How to Bottle and Sell Your Own BBQ Sauce

Does everyone say that you’ve got the “best BBQ sauce?” If you have a barbecue sauce recipe you love, how do you actually get it bottled and sold?
On this Behind the Smoke look at the business of BBQ, Shawn Walchef digs into what it takes to create and bottle your own barbecue sauce, in a conversation with Cali BBQ culinary director Gene Goycochea and Steve Miller, owner of Miller & Son BBQ Sauce Brewing Co.
Steve Miller was a guest on the Cali BBQ Media “Digital Hospitality” podcast, where he talked about the journey that he and his wife undertook when they were handed the keys to a successful family resort in the Eastern Sierra Mountains.
Steve Miller brews his craft BBQ sauce from the Rock Creek Lakes Resort. After starting small and learning the ropes, his small-batch sauce and spice rub company now has products in more than 30 shops.
Selling BBQ sauce is never easy. In fact, it’s notoriously difficult.
Watch this video to learn about how Steve Miller and Cali BBQ had to work hard to get their brands’ sauces bottled.
Making our Cali Comfort BBQ sauces was a pain in the ass. There’s nothing easy about bottling BBQ sauce for sale.
There are a few basic steps to first consider when attempting to make and bottle your own barbecue sauce.
Step 1: The Recipe
You should first make a BBQ sauce that will knock people’s socks off.
Make sure you’re proud of your recipe before you rush to bottle it. Chances are if you’ve made it this far, you’ve already mastered this step!
Step 2: The Bottle
Steve Miller bottles his small-batch BBQ sauce with his own hands.
Then he has custom-made labels that he attaches to the bottles.
You can use any (clean) bottles you want, but beware the fact that costs can go up quickly with specialty bottles. It costs extra to be fancy.
Make sure your label design and logo stands out and represents the core of your brand. It should be consistent with your online presence.
And the sexier the better.
As we say at Cali BBQ Media: Remember your ABBs. ABB stands for Always Be Branding.
Step 3: The UPC code
UPC codes are where the magic happens if you want your BBQ sauce to be a product.
If you actually want to sell a product, you’ve got to have a UPC code. This takes time. Start researching the steps now.
We bought plenty of UPC codes to make sure we always have one available when we need one for a future product. You can never be too prepared.
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If you have any questions about bottling your own sauce you can reach out to Steve Miller from Miller & Sons BBQ Sauce Brewing Co. at [e-mail].
You can also direct any BBQ questions to Gene Goycochea from Cali Comfort BBQ at [e-mail].
Miller and Sons BBQ Sauce Brewing Company online - www.millsaucec....
Rock Creek Lakes Resorts online - www.rockcreekl....
***
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TWITTER: / calibbqmedia
FACEBOOK: / calibbqmedia

[@wsanchez102]

Thanks for such a great, easy to understand video. Very helpful. Will get to work and email you guys soon 👍

[@CaliBBQMedia]

Will Sanchez Good luck. Reach out anytime.

[@sixperch420]

What makes it shelf-stable

[@Movin2Elite]

was steve miller stoned? lol Reporter: "How did you get it bottled?" Steve: "ummm, so yea, first i make it, then i pour it in a bottle."

[@sasklion]

😂 very informative Steve.

[@joyboibob]

thats too funny lol

[@gridirongolf2928]

Wasn’t REALLY a “how-to-bottle” video

[@BlaqcRain]

it really wasnt ... the UPC code was informative but I wanted to know how to sterilze, pour and store .. and the how to

[@treyjoyner1932]

I'm obsessed with the round condiment squeeze bottles. "Squeeze" is my favorite word. My 4 reusable "16-ounce" OXO bottles separately have mustard, ketchup, honey barbecue sauce and pancake syrup. I love to play with my 20 other empty "Farberware, OXO & Tablecraft" bottles. I could try the 16-ounce bottles by Houseables and Pinnacle Mercantile. They're from the Amazon website. I like the "24- & 32-ounce" bottles by Choice and Tablecraft, but collecting 'em could be problematic by accumulating much space. I'm sticking with my "12- & 16-ounce" bottles. Your 32-ounce bottles are ideal for barbecue sauces.

