Trust your gut — and your taste buds, says CEO of fast-growing Sonoma County BBQ sauce maker

If it doesn't pass the Justin Gill taste test, it’s not going to be offered to consumers.

As founder and CEO of Sebastopol-based Bachan’s Japanese Barbecue Sauce, Gill has the final say on what gets bottled.

“In the past I would do a lot of the development stuff myself and then hand it over to a formulator to finish it off. Now I’ve hired an innovation firm, but I’m still very involved; with the flavor testing especially,” Gill said. “We go through multiple rounds of revisions. I think we are in our sixth one right now for a product we are working on.”

Bachan’s fifth sauce, which Gill would not reveal specifics about, will be released this spring.

Starting in 2013, the 41-year-old Gill spent the next six years creating the Bachan’s products that were inspired by family recipes, figuring out the manufacturing, packaging design, distribution, and other aspects of creating a brand from scratch.

The company has been on a steep upward trajectory since launching its soy-based sauces in 2019. Today, its four sauces — The Original, Hot and Spicy, Yuzu, and Gluten-Free — are sold throughout the country.

Sales topped $30 million in 2022. Last fall the company received an infusion of $13 million in series A funding by private equity firm Sonoma Brands Capital.

The following is a Q&A has been edited for clarity and space.

Bachan is slang in Japanese for “grandmother.“ Why use this as the name of your business?

My grandma (bachan) Judy Yokoyama is the legacy holder of the family recipe having passed it down to my mom, dad, and myself. Growing up, she used to cook for me and my family all of the time. She lived on the same property as us, so we would eat a lot of meals with her and my grandfather.

She and my grandfather never missed any of our sporting events and were there for every big moment we had as children. They were a huge part of our lives, and my bachan is still a big part of my life and my daughters’ lives today. She always supported me in my entrepreneurial endeavors and listened to my business ideas when I was a kid, so when I decided to bring our family’s sauce to market, it just felt natural that I would name it in her honor.

Your grandmother was born in Sebastopol, but during World War II was sent to an internment camp with her parents. How has that legacy of discrimination affected your approach to business and life?

Yes, my bachan Judy Yokoyama, a first-generation Japanese American, has lived in Sebastopol and Santa Rosa her entire life, except for a two-year displacement to Camp Amache, a Japanese internment camp in the Colorado desert.

During the time of her family’s incarceration, they were able to maintain a level of normalcy because they were together providing one another with love, support, and connection.

A lot of this connection was done over family meals and preparing familiar foods—like our family’s sauce. Today, Bachan’s mission is to bring family together through food, culture, and connection. This purpose is directly related to our family’s history.

But we don’t only seek to bring nuclear family to the table to enjoy food together, we want to bring society together as a whole through new cultural flavors, experiences, awareness, and discussions.

Bachan’s is dedicated to honoring our family history and bringing awareness in the hopes of broadening people’s awareness and acceptance. We participate in the coalition of business leaders against anti-Asian racism and support organizations that are raising awareness to racial injustice/discrimination.

Since 2019, four Bachan’s sauces have been available commercially. What are the plans for future sauces or other condiments?

We are always working to innovate and expand our product offering, but we’ve purposefully set the bar really high.

Bachan’s is the originator of Japanese barbecue sauce here in the U.S. I spent more than six years perfecting our multi-generational family recipe for market. I’ve been dedicated to bringing our family’s heritage sauce to market with authentic, umami-filled flavor using real ingredients, innovating a cold-filled process, and never skimping on quality. Our plan is to continue to try to make the best sauces in the world. We don’t ever want to make too many products, just the best products.

With each new sauce we launch there is so much time and effort put into to making sure it honors our original family sauce and brings something extra special, elevating the original in some way. We are also working on creating some products outside of just Japanese BBQ sauces. We will be sharing those later in the year.

The way we approach innovation is we are not going to jump from Japanese BBQ sauce to soup. We are going to take small steps to adjacent categories in the most natural way to expand. What we are trying to build is an identifiable Japanese American food brand that will have many products in many categories, but that will take some time.

What is your reaction to unsolicited Instagram posts from people who love Bachan’s like the one in January by Bethenny Frankel, the former star of “The Real Housewives of New York City” and founder of the lifestyle brand Skinnygirl?

We’re always incredibly honored when someone praises our sauce! But it was pretty cool to hear Bethenny provide her real time glowing review to her extremely large platform of followers. It was truly flattering. We’re really grateful that she likes Bachan’s so much. Thousands of people organically post about our sauce each year and we will always be grateful for that.

What aspect about your business keeps you up at night?

We’ve been so grateful for the incredibly rapid growth of Bachan’s. It’s been a real whirlwind. Three years ago, I was in stores with my daughters sampling the sauce throughout the Bay Area. Today, we’re available nationwide in more than 14,000 stores including Whole Foods, Sprouts, Target, Costco, Albertson’s, Publix, and preparing to announce even more incredible national locations.

