Barbeque connoisseurs will find Masters Hand BBQ an excellent choice for healthy, high-quality sauces and other barbeque products.
By eliminating unhealthy ingredients that most barbeque products have, such as high fructose corn syrup, gluten, dairy, smoke flavoring and soy, Masters Hand BBQ has “premium, great tasting sauces” that “overall still have better taste,” said Steven Beers, 49, owner of the company.
Based in Columbia City, the family-owned business is run by Beers and his wife, Julie, 46; their children, Josh Beers, 22, and Amanda Gordley, 25; and their son-in-law Jeremy Gordley, 32. Currently, the company has seven other employees.
The family first made the specialty sauces over 25 years ago for friends' graduations, weddings and other events. Eventually, their friends suggested marketing the sauces. By the end of 2009 Steven Beers was closing up a contracting business and said it was the right time to start taking the suggestions seriously.
Soon after, the family got approved by the health department and launched Masters Hand BBQ in June 2010. The company now markets to more than 50 stores in Indiana and Ohio, but is looking for more retailers, Beers said. Plans involve branching out to northern and central Michigan, eventually marketing nationwide.
Mark Klinger, manager for Dave Hill's Meat Market, 3031 W. Washington Center Road, uses Masters Hand BBQ for all ready-to-eat products and sells sauces by the gallon for $25. “Our BBQ sales have gone up since we switched from Open Pit, which is pretty much a generic sauce,” said Klinger. Masters Hand BBQ “has improved the quality and taste of pre-cooked items.”
Knowing they couldn't continue to create products from home, Beers and his family hired on a commercial 4-H kitchen in Columbia City, which makes everything for Masters Hand BBQ.
The company not only makes barbeque sauces, but also includes a snack line, such as their newest products, mustard and BBQ-flavored almonds. The mustard is used as a marinade for chicken breasts at Dave Hill's Meat Market, said Klinger, as well as a regular dipping sauce. “It's not something you can find anywhere else,” he said.
Steven Beers said the company's name and mission statement is based on Christian values. “Our aspiration is to help others with the finances (God) gives us. We are out there working for (God).”
