Know-How Exchange : Taglines/Names

I appreciate the suggestions. Sweet heat is the flavor of the sauce which will change as I develop others. Here is more information that might generate more ideas for a name. My main ingredient that give it a unique flavor is Dr Pepper. Now I know that Dr Pepper has their own sauce and I can't call it DR Pepper BBQ sauce but to my knowledge I've seen nothing that says I cant use it in my sauce. So maybe a play on words might work. My name is Mark Light and I reside in Southside, Alabama (Roll Tide BTW). The city of Southside is referred to as Smokeneck city. (Long Story) People know me because of my 25+ years in the martial arts and owning a school in the local area. I also retire from the army as a Sergeant First Class. So more food for thought and I look forward to your suggestions. Thanks!!!

I love the idea that you were a Sergeant First Class! It has the very real air of toughness and has a certain flavor to it. My bet is that a slice of the market will love the idea!

BTW I like Saul's "Bee Sting Sauce"

So how about

The Sergeant's Choice. [Could also be the sergeants BBQ choice]
First Class Sauces - the first class sergeant's choice!
First Class Sergeant. Is your sauce this tough?

Mix 'n' Match [TM]

What do you think? To me the qualities kinda go together - and as a Sergeant of any kind or class, you're a proud man. It'll rub off on your sauces.

Moriarty, I really like your suggestions and I believe you're right it does give a toughness to it. I am going to play around with the names and see what other combinations I can come up with.

I would like to add something in contrast to what Mr Goodman says. Because asking questions of this kind doesn't really help matters. So I'd like to put his ideas the other way around - and make them a little more meaningful to you. Because you're looking into a fog right now, and there's no way of knowing if the kind of marketing plan Mr Goodman's suggesting would work ... or not.

So let's start with the things you do know. Those you can control, and you have the ability to change these things slightly to meet your customers' needs. This forms the first part of my style of marketing plan.

You have a product that will appeal to (broadly speaking) an army sergeant. Okay, so there aren't enough of them to make your product a success, there are enough people who would associate themselves with the image of being a sergeant. Work out what they want in a sauce, and give them exactly that. Using this you can start a small and localized advertising campaign targeting these desires, specifying what your brand does that makes it the First Class Sergeant's Choice. Generating this kind of interest online will give you an idea of how big your market actually is. You can also use a variety of brand names at this stage to find out which your customers like most. It may be that using just "sergeant" says more? Who knows, not me for sure. Your market does though, so ask them!

So now you have two solid pieces of information: your brand (tailored to your market through advertising responses) and the level of response you generated - and the rest should all fall into place in terms of a business and marketing plan. Given that all of the information you've based this on is genuine, the chances of forming a solid business is far greater.

All I can say is that you've got a great sauce and a great "image" (your First Class Sergeant). Even if there's not a market for it right now, I'll wager you'd be able to coax one out of the woods :-)

Online? For a single food product? The cost of shipping is likely to be higher than the cost of a bottle. Wouldn't you just make it, bottle it and start by selling to friends and local retailers and restaurants and then if it's making enough sales look for a larger distribution via wholesaling or large retail chains?

Yes Sir! BBQ Sauce

Kickass BBQ Sauce (too rude?)

Hurricane BBQ Sauce

Lightning Strike BBQ Sauce

Saul - for testing purposes mainly. Shipping bottles might be worthwhile if the person wanted it badly enough. I've seen dafter things put in the post - and that overseas.

I must say everyone's post are really stirring the thoughts in my head but I love. The more info the better I say! My business plan lines up more with what Saul said. I'm just getting started and learning about the sauce world and man what a big world it is. I've tested the sauce with friends, family and co workers and ask for everyone's honest opinion. So far everyone likes it. I'm now starting to give out samples to my friend's friends to generate more interest. I plan to hit some food fairs and markets to do taste test compared to other brands. I also plan on entering some sauce competitions and if I place well I can put on my label that is an award winning sauce. I'd like to start selling it at local stores and restaurants like Saul suggest and see where it goes from there.