13 Little Known Facts About Sweet Baby Ray's

You can find various Sweet Baby Ray's sauces in grocery stores everywhere but everyone knows the brand's BBQ sauce is where it's at. In fact, it isn't hard to find people (myself included) proclaiming it as one of the best BBQ sauces you can get from the grocery store. As the company motto states, "The Sauce is the Boss" at Sweet Baby Ray's, and while many companies have fun catchphrases, it seems like it might just mean it. After all, it's one of the most loved BBQ sauce companies in the nation for a reason.

Aside from the unforgettable flavor of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce, most people don't know a lot about the company. We are going to change that right now, though. Keep reading to find out how the company got its start, what skyrocketed it to success, and so much more. By the time you get to the end, you'll be a Sweet Baby Ray's pro and you might just find something new to get excited about in its sauce line, too. Yum!

In the early 1980s, Larry Raymond went to work creating what would eventually become Sweet Baby Ray's Original Barbecue Sauce. According to an interview in the Chicago Tribune, David Raymond (Larry's brother) said they consulted chefs and conducted research on what makes a particular barbecue sauce great until their recipe was finally perfected in 1982. The brand's website also says the sauce started with a family recipe, but obviously, insights from pros and friends helped push them in the right direction.

Raymond told the Chicago Tribune that during development he gave the sauce away as Christmas gifts. He went on to say, "Everyone would come back shortly after the holidays with their empty bottles asking, 'Could we please have some more?'" Needless to say, he knew they were on to something special.

Creating a reputable brand is difficult enough with ample funding, but that's now how the story goes with Sweet Baby Ray's. Instead, they started with just $2,000. Of course, in the 1980s, that went a lot further than it would today, but still, it's pretty impressive what they were able to accomplish with such a limited budget.

As noted, Larry Raymond is credited with perfecting Sweet Baby Ray's now iconic recipe, and his brother, David, helped him along the way. Once the sauce started to take off, the two brothers formed a partnership with Mike O'Brien, a long-time friend of David's from school.

While Larry invented the sauce and David helped promote the brand through cooking demos and more, O'Brien was responsible for the business side of things. He filled in the gaps by taking care of paperwork and accounting.

All together, the team of three created a nice working balance that served them well for 20 years. Their passion and drive were able to turn the brand's humble beginnings into a household name. Eventually, like 20 years later, they chose to sell the company, but we will get into that later. For now, just know that the business started as a family operation with help from one long-time friend — but that's basically family, right?

Lots of hard work went into developing Sweet Baby Ray's, but interestingly enough, the name was the one thing that didn't take any effort. In fact, legend has it that the name was determined before the sauce was even created. So, who is Sweet Baby Ray? None other than Dave Raymond himself (Larry's little brother). Originally, it was a nickname he picked up playing basketball on Chicago's West Side as a kid.

In a short documentary on YouTube, Dave explains the name's origin in detail. He says he was dubbed Baby Ray because his older brother Larry was called Ray by kids in the neighborhood. Apparently, he was pretty good on the basketball court, and the nickname morphed into Sweet Baby Ray when some of the older kids he was playing complemented his moves. The nickname stuck and when it came time for Larry to name the company, he named it after his little bro. All things considered, it is pretty fitting he became the face of the company after Larry locked down the sauce recipe.

In 1982, Larry and David entered Sweet Baby Ray's into Mike Royko's Rib Fest, a massive barbecue competition. The first year wasn't a huge success, but they didn't let that stop them. Over the next few years, they continued to perfect their sauce until it eventually became what it is today. They kept entering the competition, too.

The fourth year, the brothers entered Sweet Baby Ray's into Mike Royko's Rib Fest. It came in second place and beat out about 700 other entries. Considering the sauce was basically unheard of at the time — a lucky few who came across a cooking demo or got it gifted to them knew what it was, but that's about it — this was a life-changing win for the brothers, and of course, the sauce.

The sauce's second-place win earned the brothers so much clout that the company finally started to take off. The very next year, in 1986, Sweet Baby Ray's became an incorporated business, and from that point on, the sky was the limit.

