DUCE RAYMOND of Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ on Using Social Media Like a Boss

Sweet Baby Ray’s is a household name. But even a world-famous brand has lots of room to grow on social media. Watch this interview with Duce Raymond of Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ Catering to learn about making a TikTok series, going viral, and getting a shoutout from Mark Zuckerberg.

WHAT DID YOU LEARN on this episode of the Restaurant Influencers podcast, sponsored by the Toast point of sale and restaurant management company? Let us know by leaving a YouTube comment below!

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CHAPTERS:
[01:40] - Duce Raymond 2-Minute Drill
[03:47] - Working with The Sasha Group
[05:59] - Creating Pillar Content
[09:30] - BBQ Like a Boss TikTok Series
[19:50] - Family Lessons

Duce Raymond is a Restaurant Influencer —

The Raymond family helped build a company that is synonymous with outdoor cooking everywhere. The Sweet Baby Ray’s famous barbecue sauce brand — which was sold to Ken’s Foods in 2005 for $30 million — has become such a conglomerate that their hundreds of millions in sales, obviously number one, total the next seven brands’ sales combined.

With an influx of technology and ways to communicate using social media for marketing, Duce Raymond (son of Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce creator Chef Larry Raymond and nephew of Dave “Sweet Baby Ray” Raymond) was faced with opportunities to increase the reach of their Sweet Baby Ray’s Catering and Restaurant business.

Initially he tried everything, to no avail. But with the guidance of Gary Vaynerchuk, better known as marketing guru Gary Vee, and his VaynerX company The Sasha Group, Duce set out to employ a new strategy using mainly short videos on TikTok.

Then there was a turning point. Duce Raymond and crew planned their entry into the vast world of TikTok using a short-form video show, “BBQ Like a Boss”. Episode 1 of the show amassed an amazing 11,000 views as Duce gave viewers advice on the differences between Baby Back and St. Louis style ribs. The show’s popularity grew rapidly and was able to garner over one million views on Episode 12.


NOMINATE A RESTAURANT INFLUENCER — Do you know someone or a restaurant who is great on social media? Let us know by emailing [email protected] or sending the @calibbqmedia team a DM on social media.

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EPISODE LINKS:
• Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ Restaurant - https://www.sweetbabyraysbbq.com
• Sweet Baby Ray’s Catering - https://www.sbrcatering.com
• Duce’s Wild Competition BBQ Co. - https://www.duceswild-bbq.com
• @sweetbabyrayscatering on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@sweetbabyrayscatering


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ABOUT DUCE RAYMOND (@duceraymond):
Larry "Duce" Raymond was destined to make a splash in the food industry. Son of Chef Larry Raymond and nephew of Dave Raymond, the creators of Sweet Baby Ray’s Barbecue Sauce, Duce is the Executive Chef of True Cuisine Event Catering and Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Catering.
Duce grew up in and around restaurants, and began working in the food and service industry at the age of 12. His desire to learn and practice the culinary arts quickly blossomed into a passion. In his role as Executive Chef and Culinary Director, he expedites huge events such as the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge, Chicago Cares Serve-a-thon and large upscale weddings and cocktail receptions.
Duce Raymond and Dave Raymond are also KCBS Barbecue Competition teammates.
• Duce Raymond on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/duceraymond/

ABOUT RESTAURANT INFLUENCERS:
Welcome to the Restaurant Influencers podcast series. Every week host and restaurant owner Shawn P. Walchef (@shawnpwalchef) talks with leaders in restaurant and hospitality about their secrets to Smartphone Storytelling and how to show up and engage where customers are spending time online.
The entire team at Restaurant Influencers is thankful for Toast (@toasttab) for being the primary sponsor of this show and allowing us to share the stories of successful digital first restaurateurs all over the world. Schedule a Toast Demo: https://bit.ly/3vpeVsc

• Entrepreneur Media - https://entreprenuer.com
• Yelp for Business - https://biz.yelp.com
• Cali BBQ Media - https://calibbq.media

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RESTAURANT INFLUENCERS IS PRESENTED BY TOAST:

Restaurant Influencers is brought to you by Toast, the powerful restaurant point of sale and management system that helps restaurants improve operations, increase sales and create a better guest experience.

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