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Picky Vicki Rubs Ribs the Right Way Mary Paramore Indeed, Vicki is picky, but that doesn’t mean she’s not nice. Vicki Woods, a.k.a. the Picky Vicki behind Picky Vicki’s Gourmet Barbecue Sauces & Rubs, is a gracious Southern lady who resides in Bel Air with her equally gracious and soft-spoken husband, Fred. Vicki grew up attending family barbecues in North Carolina. Over the years, she perfected her signature rib rub, one that was lauded by family and friends from the Tar Heel State to her husband’s hometown, Charm City.
“We were buying barbecue sauce and it didn’t suit the ribs,” she said. “I played around with a base sauce then doctored it up. We started using it on ribs, then on chicken and in our barbecue beans.” Just two years into the restaurant business, they opted out. Fred, now retired from Xerox, and Vicki, a respiratory therapist with a hospital in Baltimore, discovered what seasoned restaurateurs know: full-time food service is a stress-filled calling, one the couple wasn’t interested in following. The recipes, consumer tested and approved, sat. Vicki said, “Five years later, I said to Fred, ‘You know what? We need to get this stuff on the market.’ It was a burn to do something that wouldn’t go away.” The duo reconnected with their spice distributor, who had prepared Vicki’s rub in 50-lb. batches for use in the restaurant. They found a co-packer, who developed a large-volume recipe for Vicki’s barbecue sauce and agreed to bottle it. They located a marketer, who develop a logo, product name and the drawing of Vicki that graces every Picky Vicki product. “We went through a slew of names and labels. And she also told us we needed at least three sauces to go on the market,” Vicki Woods said. The Picky Vicki line now comprises five products: “What’s Shaking’ Rib Rub” and “Nice n’ Sweet Mild BBQ Sauce”, as well as “Shamelessly Sassy”, “Brazenly Bold” and “XXX Hot Stuff Extreme” barbecue sauces. Vicki explained the difference. “We have one base sauce and they all have habanera pepper. They have the same flavor… just one is spicier than the next. Brazenly Bold is our most popular seller. It flies off the shelf. One woman at the Bel Air BBQ Bash was excited to see us because she said she was going through Picky Vicki withdrawal. She had bought our sauce at another event and had used it up very quickly." Picky Vicki products sell online through www.pickyvicki.com and www.gourmetfoodmall.com and at special events like the Mid-Atlantic Food Expo in Baltimore, the Bel Air BBQ Bash and Harford Live! Graul’s Markets, with stores in Mays Chapel, Ruxton, Anapolis, Hereford, Cape St. Claire and St. Michaels, has picked up Picky Vicki, as well. Locals are welcome to email the Woods at evickiwoods@pickyvicki.com to arrange an in-person purchase.
Another comment the Woods often get is that their XXX Hot Stuff BBQ Sauce isn’t that hot. There’s a good reason why. “We had to decide what market to go after. There’s the supermarket market, which can be somewhat mild, and the over-the-top hot sauce market, and we decided both were covered. We’re going for that middle-of-the-road market, the people who want flavor and some burn but not so uncomfortable you can’t enjoy your food,” she said. “People tell us we should drop an X off the triple X sauce. I’ll do that when I use up those 5,000 labels I bought,” Vicky Woods said with a laugh. “Or we might make a fifth sauce.” The Picky Vicki company maintains an office at 4639 Marble Hall Road in Baltimore as well as a home-based office in Bel Air. The Woods can be reached at 443-876-4793.
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That rub was good enough to launch and sustain the couple’s Baltimore-based restaurant, Ribs ‘N Things. While at the restaurant, she refined her barbecue sauce.
Vicki and Fred Woods have yet to find a distributor for their products. Vicky said, “The food market is tough and we’re small. Our biggest sales are from the barbecue competitions because people interested in barbecue know they will find the good stuff there. People ask all the time, ‘Why aren’t you in the supermarket?’”