Boutique Sauces | Celebrating Australian Food and Agribusiness Innovations 2021
Regan and Daniel Facey founded Boutique Sauces on the back of a passion for cooking and entertaining and a desire to bring chef-made flavours into the homes of consumers.
Regan spent years working as a chef in Europe, perfecting her craft before returning home and embarking on the Boutique Sauces journey. The products were initially manufactured in small batches and supplied under the Signature Sauces brand at local farmers’ markets. In 2018 the Faceys decided to move to a shelf-stable — rather than refrigerated — product and began adjusting the formula and format to suit.
There was a lot of tweaking required to scale up for larger batches and the Faceys wanted the products to have no artificial flavours, colours or preservatives, no genetically modified ingredients and to be completely gluten-free.
They conducted small trials in 2018 then went back to the kitchen and reformulated. With the help of food scientists and a grant from FIAL, they gained valuable insight into the challenges and limitations of upscaling production.
The arrival of COVID-19 threw a timing spanner in the works but allowed the Faceys to make an important call — they decided to set up for manufacture themselves, opting for complete control over the process and giving Regan the ability to oversee ingredients and act quickly should production create a need for formula alterations.
The range comprises six savoury and two sweet gourmet finishing sauces, with more creations in development.
The move from refrigerated to shelf-stable can be tricky, especially for products with complex ingredient profiles that are prone to change when scaled up. FIAL was able to offer the Faceys a wealth of information and support to bring the dream to life.
In gearing up for their own production, the team has left the door open for even more innovation, as they are not constrained by any MOQ requirements of a contract manufacturer and can easily carry out their own product trials.
