Sauce Shop Goes Green with Glass

Nottingham-based condiment brand Sauce Shop is continuing its green journey by sustainably packaging its products in glass bottles and jars produced in the UK.

The clear round sauce bottles and pickle jars manufactured by Beatson Clark are being supplied to Sauce Shop via Grimsby-based distributor Pattesons Glass.

Sauce Shop produces over 50,000 bottles and jars of natural condiments and seasonings a week from its production facility in the heart of Nottingham.

All Sauce Shop products are made by hand using only natural ingredients and the range includes a double Great Taste Award 2 Gold Star winning tomato ketchup, rich BBQ sauces and mayonnaise, as well as a range of hot sauces containing the company’s own in-house aged chillies and BBQ rubs.

Beatson Clark’s glassworks in South Yorkshire is only 40 miles away from Sauce Shop’s headquarters, so the carbon emissions from sourcing and transporting the containers are much lower than importing glass from overseas.

“Sauce Shop began in a small suburban kitchen in Nottingham and everything we produce is still made in Nottingham, UK,” said Pam Digva, co-founder of the company. “We are proud to employ over 35 people from around the East Midlands and make an effort to buy from British businesses where possible, so it’s great to work with both Pattesons Glass and Beatson Clark who are both relatively local to us.

“We choose to package our core lines in glass because you can really see the product you’re getting.”

She added: “Our ethos is that we don’t hide behind busy labels or mask our products’ flavour with additives, so we’ve always wanted the product to be as visible as possible to the consumer.

“It also suits our production methods; we can easily hot fill products into glass and, as we try to improve our ustainability credentials as a business, it is good to keep our plastic use to a minimum.”

As well as using sustainable glass packaging, Sauce Shop has announced it is now carbon negative after offsetting double the level of its greenhouse gas emissions.

David Mann, Managing Director for Pattesons Glass, said: “We’ve had a strong partnership with Beatson Clark since we were established in 2007 and we are really pleased that our customer has chosen to use the UK-manufactured round sauce bottle and pickle jars for their products, as the sustainability credentials of glass work well with Sauce Shop’s ethos.”

Siobhan Branagan, Account Manager at Beatson Clark, said: “We process approximately 20,000 tonnes of glass every year through our on-site recycling plant, which is recovered from kerbside collections, bottle banks and the hospitality trade. This is then melted in our furnaces and made into new bottles and jars for companies such as Sauce Shop.

“Using glass packaging will also keep products such as ketchup and other sauces safe and fresher for longer thanks to high levels of vacuum which can be maintained over a long period of time. It’s 100% endlessly recyclable, does not contain harmful chemicals or plastic liners, and our clear bottles contain over 30% post-consumer glass - it really is a no-brainer!”

Sauce Shop products are available at Sainsbury’s and Co-op Food as well as from a variety of independent retailers nationwide.