Next month – March – is National Sauce Month, so you might want to break out the bottles; it’s a good time to get sauced!

Often overlooked, sauces, spice rubs, marinades and other seasoning products can be a great addition to the specialty barbecue retail mix and a significant way to boost store traffic and generate revenue.

According to Chip Hearn, proprietor of Peppers.com, a retailer, wholesaler and online purveyor of sauces, rubs and seasonings in Lewes, Delaware, gourmet flavor enhancers offer the chance to increase sales with high gross margins in return for very little shelf and inventory space, minimal investment, and not much work. Hearn points out that while retailers can have difficulty getting customers to come back into their stores after a grill purchase, when they carry sauces, customers come back to replenish supplies or try new ones.

“Every time they return, it’s another chance to talk about that new pizza stone, rib rack or other product and make a sale,” he says. “Carrying sauces and spices allows the dealer to turn the conversation to food, and in the barbecue business, it’s all about the food.”

Sauces and seasonings are front-and-center at Adventures in Heat in Clarence, New York, just outside of Buffalo.

“Sauces, spices and marinades were the core of my business when I opened in 1999,” says owner George T. Booth, III.  “The grills, accessories and rest of the merchandise played supporting roles.

“It can be hard to convince dealers that sauces and seasonings are a good idea,” he continues. “But there are two constants I can count on in my store: One is ceramic grills and the other is seasoning products. They attract the most avid, experimental cooks who are willing to try new things. They can’t get these products anywhere besides a specialty store.”

L to R: Dan MacDonald, owner of Colorado BBQ Outfitters, with Daren Daniels.

Sauces, rubs and other seasonings play a major role at Colorado BBQ Outfitters, in Colorado Springs. Owner Dan MacDonald carries 300 rubs, 300 to 400 sauces, and a myriad of other barbecue-related gourmet products.

“If you don’t carry sauces, seasonings and rubs, it’s a huge retail fail,” MacDonald says. “It’s a must for anyone selling barbecue grills, otherwise you’re simply giving up revenue.”

Distributors can help dealers customize a selection of products to get started in the sauce business. Hearn’s advice is to offer a wide variety, but keep very little backup inventory initially until you figure out what’s selling. Experienced retailers recommend carrying an extensive assortment of brands and flavor profiles.

“People have different tastes,” says MacDonald. “If you carry only a handful of brands you may not hit on something that appeals to them. Taste is very subjective.”

MacDonald avoids the major brands found in grocery and Big Box stores and stocks only the “uncommon stuff consumers would otherwise find only on the Internet with exorbitant shipping costs.” He offers flavor profiles representative of nearly every barbecue style around the globe, and has learned that food-specific rubs, such as brisket rub, sell better than general, all-purpose blends. Ninety percent of the brands he carries are made in small batches by family businesses that bottle in shared commercial kitchens and ship out of their garages.

According to Hearn, sauces by competition barbecuers, hot-sauce contest winners, and celebrity chefs are becoming increasingly popular. Case in point is Rattler Barbecue Sauce developed by Chef Chris Santos, a judge on the Food Network competition show, “Chopped.” “Everyone wants to try it and it’s selling like crazy,” says Hearn.

Rattler Barbecue Sauce developed by Chef Chris Santos.

Rattler Barbecue Sauce.

MacDonald has also seen strong interest in sauces featured on “BBQ Pitmasters” or YouTube instructional barbecue videos. “You have to keep up with what’s being talked about on barbecue forums, websites and food shows to keep your finger on the pulse of flavors and techniques, so you can stock what your customers want,” he adds.  

Bruce Bjorkman, host of the syndicated radio program “Cooking Outdoors with Mr. Barbecue,” and author of The Great Barbecue Companion: Mops, Sops, Sauces & Rubs, named as one of Amazon’s Editors’ Choice cookbooks for 2014, says there are “a bazillion” hot sauces, barbecue sauces, rubs and other seasonings available, so “look for the most unusual.” He suggests retailers categorize offerings by regional flavor profiles such as Carolina, Texas-, and Kansas City-style. And, he says, locally produced brands are growing rapidly.

Retailers suggest inviting local sauce manufacturers to conduct demos or classes to promote their products. “It gives customers a chance to ask questions and creates a fun experience,” according to MacDonald.  

You can’t get much more local than your own line of private-label sauces and rubs. Booth offers two branded lines of spice rubs, barbecue sauces, hot sauces, and mulling spices, one named after his store, Adventures in Heat, and the other called Buffalo Spice, a nod to the store’s Buffalo, New York, location. He makes all of the products in small batches in a local, certified, commercial kitchen.

If you’re not ready to embark on brewing and bottling your own sauces and seasonings, wholesale distributors can sometimes do it for you. “We have 30 different barbecue sauces, rubs and hot sauces that can be private labeled,” says Hearn. “These are award-winning sauces; that’s important because if it has your name on it, you want it to be good stuff.” The company also offers assistance with label creation, UPC codes, and access to 1,600 recipes incorporating the sauces and rubs.

Beyond your store shelves, Hearn says private label sauces and seasonings can also be sold to local restaurants for use in cooking or as a condiment on the table. Other potential outlets include gift shops and other establishments interested in selling locally produced products.

