Daily Inspiration: Meet GW Watts Sauce

Today we’d like to introduce you to GW Watts Sauce.

Hello GW Watts Sauce, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
The history of the Watts Sauce is that it was created by my grandfather on his Kentucky farm in the 1930’s. The sauce was perfected by my father while living in Asheville NC, being a semi-professional barbecue grilling master himself, and the sauce became a kitchen staple for us and our extended family. While in college, my roommates and I lived on the Watts Sauce. We put it in or on everything we ate. Watts Sauce and Saltine Crackers was our Go-To for snacking!

My family found itself relocating to Chicago, Illinois, due to my father’s employer. While growing up, my parents eventually owned and operated a chain of restaurants, where I learned at an early age the art of creative cuisine. Food was at the core of my life from a young age and the Appalachian Mountains remained always my home. These two facts would eventually shape my future.

Moving forward a decade or two, after marrying, having children and building a professional consulting company, the family Watts Sauce was still a main staple in our immediate family.

Our children loved the Watts Sauce so much that they would not even eat their broccoli unless it was drenched with the family sauce. As they became teenagers, it became a family joke that the Watts Sauce would go great in or on any type of cuisine. “Put Watts Sauce in it!” our children would say. We began to take note of what food dishes did taste better with the Watts Sauce as an ingredient. Soon our excerpt recipe cookbook titled “Watts Cook’n?” was created and authored by me. We share an electronic version of this cookbook with every customer that purchases a bottle of our Watts Sauce. The actual physical cookbook version is sold on Amazon and a full volume cookbook is in the plans to be written in the coming year.

At the time when we began this creative journey, I was still working in Corporate America full-time. Similar to other business professionals, there comes a time when you are not satisfied to only work to make money. The thoughts on how to begin moving into a new phase in our lives were fueled through trial and error.

I had an interest in creating and selling a product. Before generating the Watts Sauce and all of the associated recipes and products, my wife, Wendy, and I started a handcrafted all-natural soap company. My wife had the knowledge of how to create handcrafted cold press soaps using all-natural ingredients while keeping the product non-scented and chemical-free. With our company, His-N-Hers All Natural Soaps, we began making, packaging, and selling four different cold-press handcrafted soaps. We did well for a small company, having some retail outlets and large customized orders for weddings and special events.

I must declare that I am a Chef, not by trade, but by practice. I am a Cook… A hardcore Foodie who loves to cook, grill, garden, and create fun, tasty, and healthy cuisines. Wendy and I create handcrafted sauces from locally sourced wholesome, and natural ingredients. We have local farmers grow our hot peppers and we buy all of our ingredients from local suppliers. Many of our recipes have become part of our food product line in which we create, package, and sell to our customers.

Through time, we discovered that many consumers are health conscious and desire locally handcrafted products that are created from either locally grown or locally sourced ingredients.

With the Watts Sauce, we have attempted to create a sub-culture for other foodies who enjoy creative cooking with handcrafted wholesome products. Most of our products are gluten-free, vegan, and free of chemicals and added preservatives.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I would say that it was when we decided to look into changing our strategies and energies towards the Watts Sauce that we found ahead for us both challenges and as well as rewards. When we first began the concept of selling the family sauce, we needed to know if anyone would even be interested in purchasing our “Watts Sauce.” Much creative brainstorming and marketing research needed to be done.

We began setting up a table at art & craft fairs for the purpose of conducting a marketing analysis and research program. We would market the Watts Sauce and cookbook to perspective customers with only samples of the recipes found in the cookbook. Our samples would be barbecue, hot sauces, salsa, hummus, and handcrafted mustard recipes. We discovered that people were interested in our product and purchased both the Watts Sauce and “Watts Cook’n?“ cookbook (Reward). We also discovered that most people did not want to make these sampled recipes at home. Their desire was to purchase finished packaged goods (Challenge). We decided to begin handcrafting our sampled recipes into prepackaged food products.

To accomplish this task, we found ourselves needing to obtain an FDA food certification and find a certified food processing facility in our area to begin making these products (Challenge). To receive my food management certification, I needed to attend a 3-month course and passed 7 federal food safety exams. This was followed with a variety of logo, packaging, labeling, and booth designs changes before becoming comfortable in how our presentation was evolving (Reward).

