Along with Target, SAUZ’s retail partnerships include Whole Foods, Central Market, Town & Country, HEB, Gelson’s and Mother’s Market, which will expand the brand’s presence from 300 retail doors in 2023 to 3,000 retail door and an ambitious projection of 2,500% sales increase by the end of the year, according to the company.
While meeting the “sheer volume and capacity required to fill such a significant national account was no small feat,” the brand continues to “cook small batch,” Troy Bonde and Winston Alfieri, co-founders, SAUZ, told FoodNavigator-USA in an email interview.
The company focuses on locally-sourced ingredients when possible, as previously reported by FoodNavigator-USA.
“As we venture into new channels, [we] firmly believe that increased awareness nationally will only strengthen our existing partnerships. We value each of our retail partners uniquely and will continue to support existing distribution with fundamentally different marketing initiatives and incremental product,” they added.
SAUZ’s national retail partnership with Whole Foods also served as a primer where the brand “deploy[ed] insights from our success … to ensure a streamlined launch at Target,” the co-founders said.
Debuting a Target-exclusive flavor
The brand also will debut a new flavor exclusive to Target – Cracked Pepper Parmesan – the first new flavor since the brand’s initial roll-out last year, according to the co-founders. SAUZ also will include its other four flavors – Hot Honey Marinara, Summer Lemon Marinara, Creamy Calabrian Vodka and Wild Rosemary Marinara — on Target shelves.
“Cracked Pepper Parmesan is a product that we have been perfecting for quite some time. In the meantime, we have been hyper-focused on continuing to drive meaningful trial and velocity with our core four products. Given successful proof of concept, Target was eager to bring Cracked Pepper Parmesan to its shelves to further innovation in-store,” the co-founders said.
The Target partnership emphasizes the brand’s “conviction that there is room — and significant demand — for a new generation of pasta sauce at scale” with an emphasis on novel flavor combinations that stand out from legacy offerings on shelves, the co-founders explained.
The Gen Z co-founders leverage social media channels to discover new flavor profiles and recipe combinations which also serves as another differentiating factor for the brand.
“There is no doubt that this is an inflection point for Sauz as a mainstream player and our focus continues to be on offering experiential, memorable and flavor-forward sauces to bolster consumer experience and in, in turn, build loyalty,” they added.
