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 smallbatch 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 smallbatch BBQ sauce with his own hands.

Then he has custommade 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 [email protected].

You can also direct any BBQ questions to Gene Goycochea from Cali Comfort BBQ at [email protected].

Miller and Sons BBQ Sauce Brewing Company online — https://www.millsauceco.com.

Rock Creek Lakes Resorts online — https://www.rockcreeklakesresort.com.

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