Yellowbird Foods, creator engine

Ten creators, one hot sauce, one number

A first roster for Yellowbird: ten creators live in six weeks, seven videos each per week, paid against one target: $1 per 1,000 views.

creators live by week six: 10
creator videos a month at the full roster: 303
weeks from the first creator to the full roster: 5

One bowl, one drizzle: Classic Habanero

Illustrative: a creator whisks tahini paste and Yellowbird Habanero Hot Sauce into a dressing, pours it over farro and arugula, and holds the bottle up to the camera.

Illustrative post

Part 1 of 15

Summary

Creator engine summary
Roster	Ten creators live by week ten	Live by week: 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10. Two creators a week, six weeks of ramp.
Who	Home cooks who already drizzle on everything	Six personas, from meal-prep cooks to heat chasers, each matched to one Yellowbird bottle.
Production	Seven videos per creator per week	303 creator videos a month at ten creators. Five formats, one variable per test.
Pay	Base pay by band, with a cap	Starter $300 base, $600 cap. Standard $500, $1,000. Premium $800, $1,500.
Bonus	$50 flat past 100,000 views	One bonus per creator per month, organic views only. Cap bonus: $300, $500, $700.
Compliance	A claims sheet in your own words	Creators quote only lines copied from yellowbirdsauce.com. No health claims, ever.
Rule for the category	Food rules first: taste, not health	Flavor, heat and the dish. Never a claim about what the sauce does to your body.
Goal	$1 per 1,000 views	Proposed target. The simulator starts at $5.74 on 1.8M views and shows what has to change.
Report	Every Monday, without being asked	Views, cost per 1,000 views, hooks that won, losers killed early.
Decision	Ceiling $15,000, bonuses excluded	All ten creators at the top cap. You approve the roster and the claims sheet before anyone films.

Part 1 of 15, continued

The program in numbers

Creators live at full roster: 10; Proposed
Videos per creator per week: 7; Proposed
Creator videos a month: 303; Calculated
Base pay per creator: $1,000; Proposed
Bonus past 100,000 views: $50; Proposed
Bonus at the top cap of the highest band: $700; Calculated
Program cost a month, bonuses included: $10,050; Calculated
Views a month at the assumptions: 1.8M; Calculated
Cost per 1,000 views: $5.74; Calculated
Target cost per 1,000 views: $1; Proposed

Part 2 of 15

Track record

Former COO of Tabs. I built its creator program to 100M monthly social impressions, and the paid ad engine alongside it. The numbers below come from videos that program produced.

At Tabs I built the creator program to 100M monthly social impressions, with the paid ad engine alongside it. This is the same playbook for Yellowbird: a roster, a hook library, one variable per test, losers killed early. The category is different. I have not run organic hot sauce, so the claims sheet comes from your site, not from me.

monthly social impressions at Tabs: 100M+
views on one reel: 17.7M
views on one video: 8M
views on one video: 6.5M

Part 3 of 15

Why now

483
reviews on the Small Batch Variety 4-Pack
The four-bottle set is rated 4.8 by 483 reviewers. Creators can open on a score that already exists instead of asking viewers to trust them.
Published
4,582
reviews shown on the site
The site displays 4,582 reviews. That is raw material for creators to react to on camera, quoted only as the site shows it.
Published
$56.00
Small Batch Variety 4-Pack price
A set at this price gives unboxing and rank-every-bottle videos a clear object to point at, and a clear number for the viewer.
Published
10%
Subscribe & Save
The site shows Subscribe & Save 10%. A repeat-buyer offer already exists, so a creator video has somewhere to send a viewer who likes the bottle.
Published

Part 4 of 15

Principles

One number to protect
The target is $1 per 1,000 views. Every creator, format and bonus is judged against it. The simulator starts at $5.74, so the gap is on the table from day one.
One variable per test
Each batch changes the hook or the dish, never both. Seven videos per creator per week gives 303 a month at ten creators, enough volume to read a result.
Losers killed early
A creator or format that misses the $1 target after the first month moves down a band or out. A slow roster gets no loyalty, and winners get the budget.
Claims from your site only
Creators quote the lines on the claims sheet, copied from yellowbirdsauce.com. Anything else gets asked in the team channel before the camera rolls.