“The label will say ‘Distributed by ABC Retailer’ not Peppers.com,” he notes. “In a lot of areas, local sourcing is a big deal and a way to differentiate from Big Box stores.” Hearn says that the most compelling reason for carrying private-label products is that, “Every time the customer opens their refrigerator door they see your label. It’s like an advertisement for your store that reminds them to call for grill servicing, to buy more charcoal, or to get more sauce.”

Sauces, seasonings and rubs also make great gifts and typically add a nice boost to the bottom line in November and December. Booth creates gift baskets using perforated grilling woks as the “baskets,” which he then fills with gourmet sauces and seasonings before wrapping with cellophane and tying with a ribbon.

“Sales are really good for Christmas, especially gift baskets with a local theme,” he says. “But gift baskets sell year-round for birthdays, Father’s Day, retirement presents and more.”

Some retailers such as Hearn have had success selling sauces and seasonings online. But others, like Booth, say the sales aren’t worth the effort. “It was a pain for me,” he says. “It probably could be good, but you really need to have someone dedicated to keeping up with the website and packing and mailing the orders.”

Hot Stuff

Rubs and sauces from Croix Valley.

Of all the types of sauces, spice rubs and seasonings available, some say hot sauces are – pardon the pun – the hottest. Since 2000, the market for hot sauce has grown by 150 percent in the U.S., greater than the growth of barbecue sauce, ketchup, mayonnaise and mustard combined, according to a report by Roberto Ferdman in the digital newspaper Quartz.

The market research group IBISWorld ranked the hot sauce industry seventh on the list of Top 10 industries expected to outpace the U.S. economy through 2017. The industry has enjoyed over nine percent annual revenue growth for the past 10 years and is expected to grow by over four percent annually for the next five years. By 2017, it’s estimated that hot sauces will be a $1.3 billion industry in the U.S.  

Today, spicy chili peppers are being incorporated into nearly every food category, from snack chips, protein bars and canned tuna, to hot dogs, cheese and chocolate. A report in The Wall Street Journal says food companies are jumping on the bandwagon because, according to Krista Lorio, senior manager of Consumer Insights for General Mills, “Where there’s spice, there’s a loyal shopper. You get endorphins when you eat something really spicy. That experience can create a lot of loyalty.”

“I’ve known that for 15 years,” says Booth. “Chiliheads are extremely loyal and very frequent shoppers. They’re always looking for the next hot pepper.”

The heat comes from capsaicin, a colorless compound found in the peppers’ seeds and white membrane that triggers the trigeminal nerves in the mouth, eyes and nose, causing burning sensations, and releasing endorphins that create a sense of pleasure or well-being. People get a “buzz” from capsaicin and “because they become used to the increased levels of the endorphins it stimulates, eating spicy food can be addictive,” according to the journal New Scientist.

This challenge to eat hotter and hotter levels of spice to satisfy an increased tolerance is one reason people keep coming back to the store for more, according to the experts. Another is bragging rights. According to The Wall Street Journal, spicy food can act as a badge of authenticity for a whole subculture of hot sauce collectors, bloggers, pepper-growers and bottlers, who like to boast about how much heat they can handle.

Whether they’re hot, mild or somewhere in between, experienced retailers say there is one hard and fast rule when it comes to sauces and seasonings: sampling sells. “I guarantee you will sell 10 times more if you sample than if you don’t,” says MacDonald. “Sampling is pretty much a requirement.”

Thin pretzel sticks or small soup crackers are the go-to sampling medium for most retailers, but Booth prefers tiny tasting spoons. “The flavors of the cracker can obscure the sauce; the spoons offer the cleanest taste,” he says. “And, practically speaking, you don’t have to worry about stocking crackers and preventing them from going stale.”

Using seasonings and sauces on food cooked at demos is effective, too. MacDonald sets out three or four sauces for sampling at every cooking class. “We might do one sweet, one spicy, one vinegar-based,” he says. “People taste and discuss the flavors and what foods they think would go best with each. It’s very lively and fun and leads to a ton of sales after the class ends.”

Besides sampling, dealer knowledge is the other critical component to success in the barbecue sauce business. “Customers always ask for recommendations,” says MacDonald. “We try to narrow it down by asking whether they like sweet or spicy and what they’ll use it for. I don’t mean to sound flippant, but 90 percent of the time, customers buy what I suggest they buy.”

Though most customers understand that taste is very subjective, MacDonald realizes the responsibility that comes when customers put their faith in him for a recommendation. “Meat and fish are expensive,” he says. “We try to get it right.”

This expertise differentiates a specialty dealer from Big Box, grocery, and hardware chains that offer seasonings. “Specialty retailers should be able to talk knowledgeably about these products, answer questions and make recommendations,” says MacDonald. “People love the interaction and guidance, and love talking about food and flavor.”

“If you are in the specialty gas grill business, you damn well better be able to tell people how to enhance flavor,” says Booth. “Sauce and seasoning customers will be your best customers and greatest source of repeat business.”

The world’s hottest certified pepper is the Carolina Reaper, with 2.2 million Scoville Heat Units (SHU), a measurement of capsinoids, or heat, in a pepper. In 2013 it dethroned the previous record holder, the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion with 2 million SHU. By comparison, the trendy Ghost Pepper, has “only” 1.4 million SHU, and the Habanero, for years considered the king of hot peppers, has a mere 500,000 SHU.