Sweet Baby Ray's Original Barbecue Sauce is undeniably sweet, but it also has a touch of heat on the backend. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Dave Raymond described the flavor by saying, "It is a unique blend of sweet, hot, and smoke designed to complement food flavor and not dominate it. Used straight from the fridge it is spicier, but milder when heated." So, where does it get its heat? Interestingly, it's Tabasco sauce, and it's not cheap. However, its blend of two different kinds of peppers is just what the sauce needs to achieve its distinct, tasty flavor.

Raymond went on to say, "Other sauces use bell peppers, curry powder, or cayenne red pepper, which are cheaper ingredients without the same bite." So, if you've ever wondered what sets Sweet Baby Ray's apart from other sauces, its use of higher-quality ingredients is certainly a contributing factor. Even so, the brand still manages to keep prices much lower than many other quality BBQ sauce options.

The slight kick in Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce is balanced out with sugar, but not just any sugar. It contains real brown sugar, which provides a deeper, more nuanced flavor profile than other types of sugar, especially white sugar. You may think white and brown sugar are pretty similar — after all, they both start as sugarcane or sugar beets. However, brown sugar has molasses in it, and that is what gives it a richer taste. When it comes to making BBQ sauce, these small details make a world of difference.

Using brown sugar in barbecue sauce is nothing new. In fact, lots of sauces do the same, especially Kansas City, St. Louis, and Memphis-style BBQ sauces. Even so, Sweet Baby Ray's Original Barbecue Sauce is on the sweeter side, so the brown sugar really comes to the forefront. It gives it the overall flavor a layer of richness and complexity that other sauces simply don't achieve.

When you hear the name Sweet Baby Ray's the first thing that most of us think about is the Original Barbecue Sauce, and rightfully so. However, you'll also be pleased to learn that the brand makes a whole lot more than just BBQ sauce. Believe it or not, its complete line of products includes 28 different sauces (although the number changes periodically due to new and special releases). From hot sauces to wing and marinade sauces to BBQ sauces infused with drool-worthy additional flavors to dipping sauces, it's got it all. It even makes a sugar-free BBQ sauce for anyone who may be so inclined. It's easy to zero in on the BBQ sauce, but the next time you are at the store, do a quick scan and you may be surprised to see just how many Sweet Baby Ray's sauces your local grocer carries.

We're not trying to tell you to run out and try all of the sauces in Sweet Baby Ray's lineup, but considering how yummy the Original Barbecue Sauce is, it probably wouldn't hurt. Still, the Mild Buffalo sauce ranks pretty high in most people's books as well — it's definitely one of my favorites. If you like super spicy, both the Nashville Hot and Mango Habanero buffalo sauces are outstanding, too.

Sweet Baby Ray's Original Barbecue Sauce may taste a whole lot like a classic Kansas City-style one, but as we now know, the Raymond brothers grew up in Chicago. This doesn't necessarily mean they couldn't make a Kansas City-style sauce, but this next tidbit might make you question what kind of regional sauce it truly is — Sweet Baby Ray's is processed and bottled in Chicago, too, which likely made things much more convenient for the guys in the company's early years.

A sauce manufacturer handles all of Sweet Baby Ray's dirty work, i.e. making the sauce and getting it in the bottles. Then, grocery warehouses and food service companies step in and take care of distribution. Combined, their efforts get the product to consumer and restaurant markets. That sounds so easy, but it didn't happen overnight — Sweet Baby Ray's hired a food broker to help get the products into major grocery store chains and eventually your hands, and boy did it pay off. Today, it is more difficult to find a store that doesn't carry it than go to one that does.

The Raymond brothers knew they needed more than just a tasty sauce recipe to help Sweet Baby Ray's succeed, so they took matters into their own hands. To generate public awareness of the product, Dave Raymond conducted countless cooking demos at food festivals and grocery stores. He even credits these outreach programs with the brand's success, and they span much further than just the early years.