Part 4 of 15, continued

One channel for everything

#briefs

Briefs, drafts, reviews and the weekly numbers

Illustrative

MartaMon 8:30 AM
This week's brief: Classic Jalapeño in the black-eyed peas pot. One dish, one hook. Film it twice with different openers and post both.
JessMon 10:15 AM
Can I say the Organic range is healthier than Classic?
No. Claims sheet only. Say what it tastes like and what you cooked. For Ghost Pepper you may quote: For those who like it smoky and bold.
MartaWed 2:00 PM
Draft back: your Serrano guac cut hides the bottle until the last seconds. Show the label in the opening shot and send it again.
Report botAppMon 7:00 AM
Weekly report posted: videos per creator, cost per 1,000 views against the $1 target, the hooks that won and the creators below target.
Report botAppFri 9:40 AM
Jess's Habanero dressing video passed 100,000 views on organic reach. The $50 flat bonus is queued, one per creator per month.
MartaFri 11:00 AM
Before you film Hatch Tahini next week: confirm the flavor is still on the site. Reply here when you have checked.
Checked the site, it is listed. Filming Monday.

The messages illustrate the working channel, with invented people: briefs go out on Monday, claims questions get an answer the same day, and nothing posts without the check.

Part 5 of 15

Formats

Brief 01
Dressing in one bowl
“Three ingredients and Habanero becomes a dressing.”
Overhead, one bowl: tahini paste, Yellowbird Habanero Hot Sauce, whisk, pour over farro and arugula. End on the label.
Brief 02
One-pot black-eyed peas
“One pot of black-eyed peas, one Jalapeño bottle.”
Stove-top shot: pour Classic Jalapeño into the pot, stir, then a final drizzle over the bowl with the label facing camera.
Brief 03
Smoky and bold first bite
“For those who like it smoky and bold.”
Face to camera, first bite of Classic Ghost Pepper on your own meal. Show the bottle, say the heat out loud, no cuts.
Brief 04
Meal prep that keeps
“Meal prep that keeps in the fridge for up to 3 days.”
Pack the chickpea and edamame bowl dressed with Blue Agave Sriracha, lid on, fridge door shut. Show the label on the jar.
Brief 05
Guac drizzle
“Guac for six, or for two. Serrano decides.”
Close on a Classic Serrano drizzle over fresh guac, then one chip dip and a reaction. Say Classic or Organic out loud.

Every product line in a video comes off the claims sheet word for word, for example “This World's Tastiest Hot Sauce”, “For those who like it smoky and bold.”, “All Orders Ship Free!”. Product names are said as printed.

Part 6 of 15

Recruiting

Four sources in

Existing buyers
Reviewers and repeat customers who already cook with the bottles. The Small Batch Variety 4-Pack alone carries 483 reviews at 4.8.
Recipe cooks
Creators who already post dinner and meal-prep clips where a sauce does the work: farro bowls, guac, black-eyed peas, wings.
Heat-seeker communities
Chile growers, spicy-food challenge eaters and taco creators, found by hand in search and judged on the cooking, not on follower count.
Affiliate or ambassador page
I did not find an affiliate or ambassador page on the site. The first roster is recruited by direct message with a short brief and the claims sheet.

Five filters, fewer each step

1Cooks on camera
Shows a real dish being made, not only a bottle held up to the lens.
2Hook sense
Opens with a line that stops the scroll within the first seconds of the clip.
3Reads a claims sheet
Stays inside the lines copied from the site and asks in the channel when unsure.
4Steady cadence
Can post seven videos a week without quality collapsing by week two.
5Audience that can order
Domestic viewers: free standard UPS shipping, 2-5 business days depending on location.

