Because I am a graduate of East Carolina University, I wanted to name it Pirate Mike’s Barbeque Sauce, but much to my chagrin the name was already trademarked. So I drew from my 38 years working in the North Carolina prison system (including 21 years as a warden/superintendent), and decided to call it “Boss Bell’s BBQ Brew” . . . a little alliteration and some prison vernacular mixed nicely. After all, in the old days of chain gangs, the warden was often referred to as the “Boss” followed by his last name. Also, it was a joke that the 1968 movie, “Cool Hand Luke”, was our training film with the main character called “Boss Cain”.
I soon found out that settling on a name was the easy part. The next step was all the other, sometimes complicated steps, to get the process of getting my sauce on the market underway. I wanted a label design that reflected a caricature of me in my Stetson style hat, mirrored sunglasses, and badge, which I often-times wore ‘on the job’.
