Launching a new product is a challenge, but the challenge most businesses expect is a way to create demand for the product. Even the best-laid plans need to be tweaked for unexpected hiccups in a product launch.
This is all too familiar to Pink Sauce creator Veronica Shaw, aka Chef Pii. Chef Pii is a personal chef out of Miami, Fla., who is also a social media influencer.
Chef Pii first debuted her Pink Sauce to the world on her TikTok channel in June 2022. The sauce looks a lot like she is smothering chicken in Pepto-Bismol, but luckily this is not the case.
Pink Sauce quickly became a viral must-try product, as Chef Pii’s website started selling the high-demand sauce online on July 1, 2022, at $20 per bottle and was selling out. That’s a short turn around from debuting a sauce to trying to mass produce the product. The quick retail debut came with criticisms on licensing and health of customers.
“I do want to let you know that we paused productivity, health is our number one priority. Their trust is our number one priority, making them happy. And bringing the pink sauce out properly is our number one priority,” Chef Pii responded to her critics on Today.
Walmart
Walmart Adds a Key Gourmet Partner
Chef Pii has partnered with Dave’s Gourmet, a company that produces sauces, which has labeled one of the sauces, Dave’s Insanity Sauce, as the ‘world’s hottest sauce.’
Dave’s Gourmet has been saucing up the world since 1993. After Dave’s Gourmet stepped in, bringing its 30 years’ of experience, it set out to relaunch the sauce to the public and it took the role of exclusive supplier and distributor of Pink Sauce. This partnership gives Chef Pii the ability to drive the Pink Sauce brand and leave the production to Dave’s Gourmet.
Pink Sauce still needed another partnership to bring its saucy wonderment to the world. Walmart (WMT) reached an agreement to be the exclusive retailer of Pink Sauce until July 2023. Walmart will have Pink Sauce in over 4,300 of its stores, and it will also be available on Walmart.com. Walmart has over 4,700 locations just in the United States, so not every U.S. Walmart location will be stocking Pink Sauce.
The sauce, which is vegan and gluten-free, can be added to multiple foods like chicken, fries, pork chops, veggies, and salad. Pink Sauce has been described to PopSugar by Marie Wright, chief global flavorist at Archer Daniels Midland Co., as a "twist on ranch."
Not Everyone Likes Chef Pii's Pink Sauce
The craze of Pink Sauce did not come without its list of issues. The personal chef from Miami made mistakes in debuting her unique condiment to the world, but not how you might think. She struggled with production and labels. The label of ingredients apparently misspelled vinegar and the servings per bottle also were listed incorrectly.
Chef Pii responded to her critics by saying, “Number one my apologies, my apologies, my apologies," she said on TikTok. "I’m only human, I am not perfect." admitting that she knew things did not get delivered as expected.
Meeting the public's expectations and enduring all the "feedback" did not put an end to Pink Sauce or its creator. It was simply back to the drawing board to make things right. The sauce was still selling out of stock despite all the critics of its taste, labeling, and color.
Chef Pii responded to critics about the color being not as vibrant as being pictured in the TikTok video by saying the sauce was made to be less bright after complaints of it being too bright. So naturally, now complaints were coming in that it wasn't bright enough.
