Sweet Baby Ray's


Sweet Baby Ray's is a brand of barbecue sauce based in Chicago, Illinois.

History

Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce was developed in the early 1980s by Chicago brothers Dave and Larry Raymond. They named the sauce after a nickname Dave had earned as a basketball player. In 1982, the brothers entered their sauce in a Chicago barbecue competition for the first time. In 1985, their fourth year of competition, Sweet Baby Ray's won second place out of a field of 700 competitors. The following year, the brothers incorporated as a business and began selling the sauce to consumers.
The Raymonds sold the business in 2005. At the time, the brand was earning $30million in revenue and had 21% total market share. By 2008, the sauce had become the second best-selling barbecue sauce in the United States.
Despite selling the sauce business, Dave Raymond retained the rights to the name "Sweet Baby Ray's", and currently operates two restaurants under the name located in Chicago.