Ken's Foods Built a Salad Dressing Empire - Then Bought BBQ Sauce

Ken's Foods, the Massachusetts-based company best known for its iconic Ken's Steak House salad dressings, acquired Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce for $30 million in 2005. The move proved transformative - the sauce brand has since grown from a $30 million operation to a $600 million powerhouse, capturing over 46% of the U.S. barbecue sauce market. Sweet Baby Ray's, which started in a Chicago basement with just $2,000 and a dream, became the second best-selling barbecue sauce in America by 2008.