By 2027, the culinary sauce market in the U.S. is projected to be worth nearly another $12 billion or $55.3 billion annually. A lot of that money will be spent in the quick-service restaurant market. Here, an award-winning sauce creator talks about the pandemic's effects on the business and the path forward.
One of Golden State Foods' sauces for QSR chain, McDonald's. (Photo provided)
Any quick-service operators worth his or her salt, knows there's more than just a tasty sauce inside that cup with your chicken nuggets. In fact, given the right combination of ingredients and the right time, those cups might as well be filled with liquid gold for the difference they can make in sales, whatever the entree or side.
Got a great chicken sandwich? Make it even greater revenue-wise with an equally great sauce or sauces. Are those wings failing to take flight at your pizza concept? Maybe they're being weighed down by the excess baggage of the wrong or wrongly used glaze.
In fact, although sauces and spices — according to Statista — make up just 3% of the global food market, that's growing exponentially due to the profound effect sauces can have on restaurant sales. As a result, Fortune Business Insights projects that the U.S. culinary sauce market will grow at a CAGR of 3.3%. That will lift the annual U.S. sales number for these condiments from $43.53 billion in 2019, to $55.31 billion by 2027, the company said in its Culinary Sauces Market report.
That gives you an idea of the size and the potential in this area of the quick-service business. But as brands that have benefited from the ripple effects of a great sauce will attest, sauces have an uncanny knack for making even the most limited QSR menus more flexible, expandable and varied.
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| Zaxby's award-winning wings glazes. (Provided) |
To get a better idea of how prominent players in the sauce creation industry come up with all of these concoctions, we got the scoop from the company that created the Association for Dressings and Sauces' Sauce of the Year, Golden State Foods.
In a recent interview with this site, Mitch Dingwall, GSF senior director of Production Development, described how his Irvine, California-based company worked with Zaxby's, a chicken wing chain based in Athens, Georgia, to create the winning flavor: Caribbean Jerk glaze.
He also gave us a peek behind the sauce-brewing curtain so we could get an idea of how this pandemic-stricken year, in particular, has affected the whole business of QSR sauces now and moving forward.
Q: How has the pandemic affected the creation and demand for sauces across quick-service?
A: Generally speaking, QSR demand — and by extension sauce demand — has remained steady throughout the pandemic. Given the ups and downs that 2020 brought to nearly every corner of the globe, it's understandable that the desire for comfort foods … would be in steady demand.
Q: But the pandemic has severely limited the necessary task of taste-testing and the ensuant recipe modification, hasn't it?
A: Internally, Golden State Foods created and branded the Virtual Kitchen (VK), specifically used for meetings with customers. Thus far, GSF has hosted dine-arounds in multiple cities, product cuttings, presentations and happy hours featuring innovative beverage syrups via the VK. Specifically, the GSF chef presented for a recent Association for Dressings and Sauces meeting using the VK to share future concepts surrounding sauces and dressings.
Q: For QSR needs, what flavor profile have been hot this year and how do you expect that to change next year?
A:A trend that I feel passionate about — and am amazed that it keeps reinventing itself — is the "spice and heat" trend. Spices and peppers have such a rich history. (They were even used as currency at one point!) We continue to see these flavors being used as the backbone of new product line extensions and innovation. I'm always impressed with how chefs and product developers find new applications for these flavors and explore product boundaries.
I like to say, "nothing is new; it's only forgotten" with food. People often rediscover and reinvent past flavors. In particular, capsicum (bell peppers) and heat-flavors are appearing everywhere.
Currently, GSF customers have many requests for extreme heat, pepper varietals and other complex spice profiles.
Exotic flavorings like heirloom and other ancient varieties are also reemerging. I think you will see more of these spice/heat flavors in the market. Look out for these spice ingredients in your favorite hot sauces:
• Rocotto pepper (My number one bet! I expect this spice will become quite popular in the near future).
• Gochujang.
• Harissa.
• Togarashi.
• Sambal.
• Piri Piri.
• Shishito.
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| Dippin' it at Zaxby's. (Provided) |
From experience, consumers/patrons expect hot heat. However, consumers are increasingly interested in sophisticated profiles that include finer nuances of different peppers, the earthiness of their terroir and the fruity notes that are present.
Plus, the culinary techniques that may be applied by chefs and processing include toasting, drying, burning/charring, frying, roasting, pickling/fermenting, sous viding, which opens new worlds of flavor and culinary innovation, to be used in the product development process.
Lastly, this all ties into other macro-trends globally and regionally, to include "chef-driven" and "fresh and healthy" trends. For example, consumers seem to enjoy pepper and spice-flavored foods, as there is a potential health benefit in the reduction of fat, sugar, and salt intake when consuming spiced-seasoned foods.
Q: That Caribbean Jerk chicken sauce GSF worked with Zaxby's to create for their chicken sandwich not only won the top industry honors, but also garnered some real sales wins for the brand. Could you tell us about those?
A:The winning sauce initially launched in January 2020 as a limited time offer and then extended longer because the promotion was so successful. In fact, several times, some of the key ingredients in the sauce were brought in via express-air freight to keep batches flowing out and the restaurants stocked.
Right now, consumers are enjoying pepper and spice-flavored foods, so the "spice and heat" trend influenced this crowd-pleasing sauce. It has just the right amount of heat and a balanced flavor profile with familiar, yet authentic, exotic, intriguing notes, featuring a blend of mango, habanero peppers and island sauces.
Q: So that Caribbean Jerk Sauce was, I understand, actually a glaze for the brand's wing, and you also create dipping sauces, sandwich spreads and the types of sauces that you pour on or in quick-service offerings, so what's the hottest area for QSRs at the moment?
A: Definitely sauces! We're noticing that as interest in fried chicken sandwiches rises among consumers and QSRs, the partners we work with want to explore new, intriguing flavor combinations to develop complementary chicken sandwich sauces.
Q: Alright what sauces are paving the road to the future for QSRs?
A: I foresee more premiumization of QSR products, including sauces as differentiators. Adding allure and decadence to run-of-the-mill sauces might look like gold flakes as a luxury touch or Champagne-spiked formulations. Celebrity promotions around a favorite sauce is another opportunity for QSRs to bring attention to their products and promotions.
Anything that makes consumers want to share their experience on social media will continue to shape trends, and that certainly goes for photo-worthy moments and commentary around special sauces. … (And) considering the chicken sandwich wars underway currently, I say consumers most want a sauce that differentiates in a sea of sameness when it comes to the fried chicken-on-a-bun combo. Consumers have many choices when it comes to a delicious chicken sandwich, but the sauce has the opportunity to win them over and set one sandwich apart from the rest.
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December 03, 2020 at 07:28PM
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Laying it on thick: Sauce sales set to soar - Fast Casual
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