Owensboro's Big Daddy's BBQ sauce hits Kroger shelves
OWENSBORO, Ky. (WEHT) — One of Owensboro's own has a barbeque sauce hitting shelves at Kroger. Joshua Taylor created Big Daddy's BBQ sauce that is now available in 50 stores.All of this, after recovering from a major health battle.
Big Daddy's BBQ sauce has won several awards and landed the opportunity through a Kroger food show in Louisville; Behind the bottle is a comeback story that may be as powerful as the flavor.
The accomplishment comes after a life-threatening fight for Taylor that lasted several years.
'I've been disabled since 2008. I needed a heart transplant. I was at home [and] started watching BBQ Pitmasters on tv. Figured, I better just try it,' says
Taylor entered his first competition in 2011, and he and his wife at one point opened a physical location for takeout downtown.
In 2018, the very thing that had unexpectedly led him to his passion took a turn for the worse.
'I got put in the hospital. The right side of my heart started feeling really, really bad. I ended up with a device called a Left Ventricular Assisted Device (LVAD). It left me in a coma. I was in the hospital for 188 days,' says Taylor.
With his wife by his side, Taylor underwent a successful heart and kidney transplant two years later.
He had to relearn how to do basic things again like walk, but that didn't stop people from wondering how they could get their hands on his barbeque again.
He says getting his sauce on shelves helps him continue to serve the people of Owensboro.
'The fact that I can think that somebody is going to top me, it really fuels my fire. [I get] the same thing when it comes to the barbecue sauce,' says Taylor.
The pair spent months trading samples back and forth with the manufacturer until it was right.
'We were just searching. We were like a dog sniffing for like a scent. My wife found [the sauce on shelves]…so happy and we were taking pictures. We were just like doing these poses stuff,' says Taylor.'It's so exciting that we still don't know all the all the stores that they're in in Kentucky, but just being able to see our product on the shelf is unbelievable. Even if life isn't going your way, don't give up. Keep the dream alive,' says Jill Taylor, his wife.
People in Owensboro can find Taylor's sauce at the Frederica Street and Parrish Avenue Kroger locations.
For the Taylors, every bottle represents more than just a labor of love, but a second chance at life.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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