what's a sauce recipe worth?

Not to sound silly, but it's worth whatever he'll pay for it.

Comes down to success vs. failure. If he's a success, you want in on it, if he's a failure, you won't get any money.

I'd think maybe some money up front and then a set price (are you selling him the recipe?) if so, % isn't a guarantee. The success of the sauce will depend on his marketing, etc.

Me, I'd get $$$, not a percentage unless you're willing to roll the dice with him.

I'd have him make a proposal, as part of his business plan and see what he's offering. The amount you make will depend VERY much on his business plan.

10% of nothing is nothing.

Good luck, hope it works out.

Russ

You might also want to consider putting in the contract that if the venture with the one not putting any $$ up front fails, you are still the owner of the recipe; that you are allowing him the rights to use his/her name on the bottle for a percentage of the revenue which, by the way, needs to be specifically stipulated how the tracking is going to be done.

As for the person wanting to supply all of the up front $$$, you are going to have to work out a different kind of contract, one in which you will either sell him/her the recipe outright, sell him the recipe for less and get a percentage of the profits or just get a percentage of the profits.

For something like this, I would definately consult an attorney who specializes in this field.

Good luck

Michael

Year ago in our small town was a man who ran a hamburger and fry location. He had this great BBQ sauce that he put on all the burgers. When he retired back in the 60's or 70's, he sold his recipe for $50,000 so the story goes. A food processor in Hutchinson, Kansas bought it and then it was sold to the Dillon's Food Stores. You can still find the sauce today in Dillons Food Stores...just look for Curley's BBQ sauce.

And, by the way, Curley was bald. I still remember him and those great hamburgers every time I use his sauce. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

Thanks for the thoughts. At this point I'm definitely angling to keep the recipe between me and the co-packer only. And yes, we will be hiring an attorney (my brother-in-law, the one with the money, is also an attorney).

Hopefully I'll get back into the business in the not-so-distant future and have a reason to come around more often. Thinking about doing a simplified mobile operation as opposed to permanent structure. It's been a year since I closed and people still show up pounding on the door.

We also have sauces we have made and many people expressed intrest in them so we went to a co-packer struck a deal and he now bottles two of our sauces and our meat rub. We only sold them in our restaurant but soon we had a few people wanting to sell them in their stores. You might want to concider just having them bottled and marketing them yourself. You will make more in the long run than if you sold your recipe out right. By the way now we have our sauces in stores from Lynchburg TN and soon they will be in Whole Foods Markets Nation wide so hell anything can happen.
Good Luck with your Venture.