Today's Case:

Johnny Ray's BBQ Sauce

Re: Recipe Request: Johnny Ray's BBQ Sauce
From: Charla 
Date: 11/15/2023, 2:39 PM
To: Phaedrus 

    On 11/15/2023 12:01 PM, Charla wrote:
	
    Good morning!
    
    Johnny Ray's Barbeque was a chain of restaurants in the Birmingham,
    Alabama area.  The last of those chains went out of business a couple
    of years ago.
    
    They had the best red barbeque sauce.  It was sweet and tangy and I
    would love to have the recipe (or a copycat version).
    
    I have diligently searched Google and have found other recipes that
    say Johnny Ray's but they are not from the Birmingham, Alabama area.
    
    The founder's name was Johnny Ray and he passed away in 2004.
    
    There is a BBQ restaurant called "Uncle Sam's" in the Birmingham area
    that used to be a franchisee of Johnny Ray's. From what I can find out
    they say they changed the recipe when they got out of the franchise,
    but reviews I have read (I've never been there) say the sauce tastes
    the same, so they probably just added an extra bit of one ingredient
    to make the recipe "their own."
    
    There are other former franchisee's that might share now that there
    are no viable Johnny Ray's left, but I don't know how to contact them.
    
    Thanks for any help finding this recipe!
    
    Charla
   
   Thanks!

Hi Charla,

I didn't have much success with this, Charla.

The only names that I could find associated with the franchises are Jack and Michelle Donovan, who operated the Chelsea franchise. Most of the franchises were owned by a company called The Johnny Ray Companies, Inc., headed by Alton Shields. Everyone in the area seemed to love the sauce, but I didn't find anything by former employees or anyone who might know the sauce recipe. The last owner of the company was Dee Wood, Johnny's daughter, and of course it has closed down and the trail has gone cold.

All I can do is post this in the hope that one of Johnny Ray's or Dee's relations or a former employee of one of the restaurants might see it and be able to shed some light on the sauce recipe.

As for Uncle Sam's, I guess you mean the one in Hueytown, AL. I found a recipe claiming to be for Uncle Sam's BBQ Sauce, but it doesn't say where that Uncle Sam's is located. Besides the ones in Alabama, there's one in Canada.  The recipe is here: Uncle Sam's BBQ Sauce Recipe

I saw an ad for a bottled "Uncle Sam's BBQ Sauce", but it did not mention a location, and the link didn't work.

I will post this for reader input.

Phaed

Thank you so much!! 

Appreciate you trying to track the recipe down!