The Story Behind Papa Willie’s
We’ve been waiting to re-introduce ourselves to you! A little bit about our history and how we’ve gotten to where we are.
It all started in our family kitchen. We hosted countless celebrations and outdoor BBQs where a rack of ribs were always the star of the show. Preparation of the ribs included mixing different sauces, rubs, and ingredients to create a tremendous flavor profile
Friends and family kept asking "why don’t you just open up a BBQ joint?"
I thought if you`re gonna open a place, you gotta have a sauce; your own sauce, from scratch. I didn't want the usual tastes that were on the market- sweet, hot, vinegar, tomato base-I wanted to give you all of these in one. Papa willies has three distinct tastes in one. First a little sweet, then a little tang to make your mouth water, then a slow heat that leaves your mouth in 8-10 seconds (yes, we have timed it).
We did end up opening a barbecue joint, Bag `O` Bones and though it didn’t last we kept the sauce alive under a different name on a very limited run mainly for family, friends, and as a house bbq sauce for a friend's place in Chicago.
Who is Papa Willie, you may ask? He was the patriarch of our family, a husband, father to me and my two older brothers, and a grandfather to 8 kids. If he were with us today he'd be a great-grandfather to 14. We know that he and Grandma Jeri would be proud to know their names have lived on.
That is Papa Willie's wedding picture on the label. Grandma Jeri will grace another of our products with her own brand soon.