Part 7 of 15

Who

Meal-prep cook
Batch-cooks bowls for the week and sauces them last. Fits chickpea and edamame prep.
Likely product: Classic Blue Agave Sriracha
Weeknight taco cook
Scrambled egg tacos and quick dinners, and likes a mellow heat.
Likely product: Hatch Tahini Hot Sauce
Heat chaser
Posts spice challenges and wants the smoky, bold end of the range.
Likely product: Classic Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce
Party host
Cooks for a crowd, makes dips and hands out 2.2 oz mini bottles as favors.
Likely product: Classic Habanero Hot Sauce
Plant-forward cook
Tofu, edamame and pickled mushroom recipes where the sauce carries flavor.
Likely product: Plum Reaper Hot Sauce
Variety-set unboxer
Unboxes sets and ranks every bottle on camera, heat level by heat level.
Likely product: Small Batch Variety 4-Pack

Left off, every time

Always left out: anyone who promoted a rival hot sauce this season, creators who make health claims about food, and anyone who will not use the claims sheet. Food rule: no claim about what the sauce does to your body.

Part 8 of 15

First twenty

Weeknight dinner cook
Meal-prep Sunday cook
Taco and burrito home cook
Breakfast egg-and-potato creator
Farro and grain-bowl cook
Plant-forward recipe creator
Wing and fried-chicken cook
Guacamole and dip maker
Chile grower and gardener
Spice-challenge eater
Pickling and fermenting hobbyist
Grocery-haul creator
Wedding and party host
Gift-set unboxing creator
Sandwich builder
One-pot and slow-cooker cook
First-apartment cook
Tahini and Mediterranean cook
Texas food and barbecue creator
Brunch host who cooks at home

Part 9 of 15

Claims sheet

Approved, word for word

Quoted exactly as the brand publishes it.

“This World's Tastiest Hot Sauce”
Opening or closing line of any video, said as the brand's own tagline.
“For those who like it smoky and bold.”
Classic or Organic Ghost Pepper videos, as the flavor description.
“For those who like it rich and tangy with a mellow hot heat.”
Hatch Tahini videos, as the flavor description.
“100% Satisfaction Guaranteed”
End card or caption, only as the site words it.
“All Orders Ship Free!”
Call to action near the link, domestic orders as the site states.
“Subscribe & Save 10%”
Caption for repeat-buyer angles, only where the product page offers it.

Never said

Each one with the reason it stays out.

It helps you lose weight.
A health outcome. Creators talk about flavor, never the body.
It is good for your gut.
A health outcome the brand has not claimed.
Organic means it is healthier for you.
The site only invites readers to learn what Organic means. A creator cannot answer for it.
Healthier than other hot sauces.
A comparison with no source on the site.
Classic has no sugar.
The site says Classic is subtly sweetened with organic cane sugar.
Free shipping everywhere in the world.
The site offers free standard domestic shipping only.

To confirm with the brand

Held until someone on the brand side signs off.

What the satisfaction guarantee covers
The site gives the line but a creator should not explain terms until the brand confirms them.
Which products Subscribe & Save 10% applies to
Creators must not promise the offer on a bottle or set where it may not appear.
Whether Hatch Tahini is still on the site
It is described as a seasonal flavor, so check before every post.

Part 10 of 15

Pay

Starter
$300–600
a month, by band
Starter: new creators proving they can hold seven videos a week on one bottle.
Bonus at the cap: $300
Standard
$500–1,000
a month, by band
Standard: steady creators whose hooks already come close to the $1 target.
Bonus at the cap: $500
Premium
$800–1,500
a month, by band
Premium: creators who carry several flavors and clear the target on their own.
Bonus at the cap: $700

Under 100,000 views
$0
The base pay covers the work.
100,000 views
+$50 flat
Whatever the band.
1,000,000 views
Top-up to your cap
Bonus = band cap − base pay.

One bonus per creator per month, even if several videos pass 100,000 views.
The $50 flat attaches to a single video that passes 100,000 views, never to a running total.
Organic views only: paid boosts on a creator's video do not count toward the threshold.
No bonus on a video that broke the claims sheet or the food rules, even past 100,000 views.

