Slice Of Sauce: Here's What Happened After Shark Tank

Hard to open, tricky to spread, never the right amount, and with wasteful packaging, individual sachets of sauce are not always as convenient as they seem. Even bottled sauces can be awkward when it comes to pouring or squeezing out the desired portion, not to mention potentially messy.

Frustrated by all these issues when enjoying their favorite condiments, Emily Williams and her husband, Cole, came up with a solution: Slice of Sauce. It comes exactly as it sounds, offering everything from ketchup and mustard to Sriracha sauce in sliced form (just like a slice of cheese), where the water has been dehydrated for a solid product. The idea originally came to Emily by accident, when she was trying to avoid vegetable waste while working on a barbecue sauce recipe from her father, a restaurateur from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. A dried result (although flavorful) actually impressed the Williams, and became the seeds of the emerging business.

Aiming to transform burgers and sandwiches, and remove all risk of a soggy bun, Slice of Sauce was intended as a mess-free alternative and one that's great for on-the-go, too. The perfectly portioned slices didn't need to be refrigerated, and have a shelf life of up to 12 months, making it perfect for sports games, camping, road trips, and more. It was all this and more that intrigued the sharks when Slice of Sauce appeared on "Shark Tank" in 2021.

Emily and Cole Williams traveled all the way from Austin, Texas to appear on "Shark Tank" Season 12, which aired in January 2021, to seek a $200,000 investment for a 10% stake in their business, Slice of Sauce. "We're not here to talk about a problem, we're here to talk about catastrophes," said Emily. "Sandwich catastrophes," added Cole.

The sharks liked the flavor of the product, and Mark Cuban called it a "great idea." But, concerns came up about the high price of $5.99 for a packet containing eight slices — as well as the fact that the company was pre-revenue. The couple explained that they had launched a Kickstarter in 2018, which went viral within about four days, raising over $34,000. They had also put in $120,000 of their own money, and raised additional funds of $400,000 via friends and family and an accelerator investor. The issue was, Slice of Sauce wouldn't actually be launching for several months, as there had been issues with manufacturing and the product was being made manually at the time.

Barbara Corcoran and Lori Greiner were first to drop out for these financial reasons. "Mr. Wonderful" Kevin O'Leary then made an offer of $200,000 equity for a 5% stake, plus a royalty of $0.10 per unit until $700,000 was paid back. But then an offer came from guest shark and baseball player turned investor, Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod offered the $200,000 the Williams sought as a line of debt, which would convert to 20% equity when $1.8 million in sales was reached — and the Williams accepted.

"You can't pass up a good offer, and we had one," Emily and Cole Williams said immediately after the show in the post-appearance recap, adding that they had "no regrets at all." After the episode aired, Emily also said in an interview with Specialty Foods that the couple felt "incredibly lucky" that guest shark Alex Rodriguez understood their vision for Slice of Sauce and chose to partner with them. "Together, we're going to prove that slices aren't just for cheese anymore!" she said.

As well, Emily and Cole revealed in a TIG Talk following the show that the "Shark Tank" experience was a "wild ride," but the real work began afterwards with negotiating, diligence, and a lot of labor to get the company rolling. It all seemed to work as Slice of Sauce saw a huge spike of interest in the product via its website after the show aired. In fact, the couple recruited friends to help answer all the incoming queries.

However, despite all the early enthusiasm, it seems that the "Shark Tank” deal with Alex Rodriguez did not in fact go through in the end. The company was not able to say too much about the process due to a confidentiality clause, but admitted in the TIG Talk that the negotiation process after the show took longer than anticipated, and although the entrepreneurs said on the show that they would be launching the product in November 2021, things started to go quiet for the brand after that.

It appears as though Slice of Sauce is no longer in business. The last Instagram post from the business came in September 2021, and its Facebook page is no longer available. The products are also not currently listed for sale anywhere online. It appears that initial pre-orders did go through, however, with one fan saying on Instagram in April 2022 that they wanted to "order more," but were not receiving replies to their calls and e-mails, yet another clue Slice of Sauce has shuttered.

And even though Emily and Cole Williams reported they had hired two web developers to work 'round the clock to improve the speed and functionality of its site, knowing that it could potentially have 50,000 visitors after the episode aired, that website is no longer live as of today.

Slice of Sauce has not released any official statement saying that the company is no longer operational, nor has it given any details as to reasons why. But, the Williams did reveal on "Shark Tank" that they were experiencing manufacturing and shipping issues, and had in fact been making the product themselves in commercial kitchens, which made scaling up tricky and may have become too big of a burden to bear in the end. The product itself also proved divisive, receiving negative as well as positive comments online, with one Twitter user describing the concept as "disrespectful to condiments worldwide."

Slice of Sauce may no longer have a website nor be active on social media, but there have been some updates about the founders that show their activity as of late.

According to her LinkedIn profile, Slice of Sauce's Emily Williams is simply listed as "founder of things," meaning she may have another brilliant idea launching in the years ahead. In fact, in September 2022, she added a job, naming herself a co-founder of something "coming soon," though there are no further details and she has not posted on the site since. 

As for her husband and business partner, Cole Williams, his LinkedIn profile describes him as a "co-founder with a passion for building, learning, and most of all, [for] things that taste great and make you feel good." But his LinkedIn page makes no mention at all of Slice of Sauce. In fact, his last reply was on a comment in 2022, answering the question, "Where are you guys?" with, "In Michigan."