Sauce makers work for wider distribution

This was it, the big moment.

A dollop of Kevan and Laura Kipp’s barbecue sauce along with a hot nibble of sausage waited for customers at a booth at the Everett Home Show.

The show was the Lake Stevens couple’s first try at selling their prepared bottled sauces and apple butter to the public. They had invested $15,000 and countless hours turning a homemade recipe into a commercial product. The couple believed they had created something special. Would people buy it?

“We thought we were just going to stand there,” Kevan Kipp said. “But we got hammered.”

People crowded around their booth, snapped up the samples and then reached for wallets and purses. The Kipps sold 500 bottles of sauce priced at $5 and $6 a bottle. They didn’t sell all 60 of the cases they had brought, but they sold far more than expected. “That’s when we realized we could do this and make a go of it,” he said.

The Kipps have been working on starting their own line of bottled sauces ever since Kevan Kipp perfected a tangy barbecue sauce in their kitchen 18 months ago. In April The Herald ran a story about the challenges the couple faced turning the homemade barbecue sauce into a commercial product. Since then, the business they call Frawg N’ Turtle, a combination of their nicknames, is steadily growing.

Several businesses now carry their line of sauces and apple butter, including Double DD Meats in Mountlake Terrace and Miller’s Produce stands in Everett.

The couple’s Hot &Horsey Apple Mustard won first prize in the mustard division at Zest Fest, a national gathering for hot-food lovers in Texas. At that show, Kevan Kipp also sold hundreds of the bottles of sauce that he had hauled more than 2,000 miles in the back of his Ford truck.

“We were pretty tickled about that since we’re from Washington,” he said. “They don’t even know who we are and we walked out with a trophy.”

The Diamond Knot Brewery and Alehouse in Mukilteo offered to create a special menu using Frawg N’ Turtle sauces this month. The restaurant plans to hold a special evening for the Kipps on Wednesday. Customers who order dishes made with the sauces will receive raffle tickets for prizes, and the couple’s bottled sauces will be available for purchase. The special menu is available now until at least Oct. 17.

The work is far from over for the Kipps.

Kevan Kipp retired last month from his job as a military historian for the Air Force. That’s allowed him to concentrate on the business full time. He works 9 or 10 hours a day juggling myriad tasks. One day he might handle contract fees and permits for an upcoming show. Another he might drive a flatbed truck to Eastern Washington to pick up apples for the apple butter recipe that serves as the base for all their sauces.

“If you want to reap full-time benefits, you have to treat it like a full-time job,” he said.

The couple is mainly selling their product at shows and farmers markets. They’d like to get the sauces on more local store shelves and perhaps expand into Eastern Washington markets. Right now, customers who buy a bottle at a show don’t have an easy way to buy a second. “My job right now is to see where we can get the sauces into,” he said.

He uses a soft sell, calling businesses that might be a good fit for his sauce and asking for a face-to-face appointment. He brings sample jars to the meeting and tells the story of how the couple worked together to launch the business. He finds that other businesses like Frawg N’ Turtle’s story — they like supporting a homegrown business, and they like his sauces.

“If you’re in people’s faces, they really don’t want to talk with you,” Kipp said. “You’ve got to get the product in their mouths — but if your product is good, you don’t have to sell hard.”

They have yet to make a profit, although the sauce is starting to pay some bills, Kipp said. They don’t expect to earn enough to replace his lost income for at least another year.

They also don’t expect to become rich. The couple would like to spend their days working together. Kevan Kipp envisions them selling their house, loading up the RV with cases of sauce, and traveling around the country. Life would be a working vacation, he said.

“It’s not a hassle working behind the booth,” he said. “It’s like being at a party for five days.”

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