Bald Buck: $300,000 a year selling a barbecue seasoning he did not invent
Chris Gray tasted a seasoning at a family dinner, made one phone call, and put his own label on it. Today Bald Buck does about $300,000 a year. Here is exactly how he did it and how you could copy it.
Overview
Chris Gray sells a barbecue seasoning called Bald Buck at BaldBuck.com. The business does about $300,000 a year. He did not create the seasoning. A manufacturer makes it, and Chris puts his own label on it.
It started at a dinner at his brother-in-law's house in Texas. The chicken was incredible, and his brother-in-law showed him the seasoning he had used. Chris saw two choices: open a restaurant or sell the seasoning. He picked the seasoning because the overhead was lower and the work could be done online.
The phone call
He called the manufacturer and asked one question: "Do you white-label this product?" They did. He needed a brand, a package design and a minimum order. His business partner, a graphic designer, worked on the brand with him. Bald Buck is Chris's nickname among his friends.
The minimum order was 300 units. He ordered 5,000. It cost over $5,000. With 5,000 units on the way, he had no choice but to figure out how to sell them.
The launch
He researched the top barbecue channels on YouTube and picked T-Roy, who had around 354,000 subscribers. T-Roy used to live in Pflugerville, Texas, the same city as Chris. So the subject line of his email was "Bald Black Jamaican from Pflugerville, Texas."
The offer inside: try my seasoning, and if you like it, I will give it to the first 50 of your fans for free. T-Roy got to try it at zero risk and got something to hand to his own audience. When the video came out, traffic jumped. People who missed the 50 free ones bought it instead. Other YouTubers saw the video and asked for the same deal. Chris reused the video in his ads and on his site, and he still gets emails from people who watched it years later.
The numbers
| Figure | Number |
|---|---|
| Revenue | About $300,000 a year |
| Cost per unit | About $1 to $2 |
| Price per container | $18 |
| Minimum order | 300 units |
| What he ordered | 5,000 units, over $5,000 |
| First influencer | T-Roy, about 354,000 subscribers |
| Newsletter | 7,000 subscribers (peaked at 42,000) |
How it grew
Stories instead of ads
When the first boost wore off, he switched to stories. He interviews his brother-in-law's dad, a seasoned pitmaster, and collects stories from barbecue competitions. Each piece has real smoking tips, a story and a small mention of Bald Buck. He promotes them with Facebook ads aimed at people interested in barbecue.
Priced at the top
He looked up the most expensive barbecue rubs on the market and matched them, because it is easier to come down in price than to go up. $18 a container leaves room to pay for influencers, ads, shipping and help.
Free gifts to raise the order
He buys barbecue slicers, meat thawing trays and bottle openers on Alibaba for a few dollars each. They retail for $20 to $50. Buy 2 seasonings and the slicer is free. Buy 5 and the thawing tray is free.
Run from home
The store runs on Shopify. The seasoning is also on Amazon with zero Amazon ads. Inventory sits in his grandma's climate controlled shed, a pool house is the shipping center, and part time help handles orders one or two days a week.
Do what he did: step by step
1. Find a product people already love.
Do this: write down three products you or your friends rave about that are made by small manufacturers.
2. Call and ask the one question.
Do this: phone the maker and ask "Do you white-label this?" Ask for the minimum order and the unit cost.
3. Price at the top of the market.
Do this: look up the most expensive competitors and match them. The margin pays for everything else.
4. Give before you ask.
Do this: find one creator in your niche you share something with. Put that in the subject line and offer free product for their first 50 fans.
5. Commit to a number that forces you to sell.
Do this: order more than feels safe, so that selling it is no longer optional.
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Sources
- Side Hustle Nation, interview with Chris Gray of Bald Buck, June 19, 2025
