BY ABIGAIL GILMORE

Coming from a family of chefs, Tony Morales was destined to love the kitchen, or in his case, the grill.  But it wasn’t until after spending 13 years in the car sales business that Morales truly followed his food-inspired dream of producing a line of barbecue sauce: Desert Smoke BBQ.

“I always made barbecue sauces and hot sauces when I was barbecuing, and always had family and friends testing and trying them out,” he said.  Morales had thought about bottling his recipes, but feared the condiment business was a tough market to break into.

After a little research, Morales found there might be room for his product on grocery store shelves and restaurant pantries.  “I found that sales were staggering and no one really had a product that was like mine,” he said.  “You’ve got 500 different barbecue sauces that will never offend anyone’s taste buds, and then at the other end of the spectrum there are novelty sauces that are extremely hot.”  As a result, Morales looked into packaging and manufacturing, and the rest is history.

Morales said he packs his sauces full of flavor, but nothing artificial.  All of his products are gluten-free, contain no high fructose corn syrup, additives or preservatives, and are all natural.  Additionally, his sauces are packed in materials made from recyclable glass and plastic.

His flavorful sauces have been getting a very positive response, Morales said.  This is validated by the  loyal following he has on  social media networks.  “I definitely think the business has grown because of social media,” he said, but he also thinks connecting with his customers directly helps as well.

Social media participation is one of his favorite elements of being in business, he said.  “The best thing is getting emails, texts, Facebook posts and Twitter replies from people that have bought the product, then tell me what they do with it,” Morales said.

In addition to talking to his customers through social media, Morales has also enjoyed meeting people along his barbecue sauce-producing journey.  “I have gotten to meet a whole lot of cool people, and have been able to do really cool things,” he said, like cook on TV and be a guest chef at a variety of restaurants.  In the end, he is in it for the love of the product and for the love of food.

“I love food and I love to cook,” Morales said.  “And that’s it!”

Visit our Facebook page to enter and win a year supply of Desert Smoke BBQ! www.facebook.com/greenlivingazmag

Desert Smoke BBQ sauces can be purchased at all Arizona Whole Foods locations and the Phoenix Public Market. The product can also be found at Lucy’s in Phoenix and the Herb Box in Scottsdale. desertsmokebbq.com   |   @DesertSmokeBBQ.

Photography courtesy of Tony Morales