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Lillie’s Q Sauces & Rubs Sold to OWS Foods, Looking to Accelerate Growth

Dec. 4, 2024

OWS Foods manufactures sauces and rubs, and welcomes new brand into the fold, looking to expand the Lillie’s Q reach to a wider national audience.

Andy Hanacek

Barbecue brand Lillie’s Q Sauces & Rubs LLC has been sold by Brown Gibbons Lang & Co. (BGL) to OWS Foods, maker of championship barbecue sauces and rubs, according to a release from BGL.

It is expected that the deal will help Lillie’s Q expand its national presence in retail and foodservice rapidly under OWS Foods’ watch.

Lillie’s Q was founded in 2010 by two-time World Barbecue Champion Chef Charlie McKenna, who founded the company after growing up in Greenville, S.C., and learning the art of Southern barbecue from his grandmother Lillie, for whom he named the company. During his barbecue competition travels, McKenna would create sauces unique to each region. In 2014, he and co-founder Brian Golinvaux commercialized the sauces into a retail product portfolio.

OWS Foods was founded in 1988 and makes sauces and rubs, including the Head Country brand, in production facilities in Concordia, Mo., and Ponca City, Okla. It also operates a research and innovation lab in Overland Park, Kan.

About the Author

Andy Hanacek | Senior Editor

Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.