Ford's Gourmet Foods, a division of Ford’s Produce Company, Inc. is a fourth generation, Raleigh, North Carolina-based family business which is the master distributor of Bone Suckin' Sauce. Lynn, Sandi, and Phillip Ford founded Bone Suckin’ Sauce
SFA News Daily recently spoke with Sandi and Lynn and about the brand's origins and how it has made it.
Tell me about your product or brand and how it came to be.
“Phil Ford, a real estate appraiser and father of four in Raleigh, North Carolina, developed his sauce around 1987 while trying to copy his mother’s recipe for a western North Carolina-style barbecue sauce. The resulting fat-free, fragrant blend includes tomato paste, apple cider vinegar, honey, molasses, mustard, horseradish, lemon juice, onions, garlic, peppers, natural hickory smoke, natural spices and salt.
“Folks kept telling him that he needed to do something with the sauce – like bottle it and sell it! People loved it when he gave it away, but Phil never thought anyone would pay for his sauce. His sister-in-law, Sandi Ford, owner of Ford’s Fancy Fruits & Gourmet Foods in Raleigh, had years of experience in the gourmet food business and had other thoughts. She encouraged him to no avail. Then finally in September 1992, Sandi and her husband, Lynn, told Phil they’d like to be his partners in bringing his sauce to market. He’d make it and they’d give it a name and sell it. While driving to Charleston, South Carolina a short time later, Sandi was preoccupied with the task of coming up with a name. She thought about how go-o-o-d it was and how it made her do something she’d never done before — suck on the bones to get the last little bit of flavor. A name was born and the sauce was launched in November, 1992,” according to an article by L. Harrell
The origins of the business were rooted in the first produce house at the old city market of Raleigh in 1946. The present owners, Lynn and Sandi Ford, came into the family business in 1973 and expanded the business in 1986 by creating “Ford’s Fancy Fruits & Gourmet Foods,” which sold fruit baskets with North Carolina peanuts, later expanding to open two retail stores carrying more than 300 North Carolina gourmet food items from around the State. In 1992, they joined forces with brother-in-law, Phil Ford, who improved his mother’s recipe for barbecue sauce, and created a tomato based sauce sweetened with honey and molasses.
They then teamed up with a North Carolina co-packer in the summer of 1992. The co-packer had the kitchen set-up, FDA and health certifications. This meant the Fords got a jump-start in producing their sauce and could concentrate on the marketing and distribution. They placed an order for 100 cases and made their first sale of the sauce in October 1992. The whole family got involved. Phillip and his family traveled around North Carolina doing in-store samplings. Vaughn, Lynn, and Sandi’s oldest son, took cases of sauce to sell to stores in the mountains of North Carolina. Patrick, their youngest son, sold to their first out-of-state customer, Virginia Smalls, Inc., a distributor on the SC Charleston Market. That meant that tourists bought and took their delicious sauce all over the USA.
The rise in fame of their core product, “Bone-Suckin’ Sauce,” began when Bone Suckin’ Sauce won “the NC Battle of the Sauces” in the March 1994. The owners and 16 other sauce producers joined forces with the NC State Farmers Market and North Carolina Department of Agriculture to put on “the NC Battle of the Sauces.” The first battle was in 1992 and continued for six years, eventually drawing more than 10,000 people. With increasing rave reviews, the sauce won best in sales records every year in the Winner’s Circle, the elite category of past 1st Place Winners.
The firm began considering exporting in the summer of 1994. The owners had been going to the NASFT (the now Specialty Food Association) International Fancy Food Show in New York City for years as buyers, looking for good packaging for their retail gourmet food stores. Then luck helped. Elberson, Singer and Shuler, a newly formed advertising company out of Charlotte and now known as Elberson Partners, offered to put together an ad campaign. The owners of Ford’s Fancy Fruits strongly believe this creative talent was essential in making their company look stable and professional. So in 1994, Ford’s went to its first International Fancy Food Show as a seller on the other side of the aisle, debuting Bone Suckin’ Sauce to 50,000 buyers around the world.
At that show, foreign customers approached their small 10’ x 10’ booth, including the senior gourmet buyer from Harvey Nichols in London , a version of Harrods meant for locals. The ad campaign materials were so good that they attracted media coverage. A writer/photographer from The New York Times was impressed enough to mention “Bone Suckin’ Sauce” on the first page of the food section the second day of the show. Soon Canada ’s Bruno’s, based out of Toronto , wanted to carry the product in four of its stores.
Today the firm exports to 80 countries. About 10-15 percent of its business comes from these exports.
What dearth in the market were you trying to fill?
We had a good tasting sauce that people would enjoy that we could make a little money on it.
What set(s) it apart?
Good product matched with people looking for better ingredients than are mass produced by larger manufacturers.
What was your dream for the brand back in the early days?
We thought we had a better product and wanted to see how far it could go.
When did you realize the brand had made it?
When the Walt Disney buyer came to the booth at the Fancy Food Show in New York and he followed up with us before we even got back to our office after the show. Also Annie from Annie’s Homegrown came by the booth at that same Fancy Food Show and said “You have a winner!” and that she would be glad to be my mentor.
And part of us really doesn’t think we have made it yet and we will ever feel like we have made it. That keeps us moving forward and developing new products and making our current products better.
Was there an acquisition, were you sourced by a large chain, or was there some other event that led to your brand making it?
Not one moment we can point at. Many chains together, a large number of mom and pops that we still work with today.
Are you still involved with the brand and playing a role in its success?
100%
How has it evolved?
Many fronts. More customers, more products being shipped, customers have now grown up on our products, and learning other countries labeling requirements.
Is there anything more you’d like to share?
Product name has value and the product has to be back it up. When we first ordered 100 cases from our co-packer, they delivered 20 cases. We told them if we couldn’t sell 100 cases, we didn’t need to be doing it. Dream Big, enjoy the ride, treat everyone the same, be structured and stick to it.
Related: Summer Fancy Food Show Edition of Specialty Food Now Available; Member Anniversaries Celebrated at Show.
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