Sauce To Go Dilemma

A little background...

The Cha Cha Hut is a small mostly take out joint in upstate NY. We've got 22 seats inside & 5 picnic tables outside. We do not provide table service - just Order Here/Pick Up Here (though we will run food out if not too busy).

At any given time we have 6 house sauces plus one or two Sauces of the Moment. When customers want to sit down at the Hut to eat, we provide a six pack of sauces to use at their table. For To Go orders, we have a table with bottles of the sauces & 2 oz cups for customers to use to take the sauces they want. While both are figured into the menu price of every Q item, they are offered for free. We do sell 8oz squeeze bottles & 10oz glass bottle of each sauce.

Our sauce philosophy has been: "Take a few 2oz samples - we want to get you hooked on our sauces so you'll come back to buy a bottle."

And here is where the dilemma arises...

We're not seeing enough bottled sales with the To Go customers. Instead, repeat customers continue to take 6 - 10oz of sauce (depending on the amount of Q bought) even if we mention the bottles for sale. At this point, I am fairly sure this is adding about 5% (if not more) to our food cost each week.

So the question is - how would you/do you handle this To Go sauce dilemma. Sit down customers do not - by and large - abuse the sauce. It's more about To Go - especially those ordering dinner for 4 - 8. I know some sauce should be provided - we do not sauce any of our Q - but I cannot continue to give away bottle after bottle to the same people each week.

Any input would be greatly welcomed.

cheers,

We sell 10oz glass bottles or 8oz squeeze bottles (actually squeeze bottles cost more than glass) for $6. Small run sauces go for $8 (usually have exotic, local or expensive ingredients). We've been thinking the "ask for a sauce" with a tasting table where the current food cost leak exists might be the answer. I think Landarc is on to where we are going with this - the larger the order - the more 2oz cups you get (within reason).

Also considered a sign: "If this is your 1st time here - feel free to take some sauce samples. If this is a return visit, feel free to support us by buying a bottle." Or something like that.

Agreed JBrink & it would work well if I only made one sauce. Unfortunately, I made the choice to go a bit overboard covering the bases. I have:

Thundernagi (traditional ketchup Q sauce)
Sweet Lightnin' (brown sugar & jalapeno ketchup sauce. Kind of a KC sticky sauce)
North Carolina Vinegar
South Carolina Mustard
Go Go (an Asian BBQ style sauce)

plus usually 1 or 2 limited sauces.

So I do need to find a way to allow new customers to sample these before making their choice. Just not sure - other than having them eat in the joint with the six pack - how to allow the tasting.

Landarc - we do provide spoons on the current Sauce To Go table & direct folks to them for sampling. It's looking like the solution might be giving out cups based on amount of food ordered.

The biggest issue is our BBQ feasts - bascially a sampling of everything on the menu. Three levels: 1/4lb of each meat + 1/4 rack (The Mini), 1/2lb of each + 1/2 rack (The Junior) & 1lb of each + full rack (The Grande). We're thinking 1 4oz cup for the Mini, 2 for the Junior & 3 for the Grande. It's folks ordering these feasts that REALLY abuse the to go sauce.

Now if some one orders multiple Grandes, we do throw in a free bottle of sauce.

Decided to go with giving out cups based on the amount of menu items in a To Go order. Posted this sign by the register & sauce table:



Have spoons on the sauce table for folks to use for sampling. We'll see how it plays out this weekend.

Boogiesnap - avoiding the hassle of putting 2oz as most people would look at "2oz" & be put off. Hand them a 2oz cup & they seem fine with the size. Actually had a customer tonight get 2 cups for the 1/2 rack & only put about an ounce of sauce in each (2 different sauces)

With ribs - I consider a 1/4 rack to be for 1 person, 1/2 for 2 & Full rack for 4. Hence 1, 2 & 4 sauces. Of course, things do get wonky considering the Grande is full rack + 1 pound each of three meats. The Feast saucing - which by the way is the source of the abuse - is still a work in progress.

A very important part is COMMUNICATION to the regulars, the ones you do see often and know by either face or name. Take a moment and share with them why you had to change up the sauce situation. Be honest and share it was costing too much the way it was. Most regulars will be OK with an open, honest and direct communication from the owner. If not communicated to, they may make their own assumption that may not be positive. Such as "being nickled and dimed"... even when not the case. I hope your new plan works out, it sounds solid.. and 50cents is well worth 2 ounces of a home brewed sauce.

A bit of an update. We posted the sign & started the new policy a couple of weeks ago. So far so good. No one has complained & sauce usage has been reduced to a reasonable amount. We've even seen an increase in people buying bottles with the big feasts.

Smiter Q - we have been letting the regulars know why the change happened. Usually with a "I can tell you this - it's not you but a few people had to ruin it for the rest..." type of line. Most of our regulars are quite good about their To Go sauce use. We also usually slip them an extra cup or two.

dataz722 said:

i would agree with this. Would it be possible to give them a choice of 1 2oz cup or 2 1oz cups. That way they could get a little more variety if they wanted.

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Trying not to add to many extra items to the paper goods inventory. So far - we have not seen any real issues with the Feast orders. If they ask for a couple extra cups - we give them some. Most cases, they've just gone ahead & bought a bottle or two.