How Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce Cooked Up Its Legendary Name

Sweet Baby Ray's is a big barbecue brand with a little-known origin story. Back in 1985, Dave Raymond and his brother Larry beat out almost 700 others to come in second place at a Chicago-area barbecue contest (and Sweet Baby Ray's also came in second place for our ranking of the best and worst grocery store barbecue sauces). The next year they launched what would eventually become a multimillion-dollar barbecue sauce company with a high school friend. They started it with $2,000, a lot of gumption, and a great name — Sweet Baby Ray's. How the Raymonds came up with the now famous name is a story in two parts, and both took place on Chicago's West Side where the brothers grew up. When Dave was a kid, he became known by a new name. 

"The nickname for a while had been 'Baby Ray' because my last name is Raymond and the guys in the neighborhood called my brother 'Ray,' and just being younger than him, they called me 'Baby Ray,'" Dave Raymond said in the documentary "Hi, I'm Sweet Baby Ray – The Sweet Baby Ray's Barbecue Wood Dale Story." A few years later, Dave began to excel at basketball and had a particularly nice jump shot, which a fellow player commented on. "Hey, that's sweet, Baby Ray," Dave recalled him saying. The name stuck. 

It may have been a great jump shot that gave Dave Raymond his nickname, but it was hard work that got him and his brother Larry to the top of the sauce scene. They spent several years, beginning in 1982, perfecting their signature barbecue sauce that, surprisingly, includes Tabasco as an ingredient. Dave and Larry would cook ribs on a Weber grill and have friends over to give them feedback on the sauce that would one day come to dominate the retail barbecue sauce business. Dave was a tireless promoter of their products and began with Chicago area businesses, then branched out to the state, regional, and eventually, the national level. They sold the company in 2001 to Ken's Foods.

These days, Dave is semi-retired, and while his basketball days are over, he's still got his hands in the barbecue business. Although Larry passed away in 2021, his son, Duce Raymond, and Dave have partnered in two barbecue restaurants and two catering companies. While Chicago may be known for its deep dish pizza, it's had a thriving barbecue scene for generations, something Dave continues to promote. In 2023, he was inducted into the American Royal Association Barbecue Hall of Fame, cementing his stature in the barbecue world. And it might not have happened if not for Dave's basketball skills that earned him the nickname "Sweet Baby Ray."