U.S Gen-Z Duo Shakes Up Industry with £1M-a-Month Pasta Sauce Brand
Listening to Troy Bonde and Winston Alfieri recount their story, it almost seems like a series of fortunate coincidences. However, their journey is just as much about bravery, naivety, and determination as it is about calculated decisions.
These 25- and 24-year-old Los Angeles natives are the masterminds behind Sauz, a trendy pasta sauce brand garnering attention nationwide—and raking in £1 million in revenue every month. But their success wasn’t always guaranteed, and it began with an unconventional entrée into the world of business. Here’s how two young entrepreneurs turned their kitchen experiments into a thriving enterprise.
How It All Began
It all started in 2020 when COVID-19 forced universities to close their doors. Bonde and Alfieri, then students at the University of Southern California, found themselves back home and searching for a productive way to channel their newfound free time.
“We sat down together and thought, ‘What problem can we solve?’” Bonde recalls.
Their first idea had nothing to do with food. Inspired by pandemic measures, they came up with a sanitising thermometer gun—a device that could combine temperature readings and hand sanitisation in one step. After a flurry of cold emails, a local school district showed interest and gave them a purchase order worth nearly £15,000.
But there was a big problem. They didn’t have a product—yet.
A Risky Start Pays Off
The young pair borrowed £9,000 from their parents, wired it to a Chinese manufacturer they’d met on WhatsApp, and hoped for the best. “It was the scariest moment of our lives,” Alfieri admits. Miraculously, pallets of their product arrived a week and a half later on Bonde’s parents’ doorstep.
Their company, NextPace Ventures, scaled rapidly, landing clients like Best Western. But the growth wasn’t sustainable. After six months, they realised revenues wouldn’t hold steady and decided to walk away from the business.
A New Idea is Born (Over Pasta)
Life as entrepreneurs wasn’t exactly glamorous. They spent many late nights sleeping in Alfieri’s father’s office and fuelling their long days with the quintessential student meal—pasta and jarred sauce. It was during frequent trips to Whole Foods that an idea struck.
“While browsing the pasta sauce aisle, we realised how stale it felt compared to other categories,” Alfieri says. “Brands like Olipop and Poppi were revolutionising the beverage aisle with fun, vibrant packaging. Why couldn’t pasta sauce have the same energy?”
With that, Sauz was born. Using profits from NextPace Ventures, they invested £120,000 into creating their new brand. They even sold their cars—Alfieri parted with his Ford truck, and Bonde said goodbye to a Mazda Miata—to raise additional funds.
Betting Big on Bold Flavours and Vibrant Branding
From the outset, Bonde and Alfieri were committed to doing things differently. Instead of creating the usual marinara or vodka sauces found in every supermarket, they bet on bold, unconventional flavours. Inspired by the success of niche products like Mike’s Hot Honey, they developed flavours like Hot Honey Marinara and Summer Lemon Marinara.
“We wanted to trust our instincts,” Bonde explains. “If we surveyed customers beforehand, they’d never have asked for Hot Honey Marinara. People don’t always know they need something until they see it.”
To ensure their sauces stood out, they worked with a food scientist to perfect the recipes and hired a design agency to craft eye-catching packaging. Every detail was geared towards making Sauz the most exciting thing on the shelf.
The Road to Retail Success
The duo’s big breakthrough came when they pitched their sauces to Erewhon, a prestigious Los Angeles-based retailer renowned for stocking cutting-edge brands. To their surprise, Erewhon responded quickly, asking for samples. Within two weeks, Sauz was approved for sale.
But as exciting as the approval was, they faced another obstacle—they didn’t yet have mass production capabilities. “It took nearly a year to go from approval to actually launching at Erewhon,” Alfieri recalls. The main challenge? Simply sourcing tomatoes, as bigger companies had secured most of the supply during the pandemic.
By July 2023, Sauz finally launched on Erewhon shelves. This was followed by expansions to Whole Foods in May 2024 and Target by July, giving the brand nationwide reach.
Today, the company generates nearly £1 million in monthly sales, with a growing range of flavours that includes Creamy Calabrian Vodka and Wild Rosemary Marinara. Their playful and irreverent content on platforms like TikTok has also helped build a loyal fanbase of Gen-Z and millennial shoppers.
Lessons from Their Journey
Reflecting on their path, Bonde and Alfieri credit their first business venture for giving them the skills and confidence to create Sauz. “Without that last business, there really is no Sauz,” Bonde says.
Their story is also a testament to the power of calculated risk-taking. Whether wiring money to a distant manufacturer or pioneering quirky new flavours, Bonde and Alfieri have shown that being bold often leads to great rewards.
Of course, the road was not without its speed bumps. Alfieri recalls the scepticism they faced early on, even from friends. “One friend, who is now an investor, told us, ‘I thought you guys were so stupid for starting this.’”
But they didn’t waver. “To tell our parents that we were going to sell pasta sauce for a living was the craziest conversation we’ve had,” Bonde admits. “But now, we’re proud of what we’ve built—and so are they.”
What’s Next for Sauz?
The success of Sauz is just the beginning. Bonde and Alfieri are currently focused on scaling the brand, expanding their product line, and bringing their signature combination of bold flavours and vibrant branding to more households.
“We want to reshape the way people think about pasta sauce,” Alfieri says. “For us, it’s about creating a brand that makes people excited to cook and share meals.”
Their journey is proof that with grit, vision, and a healthy dose of audacity, the next great idea might be sitting right in your pantry.
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