By AMY JONES / Special to the Reporter

ALABASTER – When Alabaster resident Dwayne Thompson prayed that God would provide him with a much-needed second income, he didn’t know that the Lord had long since answered his prayer in a delicious way.

Thompson, a native of New Orleans, had a barbecue sauce recipe he’d been working with for years. He didn’t know it just yet, but that sauce was heaven-sent.

“I was catering a private event one night for a friend in Birmingham, and three people walked up to me and said, ‘Man, you should bottle this and sell it. I would buy it.’ I heard a voice say ‘Do it,’ and six months later, it was done, tested, approved and and packaged,” Thompson said.

Thompson named his product Big Daddy Bomb BBQ Sauce and was off and running. Now his business, Big Daddy Sauces LLC, is run out of his home, but the tomato-based sauce is made in a commercial kitchen in Helena, he said.

Buck’s Pizza in Alabaster is now using Big Daddy Bomb BBQ Sauce as part of the base for its barbecue chicken pizza and as a sauce for chicken wings. The restaurant also sells the sauce by the bottle, Thompson said.

New Orleans flavor plays a big role in Thompson’s culinary background.

“My passion for cooking and creating new dishes definitely comes from being a native New Orleanian,” he said. “I have actually been cooking since I was about six years old. My mom worked two jobs, went to work early and came home late, and I started by preparing breakfast and dinner for us. I am an only child, so I had to learn early.”

Eventually, Thompson moved to Los Angeles with his grandmother and aunt, but he moved back to New Orleans after high school. He and his family lived there until Hurricane Katrina, he said.

After the hurricane, he and his family moved around, finally settling in Inverness. When they began looking for a house, they found “the perfect home” in Alabaster. That was eight years ago, Thompson said.

Big Daddy Sauces currently only sells Big Daddy Bomb BBQ Sauce, but Thompson said he has plans to make a mustard-based barbecue sauce as well as a white barbecue sauce. He also plans to create dry seasoning rubs and marinades.

Thompson said he decided to form a sauce company because he hopes to grow his business one day, expanding with an office building and processing plant.

“I knew that I had more than this one sauce to offer, so I am the type of person that thinks big and expects great things. Just in case I find someone else who has a great sauce, my company can help them to get started,” he said.

Thompson said he goes through the work of making and selling his sauce, in part, “to hopefully leave a legacy for my family, but especially my baby girl, who is the only other person who knows the recipe and has passion for cooking and baking.”

The other reason he sells the sauce? It just tastes good.

“(I love) seeing the expression on people’s faces once they experience its flavorful taste,” he said. “It is the perfect blend of several herbs and spices, with none of them overpowering the others.”

Thompson will sell his sauce as well as his “world famous” pulled pork at Alabaster CityFest June 4.

To find out more about Big Daddy Sauces, email Thompson at bdbbqsauce@gmail.com, connect with the company on Facebook by searching for Big Daddy BBQ Sauce, or find the company on Twitter or Instagram at @bdbbqsauce.