Bacon entrepreneurs bring in the bucks

    Bacon Salt built a cult following on Twitter and Facebook.

    By Jo Piazza

    (Fortune Small Business) -- Tired of hearing that everything tastes like chicken? So are Seattle entrepreneurs Justin Esch and Dave Lefkow. They want it all to taste like bacon.

    Two years ago the former software engineers invented a zero-calorie, vegetarian, kosher, bacon-flavored salt in Esch's garage. The guys used grassroots tactics to develop a cult following for J&D's Bacon Salt, creating Facebook and Twitter profiles and dressing up as bacon strips at sporting events. In 2008 they reaped $1.4 million in revenues. The "bacontrepreneurs" expect to do twice as well this year. They're expanding to offer products ranging from bacon-flavored lip balm to bacon-scented sunscreen and soaps.

    "There isn't any limit to what bacon can do," Lefkow says.

    Not everyone is ready to push the limits, however. "The idea makes my spine tingle," says celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito, "but bacon without the fat is like diamonds without the sparkle."