In our second year of sales, we had recapped the money our initial $5000 investment. By the third year, we had moved from a half dozen events (marketing research) to working 35 weekends that year. Things we’re moving positively forward in sales and public interest (Reward), but all the monies from sales were going back into the company (Challenge). By 2018 – 2019, our gross profits were tenfold. (Reward) but at this time, prior clients of my consulting company began asking for me to consider consulting for them once more. I agreed to engage myself back into the professional consulting world while maintaining the Watts Sauce company (Challenge).

Then in 2020, Co-vid happened!

Everything stopped for both my consulting company as well as the Watts Sauce. (Big Challenge). By 2021, we decided to sell our house in West Chicago and move back to Asheville, NC to establish The Watts Sauce here in North Carolina (another Challenge). Now in Asheville, we kept the family tradition going by moving to the family home that my grandparents had built; the same grandfather who created our special sauce.

The big question that was now in front of us was, “How will we be received in another state?” With GW Watts Sauce establishing itself in Chicago, IL, we were not sure how our story and products would be received in the Appalachian areas. We became quickly aware that we were well-received in WNC as we were in Chicago (Reward). I was forced to go through another 3-month food safety management course through WCU to get my NC FDA certification (Challenge), and then opened our FDA-inspected certified kitchen in Asheville in 2022 (Reward), We are so pleased with relocating our operations to Asheville, NC, and introducing our Watts Sauce products to the WNC areas.

Our company has expanded our product line immensely since moving to Asheville and still has a large following from our Northern Watts Sauce enthusiast customers. We had begun a wholesale business in Illinois, which is flourishing, and we are looking towards developing similar wholesale and retail partnerships in North Carolina. Even though most of our current sales are generated through Direct-To-Consumer channels, our e-commerce operation and sales have expanded to a nationwide proclaimed level and continues to expand each year. We have had some international customers reach out to us as well.

So, looking back, our journey from the beginning to present times has been mostly smooth and relatively easy. Of course, with everything previously mentioned, we faced many challenging moments of huge frustration and doubt.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are proud that GW Watts Sauce is a no-waste sustainability Company. 100% of our ingredients sourced to make our products are used; nothing thrown to the landfill. Our Habanero Pepper Blend Seasoning is dehydrated Chile Pepper pulp from our hot sauces and is a main ingredient in our handcrafted seasonings and mustards.

We try to offer the best in products created from wholesome and natural ingredients whenever possible. Our customers seem to enjoy our story, the delicious flavors of our products, and our creative way.

With future plans to expand our company with multiple volumes of cookbooks, new delicious sauces, mustards, seasonings and other food products with wholesale and retail operations, we are committed to preserving our delightful, handcrafted flavors expected by our customers.

Through the support from all of the Watts Sauce enthusiasts, we will remain the company that will continue to offer all foodies everywhere our downright Real Southern Hot-Spice-Tality! TM

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
My wife and I both feel blessed with the life we share together. Everything around us and about us is centered with each other. This happiness reflects throughout our lives with our family, our business, our travels, and our community services. We support many organizations which assist the community with many different functions and events. My wife and I had spent 16 years running a PADS kitchen for feeding the homeless.

On a personal note, we love to cook and create good, healthy eating routines for ourselves as well as our business. Making food and creative cuisines make us happy! In the past eight years with the Watts Sauce, we have been told by our fellow Watts Sauce enthusiasts how much fun it is for them using our products.

Watts Sauce – Downright Real Southern Hot-Spice-Tality! TM

Pricing:

• The Watts Sauce product line consist of certain categories for pricing: barbecue, mustard, cocktail, and hot sauces along with handcrafted seasonings. Single bottles of product, except for our Twice Shy Ghost-Reaper Hot Sauce, are $12 each. Our Twice Shy Ghost-Reaper Hot Sauce is priced at $17 per bottle. Gift packs Our 2oz mini hot sauce four pack is priced at $25.00 Our 5oz hot sauce gift packs are $42.00. Our Barbecue and Mustad Sample Packs are $18.00. We also have a variety of Barbecue Sauce Gift Packs which are more seasonal at many different price ranges $30 – 75.00

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.gwwatts.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gwwattsinc
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wattssauce
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gwwatts/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/gregwatts6800
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/cayennejunkie