A Bethesda duo won Montgomery County’s first ever Start Up Business Of the Year award on Friday, a milestone for the two women hoping to become the “Paul Newman of ALS.”
Gator Ron’s Zesty Sauces & Mixes, the brainchild of Connie Griffith and friend Debbie Kaufmann, was one of eight award winners at the county’s inaugural Small Business Awards luncheon in North Bethesda/White Flint.
Griffith, whose husband Ron made barbecue sauces and bloody mary mixes that became favorites of friends and family, started mass producing those recipes and putting them in local retailers after he died in 2011 from complications with ALS. Now, Griffith and Kaufmann want to use the sauces and mixes to raise funds to research the degenerative neurological disease.
“It was wonderful, very heartfelt,” Griffith said. “I think my husband would be so proud and happy that we’ve worked this hard and achieved this in just nine months.”
The sauces and mixes are in 67 locations and the duo recently got word they’d be carried in 10 more Montgomery County Liquor Stores. The goal is to sell at least 150 cases a month for the next three months, then increase that number until Gator Ron’s can be sold via a distributor.
“If we can sell that amount of cases, then we’re really going to raise a significant amount of money for ALS research,” Griffith said.
Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett, County Council President Nancy Navarro, Economic Development Director Steve Silverman and about 300 local business owners attended the event, at the Bethesda North Marriott & Conference Center. WeddingWire, the online company that recently moved to Chevy Chase, won Information Technology Company of the Year.
Other awards included Small Business of the Year (organized by number of employees), Bioscience Company of the Year and a Workforce Development Award.
Photo via Gator Ron’s