Starter: $600 cap − $300 fee = $300 bonus; Standard: $1,000 cap − $500 fee = $500 bonus; Premium: $1,500 cap − $800 fee = $700 bonus.

The bonus pays for reach after the work is done, never instead of it. One bonus per creator per calendar month keeps it an incentive and keeps the program cost predictable.

Part 11 of 15

Simulator

Read it as a gap, not a forecast: $5.74 per 1,000 views against $1.00. Either 4.2% of videos go viral or the median video reaches 21,711 views. The sliders show which.

Program facts

Yellowbird Foods creator engine, per month

Monthly cost: $10,050
Base pay: $10,000
Est. bonuses: $50
Videos / month: 303
Est. views / month: 1.8M
Cost per 1,000 views: $5.74

Above the $1 target at these inputs.

To hit $1, the roster needs about 10.1M views a month. That means about 4.2% of videos going viral, or a median near 22K views per video. That is why the day-90 gate exists: keep the accounts that clear it, replace the rest.

Proposed, not measured. Views = videos × median, breakouts at 10× the median, viral at 750K. Bonus: +$50 for a viral video, one per creator per month.

Part 11 of 15, continued

What moves the result

Cost per 1,000 views by median views per video
If the median is	Views / month	Monthly cost	Cost / 1K	Hits target
750	1.4M	$10,050	$6.96	No
1,500	1.8M	$10,050	$5.74	No
3,000	2.4M	$10,050	$4.24	No

Cost per 1,000 views by share of viral videos
If the viral share is	Views / month	Monthly cost	Cost / 1K	Hits target
0.3%	1.2M	$10,000	$8.44	No
0.5%	1.8M	$10,050	$5.74	No
1%	2.9M	$10,150	$3.52	No

The math. Videos a month = 10 creators × 7 a week × 52 ÷ 12 = 303. Views per video = (1 − 4% − 0.5%) × 1,500 + 4% × 10 × 1,500 + 0.5% × 750,000 = 5,782.5; 303 videos × 5,782.5 = 1.8M views a month. Cost = 10 × $1,000 = $10,000 base + 1 bonus × $50 = $10,050. Cost per 1,000 views = $10,050 ÷ 1.8M × 1,000 = $5.74 against a $1.00 target. To hit the target, either 4.2% of videos go viral or the median video reaches 21,711 views, other inputs held.

Move the sliders and the label recalculates. The result is only as good as the guesses behind it, so the median views, the share of breakouts and the share of viral videos are marked as Assumptions until the first month of posts replaces them.

Part 12 of 15

Phases

Creators live by week (proposed): 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10

0Wk 1
2Wk 2
4Wk 3
6Wk 4
8Wk 5
10Wk 6

Creator ramp by week
Item	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6
Creators live	0	2	4	6	8	10
Videos a week	0	14	28	42	56	70
Base pay a month	$0	$2,000	$4,000	$6,000	$8,000	$10,000

Warm-up
Brief and claims sheet
Before anyone films, you approve the claims sheet and the five formats. Creators then go live by week: 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10.
Month 1
Ramp to ten creators
Two creators a week for six weeks. Every video tests one hook, losers killed early. Pay is the base of the creator's band.
Month 2
Cut and double down
Creators above the $1 target move up a band. Winning hooks enter the hook library and go to every creator in the next brief.
Month 3
Send winners to paid
The best organic videos go to paid with the creator's written permission. Same hook, one variable changed per test.
Ninety days in
Keep, shrink or expand
We read cost per 1,000 views against the $1 target and decide whether to keep ten creators, shrink the roster or add more.
Monthly ceiling
Capped at $15,000
All ten creators at the top cap, bonuses excluded. The simulator base case sits near $10,050, so the ceiling is a limit, not a plan.

$15,000 Monthly ceiling, all 10 creators at the top cap, bonuses excluded Proposed

The roster grows by two creators a week, so hook performance can be read week over week instead of by anecdote.

Part 13 of 15

Report

Every Monday: videos posted, views, cost per 1,000 views against the $1 target, the hooks that won and the creators below target. Losers killed early.

