History of Ubons


Ubon's BBQ sauce has been a Roark family tradition for at least 5 generations. Monnie
and Lute Roark in Southeast Missouri first made the sauce. Lute was a farmer and at least
once a year Lute would cook a side of beef or a hog and invite friends and family for the
Roark annual BBQ. Such a big occasion required a lot of BBQ sauce. Lute would mix the
sauce up in a No. 3 wash tub and stir it up with a boat paddle. Chances are it was the same
paddle he used to fish with the day before. Monnie condensed the recipe f to use for family
dinners. Most of the family fondly remembers the BBQ meatballs she served for Sunday
dinner. The recipe was passed on to Lute and Monnie son Ubon.


After moving to Yazoo City, Ms. Ubon was best known for his outstanding BBQ chicken.
Easter Sunday kicked off the BBQ season at the Roark house. All you had to do in Yazoo
was mention BBQ to a few friends and family and the house would be full when the BBQ
day came. Ubon's oldest son Garry very early in life was drawn to art of BBQ. Before Ubon
died in 1980, he passed on the sacred recipe to Garry. When Garry's friends and family
found out he was making up what they called "Ubon's sauce", they would ask him to make
them a quart or gallon. The last time Garry made the sauce at home in his kitchen, he
made 28 gallons. His wife Elaine said, "enough is enough" and banned him from making
such a mess in her kitchen. He had to find another place to produce his wonderful
concoction.


Garry had often talked of mass producing the sauce. He didn't want to be sitting in the
rocker on his front porch in his old age talking about how he wished he had just tried to
make a go at marketing the sauce. Now was the time to step out and see if the Ubon's
sauce was really as good as the Roark family thought. Thus was born Roark Packing
Company and the production of Ubon's Dipping BBQ Sauce. The first labels were simple
hand drawn paper labels that were glued to the bottle. Then a friend of Garry's helped
design a label that Garry's girls called the chicken label. A lot of time and research went
into just getting the label ready to go. The production crew consisted of Garry, his wife and
daughters Leslie and Jennifer. When Garry later discovered that Leslie had labeled her
bottles upside down, they decided the best thing for the girls to do was to just sit and talk
and keep Daddy company while he worked.


In 1989 Garry and Elaine got involved with cooking on the Memphis in May World BBQ
Competition circuit to help introduce Ubon's Dipping BBQ Sauce to the world. To their
surprise it was not only a lot of hard work but it was also a lot of fun. With several friends
they formed the Ubon's BBQ of Yazoo Cooking Team. They went from cooking on a little
backyard BBQ grill under a borrowed funeral home tent to a 16-foot BBQ tailor loaded with
2 custom made cookers. Since 1989 they have competed in 71 Memphis in May
sanctioned contest winning First Place in 51 entries and being overall Grand Champions in
23 events. In addition, they have competed in The Memphis in May World Championship
Competition 11 times and have won a 1st Place in 1996 and 2nd Place in 2003. They were
also 5 time Mississippi State BBQ Champions and 2 time Illinois State BBQ Champions.
They were named in the Top Ten Teams in the nation by Memphis in May 1991-1998 and
Top 20 teams 1999-2001. Local contests held throughout the country range from 15-100
competitors, while the Memphis in May World Championship Competition averages 250
teams from all over the world. Some contests such as the Jack Daniel's Invitational, a
Kansas City BBQ Society sanctioned competition, is limited to competitors who have won
either a State Championship or a contest with over 75 teams competing. Ubon's has
competed in that competition on 4 different occasions.


In the process of competing, Garry realized not only did he have to have a great BBQ
sauce but also he needed a marinade for injecting and a dry rub. He had a marinade that
he adopted and changed and changed until he found a prefect combination that
complimented the taste of his BBQ sauce-Ubon's Meat Marinade. Early in competition he
used a seasoning produced by a friend of his but felt that the taste was too overpowering.
He and one of the cooking team members contacted a spice company to see if anyone
there would work with them on a Ubon's Rub. A chemist there took their ideas and would
blend and the team would sample. The team had several trial runs until they finally hit on
what is know today as

Ubon's Seas'nt Up; A great dry rub and a general seasoning that can be used in all types
of dishes.


Just as Garry set out to do, he has introduced not only the Ubon's Dipping BBQ but his
whole line of products to cooking teams all over the country. The success Garry has had
with the products has lead many teams to use one or more of them in competition and be
successful in doing so. Since 1989 Ubon's BBQ has competed in 86 Memphis in May World
Championship BBQ Contests or Memphis in May sanctioned contests. During this period
Ubon's has won 23 Grand Championships, 53 first place, 40-second place, and 12 third
place awards. Teams using Ubon's products have won literally hundreds of BBQ
competitions nation wide including the Memphis in May World Championship BBQ
Competition, The Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational BBQ as well as State BBQ
Championships in Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Indiana, Florida,
Iowa, Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri, Georgia, Texas and Louisiana.

No other BBQ Sauce comes close to this winning record, making Ubon's the indisputable
champions choice.