{"id":11644,"date":"2021-08-01T19:00:24","date_gmt":"2021-08-02T02:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/?p=11644"},"modified":"2026-02-19T15:16:56","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T23:16:56","slug":"unkle-drewz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/2021\/08\/01\/unkle-drewz\/","title":{"rendered":"Unkle Drew\u2019z Ginger Sauce Starts Production with Business Plan Competition Winnings"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Composite
The recipe for Unkle Drew\u2019z Ginger Sauce was developed by Drew Maughan, father of entrepreneurship major Brighton Maughan.
(Photos courtesy of Brighton Maughan)
<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Brighton Maughan\u2019s<\/a> friends raved about his dad\u2019s homemade ginger sauce. Whether it was used as a marinade for grilled meat or a salad dressing, they said it should be bottled and sold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their endorsements prompted Maughan to create Unkle Drew\u2019z Ginger Sauce for the WSU Business Plan Competition<\/a>. His team\u2014which included his dad, Drew Maughan, and his WSU roommate, Cole Hensley\u2014won the $15,000 Herbert B. Jones grand prize this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unkle Drew\u2019z used the money to produce its first commercial batch of the sauce in June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was so much interest, we pre-sold the first batch,\u201d says Brighton Maughan, an entrepreneurship major at the Carson College of Business. \u201cWhether it\u2019s on chicken, beef, pork, or vegetables, people love it. We say it makes healthy food taste good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maughan took Entrepreneurship 486 last spring. Marie Mayes<\/a>, director of the WSU Center for Entrepreneurship<\/a>, walked the class through how to start a business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom marketing plans to financial projections, Professor Mayes helped us create a realistic plan,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen I had questions outside of class, even if it was 8 or 9 at night, she\u2019d email me back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maughan and the team also worked with WSU\u2019s Food and Research Facility on the testing required for FDA approval to sell the ginger sauce. His dad was closely involved in Unkle Drew\u2019z startup, and Hensley\u2014a computer science major\u2014did the heavy lifting on the company\u2019s research needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Business Plan Competition judges were impressed by the company\u2019s development and Maughan\u2019s pitch, which he spent hours practicing in front of family and friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m a pretty introverted person, so I\u2019ve always been kind of nervous about presenting,\u201d he says. \u201cThis really developed my confidence and brought out a different side of me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twenty-eight student teams<\/a> across three different leagues competed in this year\u2019s competition, representing nearly 150 college and high school students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe secret to Unkle Drew\u2019z first place win was their understanding of the specialty foods industry,\u201d Mayes says. \u201cBrighton worked hard to move the company forward, and the team made good progress on bottling, labeling, and finding a co-packer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Brighton
Brighton Maughan (right) and Drew Maughan during the WSU Business Plan Competition.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Company roll-out continues<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Maughan, who will graduate next spring, plans to continue Unkle Drew\u2019z roll-out during his senior year at WSU. \u201cIt\u2019ll be a busy stretch, but I\u2019m excited about what we\u2019ve got in the works,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maughan and his dad envision selling the ginger sauce through specialty grocery stores and to restaurants and catering services. They\u2019re currently looking for an advisor to give them suggestions on wholesale distributing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019re also exploring options for direct sales to consumers. That could include online sales through Amazon and Etsy, and in-person sales at the Washington State Fair, Taste Washington, and other festivals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to the competition, Maughan and his dad planned to bootstrap the company\u2014reinvesting their profits in the venture to avoid the need for outside financing. The judges encouraged them to develop a contingency plan so they can quickly ramp up production if needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was such helpful feedback,\u201d Maughan says. \u201cWe need to think about being ready to scale up if our sauce gets super popular.\u201d His dad is already experimenting with spicy and low sodium versions of the sauce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The annual Business Plan Competition helps spur innovation and entrepreneurship in the region, Mayes says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome of the student teams go on to launch companies,\u201d she says. \u201cOther students gain skills and confidence they take with them to work for startups. Yet others become innovators at existing firms because they have developed an entrepreneurial mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\tLearn more about the WSU Business Plan Competition\t\t\t<\/a>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brighton Maughan, founder of Unkle Drew\u2019z Ginger Sauce, won the grand prize at the WSU Business Plan competition. The entrepreneurship major used the prize money to produce the first commercial batch of the sauce in June.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":[634],"featured_media":18148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wsuwp_accessibility_report":null},"categories":[604,425],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11644"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/634"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11644"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18764,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11644\/revisions\/18764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11644"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/author?post=11644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}