• by Teresa Buyikian , August 25, 2023

Atlanta-based Southern chicken chain Zaxby’s is celebrating this year’s Saucetember, (a holiday the chain created “as a salute to sauce”) by auctioning off a single bottle of its signature Zax Sauce, signed by Zaxby's founder and sauce creator Zach McLeroy.

In addition to receiving the first-ever bottled sauce from Zaxby's, the winner will also be awarded a lifetime supply of the sauce (in the form of gift cards redeemable at participating Zaxby's locations).

Proceeds from the auction will benefit The Boys' and Girls' Clubs of America. The auction opens to the public on eBay and at www.zaxsauceforlife.com on Sept. 12 and runs through Sept. 15, with the winner be announced Sept. 18. The bidding for the collector’s edition bottle will begin at $19.90, in honor of the opening of the first Zaxby’s restaurant.

The sauce “became a cult favorite among college students who were our earliest brand fans,” and now "it's the first time Zax Sauce has ever been bottled,” said McLeroy.

The sauce recipe is a highly guarded secret, with hundreds of online cooks posting attempts to recreate the recipe, which has been described as containing honey, mustard, ketchup, and dozens of additional spices and other ingredients. When it was created 33 years ago, McLeroy personally made the sauce and distributed it to various locations to ensure that no one single person would know the recipe from start to finish.

This isn’t the first Saucetember for the chain; in September 2022, Zaxby's distributed free sauce-flavored popsicles to mark the holiday.

Zaxby's is also commemorating Saucetember 2023 with in-app offers throughout the month.

Marketing Daily inquired about the potential for a retail future for the bottled Zax Sauce, but did not receive a comment back by press time.

Since opening in the Southern U.S. in 1990, Zaxby’s has grown to more than 900 locations in 17 states. The chain is also well-known for its side order of fried pickles.