A second sauce, or more of the first

The asymmetry

Doubling output of an existing sauce uses the process you already paid for. Adding a sauce means establishing a new one, because the process belongs to the formulation and the jar together and a thick product cannot borrow one from a similar recipe. That is a professional service with a lead time, bought again from scratch.

What a line extension actually costs

The filing, the new label artwork, the second set of label stock, a second ingredient supply chain and a second thing to keep consistent. Against that, a shop will usually take more of a sauce that sells before it will take a second one from the same maker.

When a second one earns its place

When it answers a real objection to the first rather than filling a gap on your own shelf. A milder version of a sauce people say is too hot, or a larger format for a restaurant already buying the retail jar, both have a buyer identified before the money is spent. A new flavor because the range looks thin does not.

Where the exception sits

A different size of the same sauce is also a new process, so it is in the expensive column rather than the free one. That surprises makers who think of it as the same product, and it is the most common way a line extension costs more than planned.

The honest sequence is usually to take the first sauce as far as it goes, fund the second out of it deliberately, and treat the filing as the thing you are saving for rather than a surprise.

References