Local resident launches barbecue sauce line
By Kirsten Ballard
Published in News on June 7, 2015 1:50 AM
Full Size
News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Claire Barfield, 11, left, and her father, Ken, serve up their Barfield Pig Pickin' Sauce on sausage to Mount Olive Piggly Wiggly customers Joyce Cherry and Mary Jones.
Ken Barfield is ready to fire up the grill this season.
But instead of a back yard or picnic, he will be in grocery stores across the state.
Recently, he stood in the Piggly Wiggly in Mount Olive, greeting his neighbors, friends and shoppers alike, inviting them to try his special sauce.
His barbecue sauce and relish are sold in 70 stores statewide as part of the Goodness Grows in N.C. campaign. The campaign finds products made in North Carolina.
He is a meat farmer by trade, but through his time as a volunteer firefighter and in the back yard, he joined the barbecue circuit.
"It was something I was always interested in trying," he said.
In 2011, he unveiled his first product, Barfield Pig Pickin' Sauce.
The Eastern North Carolina vinegar flavors pair with the sweet molasses undertones. It has heat and sweet, making it a great marinade for pork, beer, chicken, turkey or sausage.
"We wanted to replicate a pig pickin'," Ken said.
During his store demonstrations, he puts it on pork sausage.
The purple, gold, red and white label is an homage to the divided Barfield house between Ken's North Carolina State University alma mater and his wife Edie's Eastern Carolina University degree.
In Goldsboro, the sauce is sold at Harris Teeter and Carlie C's. In Mount Olive, shoppers can pick up a jar at Piggly Wiggly.
Joyce Cherry, a longtime family friend, is a big fan of the sauce.
"I've used it at home for a couple of years now," she said. "Just on pork chops and stuff like that."
She stops and chats with Ken while shopping -- a more personal experience.
In 2014, the Barfields added Barfield's Sweet Pepper Relish to the production line.
The relish came from Ken's mother's recipe. Ken made it as a child in the yard to prevent making a mess in the kitchen. He remembers giving jars out to neighbors during the summer.
While he didn't enjoy the work of making it, he says he looks forward to the tradition and nostalgia of the relish now.
It's still made with fresh, North Carolina peppers.
"It's old-fashion relish, it's hard to find in stores," he said.
He says he wants to break brand loyal customers by presenting them with a local, fresher option. Barfield hopes to expand the circulation statewide eventually, bringing Eastern North Carolina flavors to everyone.
From the recipe, to bottling and label, the entire Barfield line comes from North Carolina. They use a bottling company to mass produce the lines, and an in-state distributor to put the bottles in the stores.
During the grilling season from April through Thanksgiving, Ken and his family travel to all the stores in the circuit to do cooking demos and tastings.
At the store tastings, he serves up the barbecue sauce on sausage, and serves the relish with whipped cream cheese and crackers. The dip has the consistency of pimento cheese.
His 11-year-old daughter Claire likes traveling with her dad and helping out.
"I like to do the relish," she says. "It's fun setting up, too."
She and her dad like to have competitions, seeing who can sell more relish or sauce.
But for Ken, he just wants to get the family name out there.
Ken wants the shoppers to create the local connection, by seeing his whole family involved in the sale. His two children and wife often join him on marketing trips.
"We are the brand," he said.