Believe it or not, it all started with a dream. Literally.

Bob "Smokin' Jack" Krauss woke up one morning and told his wife Pamela he'd seen himself involved with a restaurant in Kansas City and even saw its name-"Kansas City Jack's"-a pretty startling statement considering that he was in Southern California at the time, owning and operating a highly successful auto repair and body shop in beautiful downtown Burbank.

But that dream led to a bit of research-Bob, a lifelong cook with a flair for blending flavors, hadn't even specifically dreamed of barbecue, but when he followed his dream and visited a few libraries to seek out the quintessential Kansas City flavor, the sweet aromas of smoke, spice, and succulence sent him to his kitchen where, after a lot of trial and fine-tuning, a sauce:and a success story:were born!

Soon enough, Bob's Acme Autoworks customers were smelling delicious things coming from the little immaculate health-department-approved kitchen he installed, and before you know it, a restaurant-that-had-no-name was alive and well with no sign and only word-of-happy-mouth to bring people in for slow-smoked meats and savory flavors either taken out to go or enjoyed in between the parts catalogs and Bob's classic motorcycle collection in the shop's front office. That led to catering to parties, local businesses, and the nearby Hollywood studios where Smokin' Jack's tasty 'cue became a sought-after perk for the stars of radio, TV and film, and before long, a whole restaurant was built along the Pacific coast south of Santa Barbara for folks to enjoy an even more expanded menu of authentically delicious Kansas City style barbecue delights.

And sure enough, people started asking Smokin' Jack to let them take home some sauce and some rub, and the rest is a happy, flavorful bit of history that YOU can enjoy today in YOUR kitchen and at your table.

The flavors will take your tastebuds on a luxury tour of the many shades of Kansas City 'cue. Let's explore the itinerary highlights one by one:

Begin at the beginning by going back to barbecue school for an elementary education that will teach you the three R's-ribbing, roasting, and rotisserieing-and bring smiles of childhood joy to your happy, flavor-filled face. Acme School House BBQ Sauce is the essence of the Kansas City style-an artful blend of tomatoes, sugar, honey, vinegar, mustard, garlic, onion, allspice, clove, and a few other touches only Smokin' Jack knows how to get right! All in perfect balance and all brought to the table with a hearty whiff of smoke and a tangy accent of chili just to perk your tastebuds for what's to come. If you seek a basic, good-on-everything barbecue sauce, seek no further. You're there with Smokin' Jack's Acme School House sauce!

If you like your barbecue even smokier, Smokin' Jack's got the sauce for you. Acme Smoke House Sweet & Smokey BBQ Sauce is the essence of hickory goodness that you'd have to burn down a forest to get any other way. Smoke flavors that will make your indoor dinner table seem like the great outdoors and turn any suburban apartment or home into a cabin in the woods run through this darker, smokier variation on the Smokin' Jack Kansas City theme. If smoke is your passion, prepare to fall in love!

Where there's smoke, there's fire and if the ringing of a bell and the yelp of Dalmatians says fire to you, try Smokin' Jack's Acme Fire House BBQ Sauce. Tangy, hot-but-not-too-hot, this spicier twist on the original will perk the corners of your mouth with the touch of fire that awakens any food you anoint with it. Especially good on pork and all seafoods, you may even find yourself dropping a dollop in soups, veggies, and casseroles to give them that "What IS that mysterious flavor in there?" touch that will impress friends and family alike. But if you like hot, don't stop here, because while we're already in cayenne heaven, we haven't begun to turn on the fire yet!

Start with the Fire House, then apply MORE heat-the kind that brings a little happy sweat to your brow and a glow to the corners of your eyes-and you have arrived at Smokin' Jack's Acme Hot House BBQ Sauce! Add to that cayenne heat the touch of other peppers and hot sauces and:wait:is that a hint of the flavor of rum? Oh yes, we're really cooking, now! Feel the burn, but always with that classic Smokin' Jack Kansas City-style underpinning that is the mark of every sauce Smokin' Jack makes.

Ah, then there's the rub! Smokin' Jack's Kansas City Barbecue All Purpose Dry Rub Seasoning to be exact. With all due respect to that TV chef, this is the one that puts the WHAM in "Bam!" Rub it into meats, sprinkle it into soups and stews, dust it on shrimp heading for the barbie and give it a try in everything from chicken salads to mashed potatoes or Bob & Pamela's favorite treat with a light dusting over hot buttered popcorn-it is even amazing by the pinch on a fresh cut slice of your favorite melon! Sweet, savory, and tangy all at once, this jar full of red barbecue pixie dust is going to disappear before you know it-better get two jars now and make sure you don't run out!

All of these delicious products are carefully crafted to Smokin' Jack's special recipes, packaged to preserve their every nuance of flavor and shipped directly to you for enjoyment when and wherever you share hospitality with your family and friends. Smokin' Jack also provides them to fine restaurants in larger quantities, but if you've got a big bunch at home you might consider those sizes, too. Every bottle and jar or giant tub of this clean, preservative-free deliciousness comes with this absolute guarantee-if you are EVER dissatisfied in any way, the party's on Smokin' Jack with a complete money-back promise of satisfaction. He isn't just guaranteeing the quality and the intactness of the shipment-Smokin' Jack is actually making the bold but confident claim that you will LIKE these products so much you wouldn't think of being without them-they really are that good!

One word of caution-unlike the watered-down and blanded-out products you may find behind better-known brand names in your local supermarket, all of Smokin' Jack's Kansas City Barbecue products are intensely rich in flavor and, while intended to be used full-strength, can and should be enjoyed in moderation. A spoonful of his sauces or a pinch of his rub seasoning will out-flavor, out-enhance and out-palate-please half a bottle of the other guys' stuff, so treat these amazingly flavor-rich products like the special treats they truly are.

Is Smokin' Jack nuts to say that? Does that mean you won't buy his products as much as others you may have tried? Far from it! You see, he knows from personal experience and that of his local loyal fans that you'll want to explore more and more new ways to use Smokin' Jack's Kansas City Barbecue sauces and rub and create more and more new recipe ideas (and Smokin' Jack's even got a bunch of them for you here on this site/sent with every package as a starting point for your own Smokin' Jack cooking adventures) and use these premium products often, so you'll still need a large and regular supply. Smokin' Jack would rather provide you with a top-quality flavor-rich product you will want to use MORE often than a bland product you NEED to use a lot of to taste at all. He thinks you'll like that idea once you've tried it, and that way everybody wins!