Sherwood Park's You Need a BBQ cracks Top 10 at Worlds

A local business is setting its international competition on fire.

You Need a BBQ Inc., which is located at 100 Broadview Drive, is getting some global recognition after its Yonedas spicy white seasoning placed eighth in a major competition.

"The American Royal World Series of BBQ is a competition that happens every year in Kansas City. They have the Best Seasoning in the World Contest, and it is the largest seasoning contest in the world," explained Russell Bird, CEO of You Need a BBQ Inc. "People submit their seasoning to be judged and we were fortunate to finish in the Top 10 this year in the hot category."

That is quite the improvement from 2022 when one of the store's seasonings placed 16th.

"It is a salt-pepper-garlic powder rub, and it is white, but we add jalapeno powder to it to make it spicy," he said, adding it's one of the store's most popular sellers. "It has a rich earthy green pepper flavour of the jalapenos, but it has quite a bit of spice to it as well."

You Need A BBQ launched in July 2020, and they’ve been steadily growing ever since. Recently, it opened a new location near the Save-On Foods on Baseline Road.

"We competed last year as well, but we only had three rubs. This year we submitted five rubs," he said. "I think there were more than 100 entries in the hot category this year and 250 in the mild category."

Bird said the seasonings are all locally created and bottled in Sherwood Park.

"It took a while to figure out all the licencing requirements for Alberta Health Services and whatnot but once we figured that all out, it is relatively easy to blend spices," he said. "The shop local economy is very, very popular and people like buying things that are made locally and because we’re making stuff here that is world-class, it is extremely popular in our store and our own seasonings are our best-sellers."

Now that the seasoning has made it in the Top 10, Bird plans to show off the win in their branding.

"We’re going to add a label to the side of the bottle that says Top 10 finisher of the American Royal but there was no trophy, they only give trophies to the Top 3," Bird said. "We got 15th last year and eighth this year, so I guess the next step is Top 3."

Bird added that the contest could be a real kingmaker and get the brand's name out there.

"Right now, we have our white, red, gold, our spicy white, our chocolate and our butter seasoning," Bird said. "Our chocolate is very popular in Sherwood Park because it is our partnership with JACEK Chocolate, and it is a southwest mole rub and it is really good on steak, chicken or pork."

You can find out more at youneedabbq.com.

[email protected]

twitter.com/travisdosser

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.

To contribute to the conversation, you need to be logged in. If you are not yet registered, create your account now - it's FREE.