Krogers throughout Middle Tennessee are making two popular Franklin-based restaurants more accessible to local shoppers: this month, the retail grocery chain began stocking its shelves with Puckett’s Gro. & Restaurant and Puckett’s Boat House lines of sauces, spices and rubs that will allow fans to recreate the taste in their own home-cooked meals.
The eight products, featured in the “Pick Tennessee” section across 40 stores, will range between $3.99 and $4.99 and include Puckett’s original and spicy BBQ sauces, a brisket marinade, a rib rub, a burger shake, a pork butt rub and an all-purpose seasoning.
Andy Marshall, proprietor of Franklin-based A. Marshall Family Foods Inc., says that each item will be identical to the products customers will find in the restaurants—from the recipe to the packaging.
“Our friends have always asked us the secret to our most popular dishes, and these products were spurred on by those requests. Now we can help deliver that authentic flavor to their own homes,” Marshall said. “Each of these recipes is a representation of Puckett’s, and the story is the same each time: our family worked for months in the kitchen with a pinch of this, a touch of that, right up until that ‘ah-ha!’ moment. It’s surreal to know that others will be creating their own memories around these same products.”
The Puckett’s story goes way back to the 1950s, and a little grocery store in the village of Leiper’s Fork, Tenn. When Marshall purchased the store in the ‘90s, he turned it into a community kitchen, with live pickin’ performances just a few feet from the table. Since then, he’s launched four additional locations and Puckett’s Boat House, downtown Franklin’s seafood eatery inspired by the Gulf Coast.
If store sales are any indicator, Puckett’s original and spicy tomato-based BBQ sauces will reign as the shelves’ most sought-after products. The original is the Marshall family’s Memphis-style version, which harkens back to Andy’s roots with a savory sauce that’s sweet with no heat, and as versatile as it gets. Its spicy sauce suggests more of a Texan influence, with bold flavor that holds just the right amount of pepper, and sweet and tangy at the same time.
Each of the Southern-bent seasoning offerings — which includes four different shakes and rubs — carry a little bit of heat, with a healthy balance of smoke to complement pulled pork, ribs, chicken, burgers and more. In addition to the specially blended spices, the Brisket Marinade and Puckett’s Boat House Pepper Sauce round out any shopper’s BBQ needs, and include chef directions on the label (i.e. “marinate meat overnight in your refrigerator for 812 hours to achieve that perfect Puckett’s taste”).
A. Marshall Foods CFO Mark Gothard said the BBQ sauces were the genesis of the product line, and the inspiration for the vision of the rollout.
“At the heart of these product launches is the dream that recipes created in a home kitchen in Franklin can inspire backyard barbecues across the country— that whether it’s a pile of pulled pork, a juicy rack of ribs, or a side of sweet potato fries, Puckett’s has the perfect pairing,” Gothard said.
Though the products are also available online and in stores at Puckett’s Gro. & Restaurant and Puckett’s Boat House, Gothard says the Kroger partnership allows the brand to expand their reach to a wider audience.
“Ultimately, we just want to be your preferred sauce, rub or spice at the grocery store,” he said. “And this is the first exciting step.”
To see a full list of Puckett’s edibles, visit the online store at Puckett’s Grocery.
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