* What: Chef Hunter's Barbecue Sauce
* Company: Southern Recipe Foods
* Address: 2020 Crutchfield St.
* Web site: www.southernrecipefoods.com
* Telephone: 622-8302
Staff Photo by John Rawlston/Chattanooga Times Free Press
Eugene Arnold, manager of Southern Recipe Foods, checks out a port of the company's East Chattanooga plant where they make barbecue sauces and other products.* Owner: W.C. Hunter
* What's special: "Everything that's added in it," said Southern Recipe Foods' manager Eugene Arnold. "We've got 27 herbs and spices in that sauces. Just about everything you would add to a sauce is in it. All you have to do is open up and use it, as opposed to other sauces, which you have to doctor up to get the flavor you want."
* The origin story: W.C. Hunter opened Southern Recipe Foods in 1985 under the name True Taste Kitchen. Many people asked Hunter for his recipe at fundraiser barbecues he cooked at around Chattanooga. Based on that interest, Hunter decided to market it himself, Arnold said.
* How long does it take to make? A 600-gallon batch used during every bottling run takes 4-4 1/2 hour to cook. Bottling and boxing a run takes another three hours.
* Where it's sold: Southern Recipe sauces are available at all area Bi-Lo, Publix and Fresh Market stores. The company's dry rub is carried by Walmart.
* How long have they been making them? When True Taste Kitchen opened in 1985, the company devoted some of its resources to catering, in addition to its sauces. In 1998, it was rebranded as Southern Recipe Foods, after which it focused on sauces alone, Arnold said.
* Future expansions planned: Southern Recipes released Chef Hunter's One-Step Meat Loaf Mix in March. Roberts said the company has three more products in the developmental stage.
Lessons of the trade: "I've gotten into some markets we're not into by networking and talking to somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody. That has gotten us through a lot of doors," Roberts said. "The networking system is a powerful system to work with."