News
A Barbecue Brand With Roots in Slavery
Crain's Chicago Business Article
January 2022
The family of a man who came to Illinois after he was freed from slavery in
the 1860s is keeping his legacy alive.
Five generations later, sauces and rubs based on Watts' recipes have hit Mariano's shelves as Old Arthur's Barbecue Sauce. Eudell Watts and his father started selling the sauces about 10 years ago, hoping to use the company to help tell their patriarch's story.
"It used to be that people looked at family businesses and said, 'Oh, they're unprofessional,'" she said. "The truth is, people actually trust families more because their name is on something." said Jennifer Pendergast, executive director of the John L. Ward Center for Family Enterprise at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.
