That’s the tagline for Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce.  And it certainly is sweet…

Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce is considered one of the fastest growing barbecue sauces sold in the United States (according to them).  They sold 500,000 cases last year and it has replaced Bulls-Eye (which contains no HFCS) as the BBQ sauce used by Burger King on their Rodeo Cheeseburger, also known as the Western Barbecue Angus burger.  So BK dumps the no HFCS Bulls-Eye and decides to use the HFCS Sweet Baby Ray’s?  Nice one BK…  You’re on my shit list now.

Sweet Baby Ray’s has some marketing mumbo jumbo going that I have yet to hear a reply from them about.  The bottle that we had, purchased from Costco in the twin pack variety, stated “Award Winning” and “Original” on the front and back’s of the bottle.  Their website claims the award winning as well but digging into the 1985 awards giving at the event they claim to have received it only shows them getting 2nd place.  I guess 2nd place is an award.  We have the Darwin Awards too…

There is a short story about the birth of Sweet Baby Ray’s on the back of the bottle and a longer version on the website, both go something like this:

It all began back in 1985 when a local Chicago boy named Chef Larry perfected his family’s recipe for a sweet and tangy BBQ sauce and entered it into the country’s largest rib cook-off, the Mike Royko Rib-off. Chef Larry called his sauce Sweet Baby Ray’s after his little brother David, who got the nickname shootin’ hoops on the west side of Chicago. On the day of the rib-off, Sweet Baby Ray’s beat nearly 700 entrants to come in second – an amazing feat for an unknown. The rest, as they say, is history.

When brother David and friend Mike caught wind of Sweet Baby Ray’s success, they, along with Chef Larry, decided to take the sauce on the road. What would the rest of America think?

Knocking on doors, selling to small mom-and pops, even grilling right on the sidewalk, word of Sweet Baby Ray’s savory taste spread like wildfire. By 1994, Sweet Baby Ray’s distinctive bottle could be found on grill pits and dinner tables across the Midwest. With their sights now set on the rest of the US, Larry, David and Mike took to the streets again. From 1996 through 1999 sales soared. Sweet Baby Ray’s also became the BBQ Guru to the taste of Chicago (that’s 4 million visitors and a ton of napkins). By the end of the century Sweet Baby Ray’s US sales had topped 500,000 cases annually.

Sweet Baby Ray’s has become the fastest growing BBQ sauce in America and the #1 premium BBQ sauce in grocery. Tomorrow, maybe the universe.

Okay, the story is cute but lacks any real information about the sauce, and last names, and correct event names…

It was 1985.  Check.

In Chicago.  Check.

A boy named Chef Larry. Huh?  His first was Chef or he was a Chef?  How did he become a Chef as a boy?  What’s his last name or is it Larry?  Okay, since Sweet Baby Ray’s won’t tell me, I’ll look it up myself…  They must be talking about Chef Larry “Duce” Raymond.

Mike Royko Rib-Off.  Huh?  Oh, you mean the Mike Royko Ribfest…  You’d think if they beat 700 entrants and won a #2 award, they’d remember where it came from…  There’s some more math that doesn’t add up.   The story on BBQ Expo (link above) about Larry Raymond states that Larry is the nephew of David Raymond.  The SBR story says Dave is Larry’s little brother.  But, maybe there are 2 Dave’s in the family.  Larry, Darryl and Daryl (anyone remember Newhart?).  The BBQ Expo story goes on to say that he grew up around food service and has been in it for 12 years and he initially realized his passion at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Utah.  So the guy that perfects a family recipe as a boy, wins the “rib-off” and launches an entire line of BBQ sauces in 1985 didn’t realize his passion until 2002?  A story on SBR Catering’s website is written apparently by Dave “Sweet Baby Ray” Raymond about his brother Larry and how they got started and in 1989, they finally incorporated and became a national brand.  I guess after that success, Chef Larry decided to work the Olympics vending food and become an actual chef by attending Kendall College?

This story isn’t entirely unbelievable but there are certainly some holes in the timelines.   The BBQ Expo story says that “Duce” (a nickname not used in the SBR story) talks about his BB experience from the Taste of Chicago, Naperville Rib fest, and Wrigley Field but doesn’t mention Mike Royko and the famed birth of Sweet Baby Ray’s once.  Weird.  This guy is the “inventor/perfecter” of one of the fastest growing nationally distributed BBQ sauces and it’s not mentioned once in a 2008 bio?

