Gina Lee Garcia grew up in Georgia with a family of cooks – where life happened around the kitchen table.
Gina cherishes time spent in the kitchen with her grandmother and the special graham cracker cake grandma would make to celebrate each grandchild’s birthday. She remembers the first time she tried to cook on her own and less than satisfactory results that followed. And, she chuckles as she remembers, “My grandfather loved to barbecue and enjoyed dabbling in the kitchen too . . . when my grandmother would allow it.”
This passion now runs several generations deep – from her grandparents to her parents and now onto her own young children. Two and a half years ago, Gina’s mom put together a book of family recipes, including her daddy’s secret BBQ sauce recipe. The card was in his handwriting and splattered with drips of sauce. When she inherited his secret BBQ sauce recipe, she began her journey to create Southern Roots Enterprises and T. Bill Lee’s Secret BBQ Sauce, in honor of her father, who lost his battle with cancer in 1996.
Jamie Deen swears allegiance to T. Bill Lee's Secret BBQ Sauce.
Today, T. Bill Lee’s Secret BBQ sauce is flying off the shelves of area farmer’s markets, is a 2010 finalist for the Flavor of Georgia, and is one of Jamie Deen’s favorite BBQ sauces. It can’t get much better than that!
Just as her father’s secret recipe and memory gave her the spark for Southern Roots Enterprises, Gina wants to build a company that she can one day hand over to her daughters. “I wanted to create a sustainable company that will be their success one day,” says Gina. “From humble beginnings, I want my girls to see the succession of it, to see that I stayed home to take care of them, and built a company.”
Love of family and cooking runs deep, just like Gina’s Southern Roots. You’ll feel like one of the family when you order and taste this one-of-a-kind southern BBQ sauce.
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