Cult Favorite BBQ Sauce Bachan’s, in 5% of US Fridges, Wants 80%

Justin Gill was getting desperate. In his yearslong quest to mass-produce and distribute his grandmother’s home-brewed Japanese barbecue sauce without pumping it full of preservatives, he’d borrowed $250,000 from relatives and friends, maxed out his credit cards and turned his Northern California home into a fulfillment center. But he needed more capital in the months following the brand’s 2019 release. So the landscaper and father of three resorted to short-term, high-interest loans, where borrowing rates compounded daily. “Every dollar I could find or borrow, I put into Facebook ads,” says Gill, who prayed that the traffic would translate into sales of the almost $10-a-bottle specialty ...