My father is 81 and has been in business for himself for about 40 years. He first worked as management with a large grocery chain, then opened and had several convenience stores. He then had a grocery store and then ended his career with a b-b-q restaurant. When he had the restaurant he made his own bbq sauce. He had a major chain approach him about putting the sauce in their stores but he turned it down because he was selling and wanted to retire.

He has since gone through the FDA and makes the sauce, bottles it, labels it and then delivers it to about 5 stores for a independent grocery. This grocery however wants him to put it in all of their stores but he cannot at 81 manage that large of a order. He wants me to learn the business (the recipe and how to make it) and carry it to the next level before he dies. He was also approached by Ingles?s another large chain to put it in their stores. He does not have the bar code on the label however which this prevents him from doing that, if he could make that much by himself. The label has the ingredients and nutrition facts. A couple of years ago James Brown (the singer who recently died) wanted to go in with him, but he wanted to put his name on the label but not invest any money. My Dad turned him down which was probably the wrong thing to do. (He didn?t ask me, however).

I have worked for corporate America for 30 years and would like to leave and help make my Dad?s dream a reality. He wants to be able to leave something to his family. I would however need to be able to replace my current income which is above average and hopefully make money for retirement. I am a single woman with no other income with a mortgage and bills.

The sauce is packaged as Cheyenne?s Bar-B-Que Sauce ?Indian Grandmothers recipe(his mother was full blood Cherokee Indian) Favorite Flavor of the Old Sauce where the Good Old Boys make Good Old Southern Sunday Backyard Shad Tree Bar B Que.

Do you think this has potential and is worth pursing? What would be the best way to mass produce the product? Marketing? Financial?

Thanks for any advice you can provide.

You are between the hog swaller and hog swop. A few years ago I took a BBQ sauce into grocery stores nationally (Smiths, Albertsons, Krogers) and I can tell you what you need from the git go is a pile of money.

Getting a manufacturers number (UPC) is easy and less than $500. From there number you develope your own UPC codes for use with the product. Store shelf space is the most expensive real estate in the universe. Typically slotting fees (charged just to put your product on the shelf) run from $5000 to $15000 per facing (space of one product). The next most expensive item is marketing. Generally you are required to particpate in the store's circular, which is the most expensive print space in the universe. One of the small ads with a b@w picture of product and a price can run as much aas $1500 per week!

It can be done. It has been done. However, it's a long road to profitability.

Here's an irony for you, the BBQ sauce I did was "James Brown's Original". No not James Brown the singer. And here's the interesting part James Brown the singer tried to stop us from using the name and couldn't because we were in the market first with the trademark. I wonder....

Kent Capener
Capener Consulting, LLC
http://www.capenerconsulting.com