Savanah Sauce Founder Michael Roberson on Philanthropy and Profit

When life throws tomatoes at you — MAKE SALSA!

Necessity mandated that we start Savannah Sauce Company. Tracey and I were both downsized by our employers. We had purchased a Caribbean Sauce distributorship from a couple when we attended a shrimp and grits festival in Jekyll Island, Georgia. We could not find employment so we put ALL of our effort into making the sauce distributor work. It was tough and scary. It was 5 months until we caught a break by getting into one Whole Foods store (in Savannah, Georgia). The regional buyer required us to write an essay on why we should be allowed shelf space in Whole Foods before even being considered as a vendor.

Tracey is a United States Army veteran, and it was important to her to give back to fellow veterans so we took an interest in a tiny home community slated for homeless veterans. We developed two hot sauces, and we gave the profits [for sales of those sauces] to a local homeless authority responsible for the tiny home community. We were highly criticized for making this contribution by fellow business owners. We were criticized because we were a startup, and it seems foolish to give away our profits at this critical juncture. We, however, believed in our cause. 

There is a sweet spot in capitalism where philanthropy and profit can coexist. We have since taken up another cause. We make a very tasty sauce with an orange hue. There is a local HBCU-historically black college or university. Their mascot is the tiger, and the colors are blue and orange. We reached out to the dean of the school of business and suggested having the students start an actual company to market and distribute this sauce. Tracey and I will act as mentors for the students. Either one of us will give lectures and answer questions for one hour on Thursdays during the school session. The revenues generated from the sale of the Tiger sauce will be used to fund micro grants for students of the school of business. These micro grants will be competitive. Should a student wish to apply for one of the grants, he or she will submit their business plan for review by a panel of their peers and professors. When the student has completed their coursework and gained their degree, they will have real world experience as either an employee or board member of the created company. At that point, the students can seek full-time employment or utilize the knowledge they gained in running a company to start their own. We hope that other business owners will adopt this program and work with other schools in similar efforts.

Tracey’s experience in the US Army provided her with the skills to run Savannah Sauce Company as CEO. My 25+ years experience as a project manager in commercial, light industrial and heavy civil construction has allowed me to scale Savannah Sauce Company.

My vision is for Savannah Sauce Company and its family of products to be a household name as recognizable as Kraft or Heinz.

Our core team consists of Tracey Richburg, myself and Tanya Scott-Pilcher, who also serves on our board of directors and is our lead investor.

We’d like potential investors to know that when they make an investment in Savannah Sauce Company that they’re not just investing in a company or a product, they are investing in [the] communities where our products are sold.

I would really like to see Savannah Sauce Company run by a second generation, our children. We are grooming them to learn every aspect of our business and working on a succession plan [for them].