Sauces and Condiments

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Chefs owe a debt of gratitude to the thousands of Prepared Sauce and Condiment manufacturers who sell to foodservice. Ready made flavor enhancers save restaurants lots of time and they make lots of money for Sauce and Condiment purveyors. Sauces and condiments account for more than 4.5 billion pounds of product and $8.5 billion dollars in sales to foodservice distributors.

A new report entitled BEST Report on Sauces and Condiments polled 2335 foodservice operators on their purchasing habits and preferences specifically focusing on 21 major product categories. Certainly there are more than 21 prepared sauces and condiments, but those in the table below represent a very large proportion.

According to the BEST Report, the five leading Sauces and Condiments ranked by tonnage are Ketchup, Mayonnaise, Pizza Sauce, Dressing and Mustard. On a dollar sales basis, Mayonnaise steals the lead from Ketchup, which drops in rank to fourth place. Some categories like Cheese Sauce, Salsa and a few others improve on their pound ranking and go up a few notches in sales rank.

		Market Size Ranking
		Pounds	Sales
Rank		(4.5 billion pounds)	($8.5 billion ex manufacturer )
1	KETCHUP	1	4
2	MAYONNAISE	2	1
3	PIZZA SAUCE	3	3
4	DRESSING	4	2
5	BBQ SAUCE	5	8
6	SOUR CREAM	6	6
7	MUSTARD	7	9
8	SPAGHETTI SAUCE	8	10
9	CHEESE SAUCE	9	5
10	SALSA	10	7
11	VINEGAR	11	11
12	COCKTAIL SAUCE	12	15
13	HOT SAUCE	13	18
14	TARTAR SAUCE	14	12
15	PREPARED MARINADES	15	13
16	*SPOONABLE DRESSING	16	17
17	GUACAMOLE	17	15
18	STEAK SAUCE	18	14
19	TERIYAKI SAUCE	19	19
20	WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE	20	20
21	PREPARED GLAZES	21	21

Chain restaurants use an estimated 57% of all Sauces and Condiments. Independent restaurants consume approximately 31% and institutions like colleges, hospitals schools and other non commercial operators account for 12% of volume. One chain segment in particular, QSR Chains, can boast in excess of 1.6 billion pounds of sauce and condiment usage.

Overall, Manufacturer Brands account for approximately 41% of total sauce and condiment product use. Distributor Labels and "chain' labels account for the balance at 59%. A few product categories, such as Ketchup, Steak Sauce and Hot Sauce show Manufacturer Brands with a slight market share edge against distributor labels.

MenuMine, an online menu information service from Foodservice Research Institute, tracks more than 8,000 various sauces and condiments on the menus of chain, independent restaurant and non commercial operators. A list of the top sixty is provided in the table below. MenuMine tracks incidence of use by menu part (appetizer, sandwich, salad, center of plate entrée, more) and by item type. Equally important is Application of Use because flavor enhancers occupy multiple niches as marinades, glazes, dressings, cooking sauces/gravies, dipping sauces and condiments. Items in the table below are ranked by menu incidence (read down in each column)

Mayonnaise	Marinade	Salsa Dressing	Oil & Vinegar
BBQ Sauce	Alfredo Sauce	Jelly	Butter Sauce
Pizza Sauce	Au Jus	Chili Sauce	Beef Gravy
Butter	Olive Oil	Drawn Butter	Hot Sauce
Caesar Dressing	Vinaigrette Dressing	Country Gravy	Soy Sauce
Marinara Sauce	Italian Dressing	Spaghetti Sauce	Garlic Butter
Tomato Sauce	Hollandaise Sauce	Margerine	Balsamic Vinaigrette
Sour Cream	Teriyaki Sauce	Chili Meat Sauce	Brown Gravy
Ketchup	Thousand Island	Remoulade Sauce	Lemon Butter Sauce
Mustard	Guacamole	White Wine Sauce	Nacho Cheese Sauce
Gravy	Garlic Sauce	Meat Sauce	Cream
Salsa	Pico de Gallo	Cream Cheese	House Sauce
Cocktail Sauce	Cream Sauce	Pesto Sauce	Honey Mustard
Ranch Dressing	Enchilada Sauce	Spicy Sauce	Aioli Mayo
Tartar Sauce	Buffalo Sauce	Red Sauce	Tzatziki Sauce

Flavor proliferation abounds for each general category of sauce and condiment. In fact, there are more than 100 variations of mayonnaise including:

Garlic Mayo	Chipotle Mayo	Pesto Mayo	Dijon Mayo
Spicy Mayo	Horseradish Mayo	Basil Mayo	Wasabi Mayo
Cajun Mayo	Dill Mayo	Cilantro Mayo	Ancho Chili Mayo

Each sauce and condiment application on foodservice menus has hundreds of flavor variations.

Cooking Sauces, more than 2800 on the menu including korma sauce, tamani sauce and posillopo sauce

Marinades, more than 400 on the menu including yuzu soy vinaigrette, tamarind marinade and tequila lime marinade

Glazes, more than 400 on the menu including cider pepper glaze, orange chili glaze and miren glaze

Condiments, more than 900 on the menu including veganaisse, tomato jam and walnut chutney

Dipping Sauces, more than 1000 on the menu including yogurt mint sauce, apricot jicama salsa and serrano pepita sauce

Dressings, more than 1100 on the menu including cumin vinaigrette, pina colada dressing and mustard caper dressing

Salsa Toppings, more than 600 on the menu including spicy apricot, green chili mole and mojo salsa

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