Vermont Signature Sauces is expanding two ways—Adding two new flavors to their first class line of gourmet finishing sauces as well as taking steps toward new marketing approaches.
Karen Whitman, one of the original founders of Vermont Signature Sauces, has taken on Nancy Bazin of Westminster, Vermont, as a partner to help expand an already growing business.
The company produced it first four sauces in August 2011:
Chipotle Cream Sauce: The perfect smooth-smoky-pepper-blend. Gluten-free & all natural.
Delman Sauce: A luscious balance of sweet sherry, tarragon and orange with a cream finish.
(Awarded “Best New Product” at 2012 New England Made Show)
Marchand De Vin: A French-classic, buttery red wine reduction sauce incorporating a rich demi
glace.
Marsala w/Wild Mushrooms: An exquisite blend of sweet marsala wine, finished with crimini,
shitake and oyster mushrooms.
On July 1st they have plans to introduce a Pesto Cream Sauce—A wonderful blend of basil pesto, white wine and cream—and a Pomegranate w/Saffron Sauce—Both a delicious and popular ingredient choice, which includes saffron and warm spices. These two sauces are gluten-free and vegetarian. This coming fall they have plans to add a Sherried Orange Sauce and a Brandied Green Peppercorn Sauce to their growing line of gourmet finishing sauces. With the exception of the sulphites in the wine-based sauces, these products are all-natural, and wine is the “first ingredient” in these sauces. They use only the best ingredients and an example would be they use 30 pounds of mushrooms in every 20 gallons of Marsala sauce they make. “We cook our sauces as though we were serving family at home,” reports Karen.
The founding Vermont Signature Sauce Team began cooking in a commercial kitchen in Saxtons River. In August of 2012 the company almost tripled their customer list by focusing more on up-scale butcher/meat markets and found they did not have time to do it all and started working with a co-packer in Winooski. They are in retail outlets throughout the New England states, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Indiana, Florida, Pennsylvania, Texas and Arizona. The company also offers Free Sauce as a thank you to anyone who leads them to a potential retail account when that account becomes a Vermont Signature Sauce customer.
This year they have joined Buyer’s Best Friend, a gourmet food brokerage company, which Karen hopes, will put their product in front of major buyers; i.e. Whole Foods and Fresh Market stores. They have plans to work with Buyer’s Best Friend at the New York Fancy Food Show, which takes place June 30th-July 3rd. In addition, Vermont Signature Sauces is taking a step into export and are working with the Department of Agriculture for support in this area. Karen is also working on plans to produce their delicious sauces in larger containers for use in delis and restaurants that do not have trained chefs who would prefer to make their own sauces.
They are taking part of Vermont Signature Sauce Kickstarter project, which offers their backers rewards ranging from recipe cards that support the two new flavor introductions to a Marriot weekend in Northern Vermont that includes a private dinner tasting by Karen and Nancy. If you would like to take a look at this project, the link is:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1579668475/vermont-signature-introdu...