Hack’s BBQ Sauce (3/5)

This sauce was designed by a guy who’s wife is allergic to peppers and onions. Since he was making all of this custom BBQ sauce, he thought it might make sense to share the result of his hard work with the rest of the world. The end result – Hack’s BBQ Sauce – is a decent tasting sauce – even without the two very popular vegetables that are in almost every other BBQ sauce out there.

Upon opening the bottle, the smell is great and the consistency is thick – almost a bit too thick for what I’m used to. The flavor has that standard KC BBQ sauce flavor which is bold and sweet with a slight hint of vinegary tang. I didn’t find the missing onions and peppers to be a problem flavor-wise, but it also wasn’t a standout from other sauces in the category.

Another way that Hack’s can improve upon their sauce score would be to choose higher quality ingredients. One stand-out ingredient was the caffeine. Another first for me. According to Stephen, the sauce contains only a miniscule amount and came with one of the flavors… It could be fun to really ham it up when marketing that – JOLT BBQ Sauce!

Marketing thoughts around the sauce: The Flying Pig Head logo is kinda cool (not great, but OK) but the name certainly doesn’t resonate with me. It’s the nickname of the owner and creator of the sauce Stephen Dodd – and although I won’t poke fun at the nickname, it does imply a certain level of newness, almost like someone hacking together their sauce for the first time. If you are going to use the word Hack’s you might go full tilt on a BBQ sauce that is geared for computer geeks “Hacker’s BBQ Sauce” – which could go viral on popular sites like engadget, slashdot, and mashable and connect with an increasing online demographic.

Website:

http://www.hacksbbq.com/

Brian Henderson

Site Editor, BBQ Sauce Lover, Family Guy, Hi Tech Marketer by Day. He recently wrote the Ebook “How to Market Your BBQ Sauce” which can be purchased on this site.