Shop Around: Lattimore-endorsed sauces to hit shelves soon

When the October flooding hit Columbia, Yellow Dog Barbecue owner and Jake's on Devine kitchen manager Will Lacey's plans took a setback.

At the time, Lacey was getting ready to roll out production on bottling his locally famous barbecue sauces.

However, that setback turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

"Honestly, it's been the biggest blessing in the world that I hadn't bottled yet because I would have missed my shot," Lacey said.

In addition to changing his label, revising his business and marketing plans and adding a CFO, Lacey's sauce bottling business--Savvy Foods--has received endorsement from former University of South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore who Tweeted last week that Lacey's sauces are the, "Best sauce I've ever had."

"Having an endorsement from Marcus Lattimore is incredible," Lacey said. "I have been lucky to know some extremely genuine people in my life but when he said we had the best sauces he had ever had I was ecstatic," Lacey said. "He truly says what he means and we are hopeful to have the opportunity to work with him and his foundation in the future."

Since October, Lacey has worked with a family friend who is a craft vinegar maker in Australia. Lacey also attended a specialty foods show in San Francisco in January--a trip that he says changed his life.

"I came home and completely scratched my plans," Lacey said.

That involved creating a new design for his labels and re-branding the sauces not as barbecue sauces but as cooking sauces.

"The beauty of being able to cultivate these for so many years is I've learned so many different ways they can be used," Lacey said. "We're actually marketing them as cooking sauces just because of how valuable they are in the kitchen. From a cook's perspective it's beautiful because you don't have so many bottles taking up room in the fridge and the pantry. You can have one sauce that works differently for three different dishes."

Savvy's first two sauces to roll out will be a Tomato Dijon Fusion (known to locals as the Yellow Dog "Savvy Sauce") and Mole-Inspired sauce (known as the Yellow Dog "Dixie Blend") that is made with locally brewed Loveland Coffee's cold-brew coffee concentrate, a dark cocoa powder and a blend of chili powders.

"I've personally never seen anything like the Mole-Inspired sauce anywhere," Lacey said. "It's just so aromatic and rich. It quickly becomes a lot of people's favorite. I've cultivated it to be a little more multi-purpose. It's great with chicken, beef and pork.

Right now, Lacey is working to raise the final funds needed for the release of the sauces through a Kickstarter site (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/940908131/savvy-foods-our-first-sauce-bottling-run). Thus far, the site has raised more than $4,500 of Lacey's $17,500 goal.

"Once we reach our number we're going to approach Whole Foods, Fresh Market, Earthfare--that's where this sauce is going to be a big hit," Lacey said. "We're also going to try to get them in local stores like Old Timey Meat Market and Craft and Draft."

The sauces will retail for about $7 for a 12.5 oz. bottle. Lacey expects them to be on shelves locally within a month.