Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Friday, September 26th.

Today on Forbes, Inside the Billion Dollar Red Sauce War, Carbone v. Rayos.

Eric Skaye sits at the back corner table inside New York City's Carbon as a plate of spicy

rigatoni vodka comes out, and he pauses to

acknowledge the sauce that launched his business, Carbone Fine Food.

Skay, the 61-year-old CEO and a co-founder, says, quote,

After 35 years, I've done everything you can do, but this one in particular, I did want to do it better

than I've ever done anything else.

Skae runs the consumer packaged goods spin-off of the iconic Greenwich Village restaurant that has

since launched eight outposts, including in Las Vegas, Dallas, Hong Kong, and London, as well as a

soon-to-open location in Dubai, since it was founded

in 2013 by Major Food Group. A dinner at Carbon can cost hundreds of dollars, but Ské

has the task of selling more affordable access. With a $7 to $11 jarred sauce, any night at home

can feel like you're at the flagship restaurant.

That's propelled carbone fine food to become the fastest growing pasta sauce brand in America,

with sales expected to reach $100 million by the end of this year, nearly doubling 2024's

performance. It's also why Ska is getting calls from grocers as far away as Latin America,

even though Carbon has no location south of Miami.

But Skay, who previously ran the retail business for another New York Red Sauce Cathedral,

Raleigh in East Harlem, and led its 2017 acquisition,

is enjoying his second act.

Carbon Fine Foods' 18 sauces, from Arabeata to pizza sauce, are now sold across 27,000 stores in America, and he's hungry for more expansion.

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