fatboy happy
Story and photo by Shaila Creekmore

If the taste of good Southern barbecue makes you happy, a sauce new to the market may be just what you need to add to your arsenal of seasonings and spices this summer.

Bobby Wagner of Jonesboro and his wife, Monika Stuber, decided to have the secret recipe bottled at the urging of friends. The new product, Fatboy Happy Original BBQ Sauce, hit shelves in Jonesboro in February.

The sauce was created by Wagner’s father, Bobby Wagner of Newport, who guarded the secret recipe for many years. Even the younger Wagner was forced to make the 45-minute drive to Newport just to pickup a batch of the barbecue sauce. Wagner urged his dad to try marketing the sauce, but his father was happy just to make it for friends and family.

“I had to pry it out of dad. He finally gave me the recipe four or five years ago,” said the younger Wagner. He and his wife began thinking about marketing the sauce themselves and asked friends at work what they thought of the idea. The co-workers agreed and began tossing out ideas for the name of the new venture.

“A co-worker’s husband, Robert Brown, loves our sauce. She called him and told him we were trying to think of a name and he said ‘Fatboy Happy, because that’s me when I’m eating it,”’ Wagner said.

The couple agreed it was a great name and began the process of finding a bottling manufacturer. Wagner and Stuber located a bottler in Centralia, Ill., who fit their packaging needs, price point and had a good knowledge base for helping them get started.

“His process seemed to be easier (than other bottlers) and a little bit faster,” said Wagner.

Both the bottler and Wagner signed confidentiality agreements to protect the bottler’s production process and Wagner’s secret recipe. To further protect the recipe, all of Wagner’s dry seasoning ingredients are blended by a seasoning company and then shipped to the bottler.

Before marketing the product, Wagner and Stuber worked with the bottler to perfect the recipe for bottling, trying five batches of sauce before agreeing it was ready to bottle.

“I was really nervous about what it would be like after bottling it. At home, I just mix mine up and store it in the fridge, but when you’re bottling it, it has to be heated to a certain temperature. When you heat it, it changes the flavor. Plus, the bottler might use different brands of ingredients and that may affect the taste. I just wasn’t sure what it would taste like when I got it back,” said Wagner. “It’s actually better than I make at home.”

As the test batches were being finalized, Wagner began work on the label for Fatboy Happy.

“The label process was the toughest of the whole process. It’s really regulated. The nutrition info, ingredients - even the ounces info has to be a certain size,” said Wagner. “The bottling manufacturer was able to help us with all of that which is another reason I went with him.”

Wagner worked with local graphic designer, Scott Reed of Fault Line Studios, to create the logo and label. The design left room for a tagline, but the original tagline didn’t grab the couple’s attention.

“It wasn’t catchy. We were talking about how (barbecue sauce) is messy and she compared it to lip balm. I said ‘No, it’s like lipstick – The Redneck Lipstick.’ We knew that was it,” said Wagner.

Wagner kept his dad updated on the progress of marketing his sauce at each stage of the process.

“At first he thought I was crazy. Then as we got it finished, he was like ‘Wow, you actually did it,’” said Wagner.

The first bottles ready to sell were shipped to Wagner and Stuber in February and the couple began visiting with local restaurants and stores about carrying the product. Currently the couple is concentrating on marketing the barbecue sauce in Jonesboro, but hope to place the product in other stores around Northeast Arkansas soon. Stores currently carrying Fatboy Happy Original BBQ Sauce are Kountry Kupboard, Godsey’s Gourmet Market & Catering and Country Mart. Jonesboro Radio Group also recently began using the sauce on all of their live remotes.

For more information on Fatboy Happy, e-mail Wagner at fatboyhappy@aol.com.