Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer

About Forbidden Sauce

Forbidden Sauce is a Charlotte, North Carolina-based BBQ sauce company with an entertainment-first approach, inspired by the successful food truck Hottagrill, which generated over $120,000 in sales in 2025 and built a loyal following of 5,000 Instagram followers. The brand is built to revolutionize BBQ sauce much like Liquid Death did for water, launching with a single 17 oz SKU, although the product has not yet been commercially produced.

Role Overview

We are searching for an operating co-founder to build the operational infrastructure, systems, and teams that will enable Forbidden Sauce to scale reliably and efficiently. This key leadership position holds founder-level authority over product commercialization, manufacturing, supply chain, quality assurance, logistics, retail readiness, and operational cost management.

Responsibilities

• Lead co-manufacturer selection and contract negotiation.
• Manage ingredient and packaging procurement, production planning, and execution of first production runs.
• Oversee quality control, food safety, and regulatory compliance.
• Handle demand planning, inventory optimization, and working capital management.
• Coordinate warehousing, third-party logistics, freight, and distribution operations.
• Ensure retail readiness including compliance, electronic data interchange, and operational infrastructure.
• Implement cost reduction strategies, supplier redundancy, and scalability improvements.

Qualifications and Experience

The ideal candidate has hands-on experience taking at least one packaged food or beverage product from early development through commercial production. Expertise in multiple areas is required, including co-manufacturer partnerships, ingredient and packaging supply chains, production line trials, quality control systems, demand and inventory planning, 3PL logistics, and retailer compliance.

A solid understanding of manufacturing economics, including cost of goods sold, gross margin, production yields, forecasting, supplier agreements, inventory financing, and retail fulfillment is essential.

Experience scaling a food or beverage company from under $5 million to over $10 million in annual revenue or expanding into roughly 1,000 retail stores is strongly preferred. Knowledge of sauces, shelf-stable or acidified products, regional/national retail growth, multi-site manufacturing, and structured planning systems (such as S&OP, MRP, ERP) is highly valuable.

Success Metrics

• Select and engage the appropriate co-manufacturer.
• Create scalable product specifications and validate production processes.
• Perform successful production trials including shelf-life and packaging validation.
• Establish accurate landed cost models, as well as forecasting and working capital frameworks.
• Implement quality, traceability, inventory, fulfillment, and 3PL systems operationally suited for retail expansion.
• Develop backup supplier strategies and secondary manufacturing capacity.
• Prepare the company for Series A funding and regional retail growth within 12 months.

Additional Information

This full-time role demands complete commitment; it is not a consulting or advisory position. The successful candidate must be willing to dedicate their primary professional focus to Forbidden Sauce and accommodate the demanding pace, including travel and extended hours as needed. Initial compensation is contingent on funding; founder salaries will begin post-seed round subject to board approval and available capital.

Meaningful equity will be granted, with details negotiated prior to full-time engagement; however, equity is illiquid, subject to dilution, and carries no guaranteed monetary value.

Location preference is Charlotte, NC, but remote U.S.-based candidates who can travel regularly to key locations will be considered.