Brown puts hopes in success of sauce

By Bradrick McClam
Lake City News & Post Reporter
Published: July 6, 2008

For Jonathan Brown Jr. mastering the art of cooking began with grilling in his backyard for his four children when they were growing up.
“I grilled hamburgers, pork chop and chicken on the weekends for them,” Brown said as he sat back in his soft chair in a cozy in room in his home on Durant Drive recently.
Brown is the owner and creator of JBJ’s (which stands for Jonathan Brown Jr) famous barbecue sauces and the sauces has been on the market for more than one year.
His barbecue sauce first hit the shelf of Piggly Wiggly in Lake City and Store Manager Carl Singleton said he as seen customers purchasing it.
The sauce is also available in grocery stores in Kingstree, Florence and Pamplico.
“It’s been getting out of here some type of way,” said Lanier Welch, Manager of Jims IGA Food Store in Lake City explaining the barbecue sauce is being sold at his store.
In town, you can find the barbecue sauce at Ward’s Fish Market, Matthews Fruit Stand and Brown’s Corner Store.
Workers at Ward’s Fish Market said they sold a few bottles of the barbecue sauce after folks bought fish dinners.
Brown said to get his barbecue sauce sold in privately owned and operated grocery stores, it is the manager’s discretion whether to approve it.
For larger stores, Brown said he has to seek approval from the grocery store’s headquarters.
Brown said it took him nearly two years to make the barbecue sauce exactly the way he wanted it.
“I kept adding and deleting to the ingredients,” Brown said describing his barbecue sauce as being different from all the other barbecue sauces on the market today.
Brown said the barbecue sauce has a thin base and a very unique taste.
“The taste stays in your mouth for awhile after eating it,” Brown said.
He said many folks sampled thebarbecue sauce on chicken recently at the South Carolina Farmer’s Festival and everyone said they enjoyed it.
Brown said his barbecue sauce is the type of sauce you can use in the kitchen when cooking regular meats and can be added on almost anything.
“Folks like to add it to their grits in the morning,” Brown said.
Although Brown said he doesn’t do any catering for events, he said sometimes he may be asked to cook a chicken or two occasionally.
“I plan to go as far as I can with it,” Brown said explaining he hopes the success of the barbecue sauce will lead to the development into a family company.