By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com
Old Arthur’s Barbecue Products is a family-owned business that sells rich barbecue sauces and rubs that are over 160 years in the making.
“Our barbecue sauces and dry rubs were originally crafted by my great-great-grandfather, Old Arthur, while he was enslaved in Kansas City,” said Eudell Watts IV, a fifth-generation pit master and co-founder of Old Arthur’s Barbecue Products. “One of his daily tasks during that time was open-pit barbecuing—on a commercial scale. He started doing that work around the age of 14, day in and day out.”
After Arthur “Old Arthur” Watts’ emancipation in 1863, he earned a living as a highly regarded pit master—a legacy his family continues to carry on.
“He went on to barbecue for another 80 years as a free man, earning widespread respect for his incredible skill, right up until his accidental passing at the age of 108,” said Watts. “With nearly a century of refinement poured into his craft, you can truly taste the depth of flavor from the very first bite.”
In 2013, the Watts family decided to commercialize Old Arthur’s prized family recipes and make them available to all. But with that transition came some unforeseen challenges.
“Once we signed a manufacturing deal with a private label bottler, we quickly discovered that some of Arthur’s original ingredients, like butter, posed food safety and shelf life issues for retail products,” said Watts. “Thankfully, we brought in a skilled food scientist who helped us find smart substitutions—ingredients that could stand in for what had to be removed, without compromising taste.
“With their help, we were able to preserve the rich, bold flavors Arthur worked so hard to perfect,” he added.
For Watts, preserving the legacy behind the sauce is essential to the company’s long-term success.
“You have to protect the legacy from day one,” said Watts. “Whether it’s trademarks, copyrights, or patents, make sure what you’re building is legally yours and fully secured.”
Old Arthur’s barbecue products are available online at OldArthurs.com and Amazon. In addition to their barbecue sauces, they sell dry rubs and gift sets. On their website, they also provide a list of recipes that customers can use with their products, including Bold Smoked Beans and Roasted Gold Dust Veggies.
To fellow Black entrepreneurs looking to build businesses for long-term success, he suggested finding a way to tie their business to a mission that lifts their community.
“For us, that’s children’s literacy,” said Watts. “Old Arthur was enslaved until age 28 and never learned to read or write. Today, we’re fortunate to have his recipes preserved in the handwriting of his children, who acted as his scribes.”
“That connection reminds us why it’s so important to invest in the future, and we do that by supporting literacy initiatives in his honor,” he added. “Legacy isn’t just about what you leave behind—it’s about who you lift up along the way.”
Though they’ve accomplished things like winning top honors among 400 new food products entered into online grocer Peapod’s “Next Best” Gourmet Food Product contest for their barbecue sauce, they aren’t looking to stop there, hoping to expand nationally.
As the Watts family continues to honor Old Arthur’s legacy, their focus continues to be on delivering authentic, bold flavors while supporting a larger mission–preserving their culinary and cultural legacies for future generations to enjoy.