For this week’s Meet the BBQ Pro we at Grilling with Rich are going to do something very different than our usual Meet the BBQ Pro interview. During the 2011 – Fancy Food Show in Washington D.C. Rich had a chance to interview Duane McCoy of McCoy’s Real Barbecue Sauces.

Although he was born and raised in California, every summer Duane McCoy would return to the farm in Kansas where he was introduced to the distinct flavor of Kansas barbeque.  He loved that style of barbeque with its sweet smoky flavors.  His incredible love for meat, grilling, smoking, and barbequing made him a regular guest at the world’s largest barbeque contest, the Kansas City-based American Royal over the past 10 years.  Knowing there were already many great sauces on the market, Duane began to experiment with creating his own barbeque sauce. As owner of a bottling plant that produces natural and organic specialty foods, he had some great resources to work with.  Duane and his food scientist created sauces, tweaked recipes, and had fun in the process (after all, that’s the spirit of barbequing!).  From there, McCoy’s Real sauce was born.  Duane had no idea when he started that his sauce would be loved by so many. Barbeque fanatics soon requested more flavors,  sasonings and rubs.  Sharing his own family tradition and personal hobby with a wider group has made Duane feel like he’s inviting everyone out there to one big barbeque.

So without anything further here is Rich’s interview with Duane McCoy! We hope that you enjoy! We are going to be reviewing his barbecue sauces in the coming weeks, so please stay tuned for that amazing barbecue sauce review!