Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/173967
foods in focus While there are still three main types— vinegar-based, mustard-based and tomatobased—a slew of new barbecue sauces featuring regional flavors, ethnic spices, natural ingredients and flavor fusions have hit the market. "We're seeing a huge trend in international flavors," says Craig Kanarick, founder of Mouth.com, an online food retailer specializing in small-batch, artisanal products. "Some of these are global sauces, like We Rub You, a take on traditional Korean barbecue sauce and marinade, but others are more traditional, American-style barbecue sauces incorporating flavors like pineapple, lemongrass, miso or tamarind." Kanarick has also noticed an uptick in requests for hotter peppers and specific chiles, like Thai chiles and habaneros. Daniel Levine, director of the AvantGuide Institute, a global trend analysis company, says the biggest trend in barbecue sauce is specialization. "We call it the 'Brooklynization' of barbecue—sauces that are small-batch, locally sourced and created with out-of-the-ordinary, heirloom ingredients," he says, noting specialty sauces like SFQ Barbecue Sauce, which features ingredients like coffee, chocolate and red wine; American Stockyard Harvest Apple BBQ Sauce, made with tart Washington apples; Wild Thymes Farm BBQ Sauce, with a line of flavors influenced by Mexico, Thailand and Morocco; and 'Cue Culture Sauce, in flavors like pomegranate jalapeño, apricot habanero rum and cherry bourbon. Top Trends Amid all the variety, industry experts and retailers have seen several trends emerge. LEADING THE WAY These specialty producers are blazing the trails of the barbecue sauce market. By Kara Mayer Robinson and Denise Shoukas Pork Barrel BBQ. In 2008, co-owners Heath Hall and Brett Thompson, two fatigued Senate staffers in Washington, D.C., walked away from Capitol Hill to focus on their love of barbecue, creating winning sauces (and a rub). "Our line of Pork Barrel BBQ Sauces was created for and perfected on the professional competition barbecue circuit at contests all across America," says Hall. "We offer an affordable gourmet barbecue sauce made from all-natural ingredients with no high-fructose corn syrup, MSG or preservatives that is gluten-free." Made with vinegar, salt and chile paste along with liquid smoke, the tart, spicy, savory Pork Barrel BBQ Sauce is available in original, sweet, mustard and Carolina vinegar varieties. In 2011, the founders opened the first Pork Barrel BBQ restaurant in Alexandria, Va. They've even developed Que, a barbecue-scented perfume. porkbarrelbbq.com—D.S. Rufus Teague. Soy sauce, raisins, orange juice, anchovies and tamarind are some of the ingredients used in this producer's Kansas City–style sauce. It's a repeat winner at competitions, and many features that consumers want today—all-natural, gluten-free, kosher—have been there from the beginning. The sauces have a distinct branding: packaged in a unique, flask-shaped bottle with a backstory declared "Worth Readin'" and a one-of-a-kind motto: "Good sauces makes bad barbeque good, and good barbeque gooder." rufusteague.com—K.M.R. Ubon's Barbeque. With not a trace of liquid smoke, this awardwinning Memphis-style sauce gets its kick from a blend of ketchup, vinegar and Cajun hot sauce, as well as small bits of dehydrated onion flakes that rehydrate as they sit in the sauce, giving it a toothsome texture. "Our sauce is very versatile, which is why we call is Ubon's Sauce and not Ubon's BBQ Sauce," says world champion pit master Garry Roark, who inherited the recipe from his dad, Ubon. Best for marinating, basting, finishing and dipping, it can also be mixed with mayonnaise for a sandwich spread or vegetable dip. Ubon's is also the main ingredient in Ubon's BBQ Bloody Mary Mix, a melange of traditional bloody mary flavors offering a sweet-to-heat, zesty experience that's all-natural, fatfree and gluten-free with no MSG. ubons.net—D.S. 26 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE specialtyfood.com Ubon's Bloody Mary Mix, paired with wings feauring Rufus Teague's Whiskey Maple BBQ Sauce