In an interview with the Chicago Tribune (originally published in 1990), it was revealed that Sweet Baby Ray's would be featured in about 150 in-store cooking demonstrations that year alone. According to Dave Raymond, "Nothing beats putting our product on good food and having people taste it, while we're right there." Obviously, not all cooking demos are conducted by him, but many were and this hands-on approach is another one of the many things that helped skyrocket the brand to its now legendary status. Who better to sell the brand than one of the creators?

Everything the Raymond Brothers and O'Brien did to promote Sweet Baby Ray's started paying off in a big way after a few years. Community awareness of the brand kept growing, and by 2003, the company amassed more than $30 million in revenue. If you recall, it started with a $2,000 investment and a dream, so that's quite the feat. This widespread success and recognition sparked interest from potential buyers and, in 2003, they sold the company to Ken's (yup, the salad dressing company).

Since the sale, Ken's used its decades of experience in the sauce market to help the brand explode and reach its full potential. Today, the brand is worth more than $600 million, so there's no denying Sweet Baby Ray's permanence in the market. According to Dave Raymond, the viability of the sale and the brand's continuing success had everything to do with the premium quality of Sweet Baby Ray's sauce. According to Raymond, many less expensive sauces are just bases. Instead of being slathered on food as-is, consumers need to enhance their flavor with additional ingredients (like a touch of vinegar or a splash of coffee). With Sweet Baby Ray's, you don't have to do this — it comes out of the bottle more than ready to eat without any doctoring up.

The Sweet Baby Ray's sauce brand was sold to Ken's in 2003, but the company's creators kept the naming rights for restaurants and catering. Fast-forward a couple of years to 2005 and they opened a little BBQ joint in Illinois called Sweet Baby Ray's Wood Dale. While the restaurant's focus is serving drool-worthy smoked meats smothered in the brand's sauces, it also grew to include a full-service catering company. Considering the brand's humble beginnings and love for direct community interaction, this only makes sense.

In 2010, it expanded even more upon acquiring True Cuisine Catering. Originally a high-end catering brand, this opened up a lot of potential regarding expanding to other types of cuisine for the company. The family also added Duce's Wild BBQ Sauces (named after Dave Raymond's son) to the roster, and all together, the companies formed what is called the SBR Events Group.

If you are ever in Wood Dale, Illinois, the restaurant is still thriving, so make sure to stop in and get a taste of the original gusto that got the brand started.

Barbecue sauce comes in a world of different flavors and styles. You'll find everything from Japanese-style BBQ sauce with lots of umami to Carolina gold to Alabama white on grocery store shelves. You can even buy many top brands and renditions on Amazon. Despite the diverse selection, however, Original and Sweet & Spicy sauces are by far the two best sellers on a national level — this includes brands outside of Sweet Baby Ray's, too.

Other creative flavors of BBQ sauce still have a place in the market, though — they just don't get nearly the same sales numbers as the Original and Sweet & Spicy. After all, Sweet Baby Ray's doesn't stop with those two top-selling barbecue sauce flavors and they are crushing it. According to Dave Raymond, any other flavor options are often used as a tactic to preserve shelf space for a company's flagship product. Who knew so much plotting and strategy went into preserving shelf space? Regardless, you can rest assured Sweet Baby Ray's Original and Sweet & Spicy flavors are here to stay.

Whether you are a diehard fan of Sweet Baby Ray's Original Barbecue Sauce or not, there's no denying the numbers, and it's got 'em. For starters, the brand's sauces are sold in 98% of grocery stores in the United States. Additionally, a 2017 study conducted by Statista suggests that Sweet Baby Ray's is the most popular barbecue sauce in the country, and at least half of Americans buy it regularly. There aren't many sauce brands that can say the same, but even the ones that can pale in comparison to Sweet Baby Ray's in sales.

In an interview about the SBR Events Group, Duce Raymond told Chi the Wed, "Statistically speaking, Sweet Baby Ray's is the best-selling barbecue sauce in retail history and they sell more than the next seven sauces combined." After all we've learned, it's fair to assume the company's widespread success is largely due to its amazing flavor, community engagement, and good marketing. However, the budget-friendly cost of Sweet Baby Ray's is surely a driving force behind its prevalence in the market and, to put it plainly, overall consumer satisfaction.