Howell Resident’s Hot Sauce Now Available At ShopRite, HomeGoods

HOWELL, NJ - As of this month, grocery shoppers across the country will be able to get a taste of a signature hot sauce blend crafted from one resident’s Howell kitchen.

Kevin Carbone, 30, began experimenting in what would become his anti-inflammatory hot sauce brand Sauce Bae several years ago after being diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. As a means to eat clean and ease his health issues without sacrificing flavor, Carbone toyed with different flavors each night before settling on his signature pineapple and turmeric blend after a year of recipe trial and error from his parents’ residence in Howell.

The result, Sauce Bae, launched in 2019 to almost overnight success. In fact, Sauce Bae was even featured on the hit hot sauce web show “Hot Ones” where stars like Trevor Noah, Juice WRLD and Kristen Bell tried the special blend.

But while Carbone’s signature Sauce Bae hot sauce was once only available via wholesale distributors and select online stores, the Howell native’s specialty sauce has now been made available at all 63 Price Rite Marketplace stores and 42 ShopRite locations, including Howell, Brick, Freehold, Belmar and Marlboro as of June 1.

“The Howell [ShopRite] store actually sold out in less than a week because it sold so fast, but they will have it restocked any day now,” Carbone told Patch. “I can also confirm that both Freehold and Brick Township ShopRites have the sauce on the shelf already as well. Many ShopRites in the Monmouth County area will have it, but the full store list can be found on SauceBae.com.”

When Patch last spoke to Carbone in March 2021, Sauce Bae was available at 350 retail locations nationwide, including the Howell GNC, Cost Plus World Market in Shrewsbury and on Amazon. Since, the entrepreneur has secured a spot at 300 HomeGoods locations and was also recently nominated to Forbes’ Next 1000 List.

Carbone is currently in talks with other major grocery chains and hopes to get Sauce Bae into additional GNC stores. “I want to keep the momentum going,” he said.

“My next goal is to now focus on making sure that Sauce Bae flys off the shelves of Price Rite and ShopRite. Getting onto the shelf is only half the battle, keeping that shelf space and proving your worth is the next step,” Carbone added. “I plan on focusing all of my energy towards this because that will allow Sauce Bae to expand into all of the remaining ShopRites. It will also act as sort of a blueprint for helping me land and succeed in other retailers if I can pull it off.”

To learn more about Sauce Bae, visit www.saucebae.com.