Sweet Baby Ray's facts for kids
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| Type | Barbecue sauce |
|---|---|
| Introduced | 1986 |
| Previous owners | Dave and Larry Raymond |
| Tagline | The Sauce is the Boss! |
Sweet Baby Ray's is a super popular brand of barbecue sauce that comes from Romeoville, Illinois, in the United States. It's famous for its delicious taste!
Contents
How Sweet Baby Ray's Started
Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce was created by two brothers from Chicago, Dave and Larry Raymond. They started working on the sauce in the early 1980s. Dave was a basketball player, and his friends gave him the nickname "Sweet Baby Ray." That's where the name for the sauce came from!
Entering Barbecue Competitions
In 1982, the Raymond brothers decided to enter their special sauce into a barbecue competition in Chicago. They kept trying each year. Finally, in 1985, their hard work paid off! Their Sweet Baby Ray's sauce won second place out of 700 other sauces. That's a lot of competition!
From Competition to Business
After their big win, the brothers decided to turn their delicious sauce into a business. In 1986, they officially started their company and began selling Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce to everyone.
The Sauce Becomes a Big Hit
In 2005, the Raymond brothers sold their sauce business to a company called Ken's Foods. They sold it for $30 million! At that time, Sweet Baby Ray's was already making $30 million in sales each year. It also had a big part of the US market, holding 21% of all barbecue sauce sales.
Growing Popularity of the Sauce
By 2008, Sweet Baby Ray's had become the second best-selling barbecue sauce in the entire United States. People really loved its flavor!
Dave Raymond's Restaurants
Even though Dave Raymond sold the sauce business, he kept the rights to the "Sweet Baby Ray's" name. Today, he runs two restaurants in Chicago that are also called Sweet Baby Ray's.
Sweet Baby Ray's in the News
In 2021, something interesting happened. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, had an interview where a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's sauce was seen in the background. This small detail made the brand famous in the media, and it was estimated to be worth about $2 million in advertising!
Many Kinds of Sweet Baby Ray's Sauce
Today, there are 26 different kinds of Sweet Baby Ray's sauces! They have everything from sweet flavors to spicy ones. They even make different kinds of mustard sauces. In 2020, the brand started selling sauces with no added sugar, and they added even more of these in 2021.
What People Think of the Sauce
In March 2022, a website called Mashed asked 695 people about their favorite barbecue sauce. The results were clear: over 48% of the people said Sweet Baby Ray's was their favorite! The sauce that came in second place was chosen by only about 15% of the people. This shows how much people love Sweet Baby Ray's!