My dream has always been for Bachan’s to become a condiment staple, and we’re on our way. As the business has grown, so have the challenges. Making sure we can keep up with the demand is a big one for us. Mistakes now have much higher consequences, so making sure we minimize any big mistakes is something I think about a lot.

I think a lot about being the best leader I can be for my team. I think the pressure of continuing to grow and perform at a very high level is something that keeps me up at night. We have a lot of big things locked in for the next few years and we need to execute on them. If we can continue to execute in the way that we always have, there is a very bright future for Bachan’s and my family legacy.

What is your approach to making tough and important business decisions?

As a founder, I believe I have very good instincts. I always trust my gut. I stay very “close to the flame” of my business and that enables me to make tough decisions from a place of deep understanding of the business.

We have core values that are rooted in always being original, keeping things simple, collaboration over isolation, trust, and “good enough, isn’t good enough.” We run every decision we make through those core values, and if something doesn’t align with our core values, we don’t do it. Period. That makes tough decisions much easier.

What lesson did you learn early in your career that you now recognize as an important one?

One thing that I have observed early on is that a lot of CPG (consumer packaged goods) food products are watered down, don’t have super high quality ingredients, and don’t have incredible flavor.

For a food product to have longevity and earn the right to be a staple in American households, it has to have amazing flavor. That is incredibly important, and always will be. A lot of brands innovate too quickly to try to catch a trend or because they are pushed by a retail partner, but you have to stay disciplined with innovation and not go too wide, too fast. I saw that pattern early on and it still remains true today. Probably always will. Stay focused. It’s very important.

How do you motivate people?

People need to believe in what you are building and know that they are part of it. Everyone wants to be part of something bigger than themselves.

One of the primary roles of a founder–CEO is to create a vision and mission that your team believes in, and is excited about. I believe I have done that with Bachan’s. Our vision is to be the most loved condiment brand.

That’s a huge vision if you think about it, and everyone on our team is playing a part in it. Our mission is to bring family together. Our team is motivated by that and we can all relate to it. We also give everyone in our company stock options so if the company wins, they win. That is something I wanted to do from the very beginning and something I am proud of. It is highly motivating as well.

What concerns do you have for your business and industry looking out five years?

For my business, a long-term concern is that competitors come in and copycat what we are doing. It is now starting to happen. I knew it would if we were successful.

We just need to focus on our vision of becoming the most loved condiment brand, and if we can do that, Bachan’s will be here forever. As far as our industry, there is a lot of positive momentum for Asian CPG brands. I hope that it continues for a very long time, but it will most likely fade at some point. I hope that all of the Asian CPG brands that are building great businesses will continue to thrive if the momentum slows as a whole.

What goals do you have for the company in the next five years?

We are already the No. 1 BBQ sauce brand in the natural channel, and I would like to be the No. 1 BBQ sauce brand in the (multi-outlet) MULO/conventional channel. We are on our way already. I would love for Bachan’s to be a household name in the next five years. It’s my goal for Bachan’s to be the most loved condiment brand in the next five years.

What are the benefits and drawbacks to being located in the North Bay?

There is a great talent pool for CPG food brands here in the North Bay. That is a big advantage. It’s a wonderful place to live and work. The consumer here in the North Bay is very knowledgeable about food and that is an advantage for launching a food brand here. It is pretty expensive to live here in the North Bay, so that is a disadvantage to other parts of the country. Lease rates for warehouse space is also very high, and that is absolutely a disadvantage.

What would you redo in your career and why?

Nothing. I believe I am where I am at for a reason and because of the choices I have made. Plus a little luck.

What was your first job? What was your first career job?

I worked with my family’s landscape company ever since I was a kid. This was where I first experienced other people’s response to our sauce. During the holidays we would brew a big batch of the sauce and give it to our customers as a gift. There was always requests for more, so I knew there was something there.

Always an entrepreneur, I launched a number of side projects and had an independent clothing company for a number of years, but the bulk of my higher education and career was spent working in landscaping for our family business and consulting.

What advice would you give someone just starting his or her career in your industry?

Do something that makes you happy and gives you purpose. All the money in the world won’t mean anything if you aren’t happy and filled with purpose. Bet on yourself and believe in yourself. Believing in yourself is contagious. Have a clear vision. If you want to build something great, you are going to need to get people to believe in you and your vision.

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Kathryn Reed is a journalist who has spent most of her career covering issues in Northern California. She has published four books, with the most recent being Sleeping with Strangers: An Airbnb Host’s Life in Lake Tahoe and Mexico. She may be reached at kr@kathrynreed. com, or follower her at kathrynreed.com, Twitter @Kathryn0925, or Instagram @kathrynreed0925.