food safety inspector to see what they have to say and if you get the green light be sure to notify your insurance company of your proposed intentions to make sure you will be fully covered. If possible, have it contracted out so it will be produced by a reputable manufacturer and have all the required food labeling in place, then it’s just like selling a bottle of commercially packed pickles from your store, or a bottle of soda for that matter.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
We often get asked if we sell our dough. This is because so many people here have woodfired ovens in their backyards and have no idea how to make a decent tasting dough (ours has a sour dough additive, plus eggs which gives a great taste). They want it so they can replicate the taste of the dough that we have been known for. We don’t sell it because we would be giving them a reason not to buy our pizzas from us
I guess you have a great sauce and this would be the same reason. Easier to buy something tasting great every time from the pizza store rather than experimenting and doing it themselves.
I guess over the years KFC has been asked to sell their “secret herbs and spices”, Coca Cola their recipe etc.
Keep it to yourself. The self gratification of seeing your sauce in a bottle going out the door means one less pizza you are going to sell.
Dave
We sell dough pretty often. The people that buy dough are not going to buy a pizza from you that night because that is not the experience they are seeking at that moment. These are all carryout orders (as opposed to delivery). I do not see appreciable food safety risk in the dough sale.
So what happens… Customer calls and comes in. We get the chance to interact with them hopefully creating a positive impression. They buy something we make a couple of dollars profit on. We do NOT loose a regular sale and we stand to gain a chance for regular business when the experience they are seeking is a fully cooked pie.
On the other hand, I agree with the food safety and regulatory comments on sauce. Even though it is highly acidic and therefor not a huge food safety risk, the risk is still there… especially if they use it as a dipping sauce and do not heat it as it would be on a pie. You cannot just ladle some into a jar and sell it. We do not sell sauce. I do not agree with the lost sales position though. Again, that customer is not looking to buy a fully prepared pizza and will simply buy another bottled sauce at the grocery store while the interaction with them could possibly have created a customer relationship that was beneficial. In other words I see the other side of that coin; refusing to do it may give up an opportunity to sell pizza in the future.
If I were willing to go through the regulatory hurdles and thought I could sell a bunch of it I would go for it. Before I did it myself though, I would approach some small food producer and see if I could not get it made up in some reasonable quantity.
Pizza recipes are not rocket science. We have had a couple of hundred employees over the last 18+ years that could know how we make our sauce. I do not place a lot of value on a “secret recipe”. In fact, in my business brokerage and business valuation activity I would place no value on it whatsoever.
In the past I have worked for 2 employers that tried it…Despite the fact they worked diligently to replicate their product most of the packaged product sat on the shelves unsold and very quickly the idea was abandoned…
I know of a business in Santa Fe, NM that does it successfully. Not pizza but “The Shed” restaurant sells its red and green enchilada sauces by the jar. Excellent stuff. They are a sit down with maybe 200 seats that has a strong following. Enchilada sauce has more uses than pizza sauce too… but it can be done.
Dont sell your sauce. Its way too complicated than putting it in a jar.
A better idea would be to sell a spice packs, with directions on what to mix it with. Kind of like Good Seasons italian dressing.