[@gbear0157]

I've been thinking of doing this for a long time iv chefed for over 15 years at all levels

[@sierrarazevich1962]

I would love to learn how to properly seal and can it

[@joseynoyb9467]

Pardon my ignorance but how do you get it sealed up so it's bottle correctly and sealed and FDA approved and tamper-proof and all that jazz?

[@christophersmith2670]

Valid questions are NOT answered in this video, and that's what the title had me thinking would be the case. I'm not surprised to see you commented 9 months ago with no response.

[@fremontbrett4691]

Hey Gene!

[@sierrarazevich1962]

Im interested learning step by step I grow my own pepoers

[@kunatnat]

Where did you get the nutrition labeling?

[@JerryMabrey]

You have to send your sauce to a lab to have it tested which costs about $800 per sauce that was before COVID-19 it mighht be more now but check with your state manufacturers and distribution department, I was told in Colorado that it's not really necessary if you sell straight to the consumer you just have to follow their labeling instructions but if your looking to distribute to stores and or distributors it's a little different ball game then the nutritional tests and upc codes are needed. Right now I'm in the process of trying to get legal to sell my sauces and I just had an acidity review done on all 4 of my sauces and now I've contacted the "health department" or the manufacturing department which is pretty much one in the same for the next steps for a retail food license and possibly a manufacturing license but the way I understand it you don't need a upc or nutrition info to sell straight to the consumer but you do have to follow your states label requirements and thats in Colorado your state is probably at least slightly different. And maybe I will do a video on the subject after I'm legal from start to finish.

[@JerryMabrey]

And the names of the labs that do the nutritional stuff that I know about is EMSL Analytical and Certified Laboratories Group and they may have merged not exactly sure.

[@christophersmith2670]

@@JerryMabrey your response was 100% more helpful than this video. Thank you.

[@michaelgarcia1251]

THE GUY IN THE BEARD IS STONED.... LOL WHATEVER DUDE

[@IzzyEatz]

What temp did you pull that brisket??? Is it a prime brisket?

[@scottmeldahl8408]

Awesome video guys! I've wanted to bottle my sauces for a long time, but the whole heat treating and sterilizing of bottles has always made me nervous.

[@mikekraft7292]

Same here

[@nickcareless6068]

So what about health department and FDA regulations? It can't be that easy

[@journeywiththeneelys940]

It depends on your state

[@idriveeverywhere1405]

So many things that they missed lol You need a FDA processed authority letter and a food canning establishment number with the FDA and a state has their own regulations. It’s easier to work with a co Packer to make sure it’s done legally. Also the label needs to meet FDA standards.

[@JerryMabrey]

But using a copacker you have to take in consideration the price if your starting out with nil, copacker is probably not the way to go with cost of ingredients and jars,lids,labels, and having acidity tests done and then the initial set up and labor costs to produce it then not to mention alot of copackers have a minimum amount that they produce like one copacker sight needed a recipe for at least 80 gallons which was their minimum, and when I was looking with all of the tests and ingredients and materials I was looking probably 10k plus just for 80 gallons.

[@JerryMabrey]

And depending on the tests needed for your sauce and how your selling it, like through stores then some FDA tests have to be done and my sauces were looking to be about $1500 to just over $2000 for all of the testing and if I remember right (it's been a bit) but I think that was per sauce and I have 4 of them, so 6k to 8k just for testing for me, but that I think included the nutritional tests and the acidity review and there may have been some more tests done can't remember specifically.

[@sasklion]

It's not. Bottling your own sauce of any kind is an extensive process that flows through government regulations. At least in Chinada that's the way it is.

[@vitoschillngrill]

Who bottled it? I see plastic over the cap who applied that?

[@Donnablife]

Do you bottle your sauce when it is hot?

[@ValeCabron]

NO dont ever package or bottle anything thats hot 🥵 condensation will make it go bad quick.

[@davidneighbors5013]

The title is misleading.

[@therealdeal3601]

I really need here h***

[@christophersmith8875]

You need to rename this video "how to find out how to bottle your own..." Not impressed.