At heart of new KC-area food truck: A BBQ sauce recipe passed down three generations

In the early morning of a summer day in 2019, Earstin Sanders woke up with an idea he couldn’t shake off: Try to do something with the barbecue sauce recipe passed down from his grandfather.

He fell asleep again only to come up with a name: Aunt Mildred’s.

Sanders and his wife, Penelope, launched Aunt Mildred’s BBQ food truck in late July at 10805 E. Truman Road in Independence.

The menu includes pulled pork sandwiches, chicken sandwiches, wings, Chicago-style hot dogs, barbecue fries, coleslaw and baked beans. But the two most popular items have been the pulled pork tacos and the brisket sandwich.

Sanders said his grandfather, McArthur Williams, created the sauce in 1944 and served it at his barbecue restaurant in Portland, Arkansas. Williams had 12 children, including Mildred, who later moved to Illinois and married. She was entrusted with her father’s prized recipe, but she put her twist on it and started making barbecue for family and church dinners.

She had 10 children of her own, as well as eight stepchildren. Her siblings and their children often stayed with “Aunt Mildred.” Mildred soon had a side business, traveling the area with a 55-gallon drum as a barbecue pit and setting up in parking lots.

Once she had a strong following, and after the children were grown, she opened her own restaurant.

She passed away in 2009. She had given her son Earstin the sauce recipe more than three decades ago. He kept it safely tucked away in a lock box with other valuables and focused on his remodeling business.

But on the same day he woke up with the barbecue sauce idea, he met the owner of a bottling company.

Coincidence?

Sanders thinks it might be his mother opening doors for him. He launched Aunt Mildred’s barbecue sauce on her birthday in September 2019. The Southern-style, tomato-based sauce is now available in bottles — Classic or Sweet & Spicy — and sold at the food truck.

Aunt Mildred’s BBQ food truck is open from noon to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. It is closed Sunday and Monday.

This story was originally published October 15, 2020 at 5:00 AM.