But why was Chef Larry vending at the Olympics?  Granted,  it’s a big event and I’m sure a big money maker but for a part owner in a company that distributed 500,000 cases by 2000, running a food vending stand 2 years later doesn’t seem right.  And only then to discover you had a passion for culinary arts?

I’m sure I could continue to pick away at the story and I’ll cut them a little slack, they didn’t write the BBQ Expo article so maybe that writer got confused.

So, back to marketing hype…  Original.  It’s right there on the front of the bottle with the story about a 1985 award winning (2nd place, the bottle doesn’t say this of course, just award winning) sauce.  It would be reasonable to assume that the sauce in the bottle with the 1985 award winning story on the back and “Original” on the front would in-fact be that same recipe.

However, I am 99.999% positive that Chef Larry “Duce” Raymond and his nephew/brother didn’t run down to their corner Chicago supermarket and pick up a bottle of high fructose corn syrup as young boys.  They probably didn’t pick up sodium benzoate either.  But that’s what in this bottled slop.

It does taste good, no doubt about it.  I’ve made BBQ sauce from scratch.  It’s not that hard to make and I’ve got a few recipes that would blow Sweet Baby Ray’s out of the water so for me, their sauce isn’t the boss.  In all of my BBQ sauce recipes, I never call for high fructose corn syrup.  And if I did, I wouldn’t put honey on top of it.  And if I did, I wouldn’t put molasses on top of that.  And if I did, I wouldn’t put corn syrup on top of that.  And if I did, I wouldn’t put sugar in it.  But that’s what Sweet Baby Ray’s has done in their “original” recipe.

Here’s the ingredient list:

  • high fructose corn syrup
  • vinegar
  • tomato paste
  • honey
  • modified food starch
  • contains less than 2% of:
    • salt
    • natural flavor
    • caramel
    • pineapple juice concentrate
    • spices
    • sodium benzoate as a preservative
    • natural smoke flavor
    • molasses
    • garlic
    • corn syrup
    • sugar
    • tamarind

SWEET is right!  5 sweeteners in each bottle.  5!  YIKES!

How does this break down?  Well, a serving size is 2 tablespoons.  Nobody uses 2 tablespoons, come on, you pour it all over your meat, don’t lie, I know you do because we did it too.

In 2 tablespoons  you get 300mg of sodium!  That’s 8% of your RDA (for adults), that’s more than a slice of pizza and you get 17g of carbs, 15g from sugar.  There’s no fiber, no protein and like Sunny D, it has half of what makes up Benzene.  I just don’t think this was Chef Larry’s original 2nd place award winning recipe and as mentioned above, I did send an email to Sweet Baby Ray’s asking them to clarify their story and claim of being “original” and they have not responded.  It’s been 5 days, I’ll give them a little more time, then I’ll call.

One note, Sweet Baby Ray’s isn’t the family owned enterprise they claim it to be, it’s either owned by Ken’s Foods which is based in Marlborough, MA, not Chicago, IL, or it is bottled and distributed by Ken’s Foods.  I haven’t been able to get a clear answer on that one yet.  Ken’s Foods owns the Sweet Baby Ray’s domain name and they do his a listing for Sweet Baby Ray’s on their own website.

If you’re looking for a good BBQ sauce, you can make your own (I’ll put some recipes up soon) or you can try Biff’s Blue Ribbon.  It’s a small-batch, locally produced sauce that comes in a good old canning jar, handcrafted by Biff himself in Puyallup, WA.  Biff is apparently a strong man because my wife had a hell of a time getting the lid off the jar.

Or, go back to Bulls-Eye which is now HFCS free.  You should still read the labels on the Bulls-Eye to make sure they aren’t using some other nasty in there as a sweetener.  Always, always, ALWAYS read your labels.  If you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it.  If you don’t know what it is, don’t eat it!

This is always a good test, read the label and if there’s something you don’t know what it is, ask a store clerk that you’re looking for the potassium benzoate (or whatever it is on the label).  If they can’t find it in the store in its own container for you to buy individually (in the food sections, not automotive), DON’T EAT IT!