Creator engine, last 4 weeks

Target $1 per 1,000 organic views Illustrative

Creators reporting: 5
Posts last week: 32
Avg cost per 1,000 views: $8.94
Bonuses owed: $0
Keep / Watch / Replace: 1 / 1 / 3

Per-creator results, last four weeks, sorted by cost per 1,000 views
Creator	Band	Format	Posts	Median	Best	Cost / 1K	Bonus	Flags	Call
Creator A	Starter	Dressing in one bowl	7	2.1K	25K	$3.37	$0	None	Keep
Creator B	Standard	One-pot black-eyed peas	7	1.4K	8.4K	$9.83	$0	Claim check	Replace
Creator C	Premium	Smoky and bold first bite	6	1.8K	54K	$7.94	$0	None	Watch
Creator D	Starter	Meal prep that keeps	5	900	3.6K	$12.99	$0	Over cap?	Replace
Creator E	Standard	Guac drizzle	7	1.2K	11K	$10.59	$0	Release missing	Replace
All creators	not applicable	not applicable	32	1.5K	54K	$8.94	$0	not applicable	not applicable

Illustrative rows with invented creators, coherent with the pay bands above. Keep means the cost per 1,000 views is at or under the program average, Watch is up to half again over it, and Replace is anything higher.

Part 14 of 15

Organic to paid

From organic to paid

Pick the winner
Take only videos that cleared the $1 target on organic views alone.
Get permission
Ask the creator in writing to run the clip as an ad before any spend.
Keep the hook
Run the same first seconds. Change one variable per test, never two.
Compare to organic
Hold paid cost per 1,000 views against the organic baseline and kill the loser.

From the video to the checkout

Send single-bottle interest to the Shop All page.
Link the Small Batch Variety 4-Pack at $56.00 for the rank-every-bottle videos.
Link Build Your Own at $30.00 for pick-your-heat hooks.
Mention Subscribe & Save 10% only where the product page offers it.
Say all orders ship free; standard UPS delivery takes 2-5 business days.

Part 15 of 15

Category rules

Food rules for organic hot sauce

The same rules apply from the $300 Starter base to the $1,500 Premium cap. A video that breaks them earns no bonus and may be pulled.

Taste, not treatment
Talk about flavor, heat and what you cooked. Never say what the sauce does to your body, and never answer a health question beyond the claims sheet.
Organic means the label
Say Organic only for the Organic range. Classic is sweetened with organic cane sugar; Organic is sweetened with dates and zero added cane sugar.
Heat is personal
Describe heat as your own experience, using the site's wording for each flavor. Never dare viewers to eat something they may not tolerate.
Seasonal means check first
Hatch Tahini is a seasonal flavor. Confirm it is on the site before you film, and never promise viewers it will stay.
Disclose the deal
Mark every post as paid with the platform's tag and a clear paid-partnership line in the first seconds, before the first bite.
Offers only as listed
Quote free shipping and Subscribe & Save 10% exactly as the site words them. No invented codes, discounts or prices.

The brand’s legal team sets the final rules. This is the operating floor I’d start from, not legal advice.

Want to see the first briefs?

Grab a time here

reviews on the Small Batch Variety 4-Pack

reviews shown on the site

Small Batch Variety 4-Pack price

Subscribe & Save

One number to protect

One variable per test

Losers killed early

Claims from your site only

Dressing in one bowl

One-pot black-eyed peas

Smoky and bold first bite

Meal prep that keeps

Guac drizzle

Four sources in

Five filters, fewer each step

Meal-prep cook

Weeknight taco cook

Heat chaser

Party host

Plant-forward cook

Variety-set unboxer

Left off, every time

Approved, word for word

Never said

To confirm with the brand

Starter

Standard

Premium

Brief and claims sheet

Ramp to ten creators

Cut and double down

Send winners to paid

Keep, shrink or expand

Capped at $15,000

From organic to paid

From the video to the checkout

Food rules for organic hot sauce

Taste, not treatment

Organic means the label

Heat is personal

Seasonal means check first

Disclose the deal

Offers only as listed

Want to see the first briefs?