KC Masterpiece is a barbecue sauce that is marketed by the HV Food Products Company, a subsidiary of the Clorox Company.[1][2]
History
KC Masterpiece Barbeque Sauce was created in 1977 by Richard E. "Rich" Davis M.D., a child psychiatrist practicing in Kansas City, Missouri, who had earned his medical degree from the University of Kansas. Davis was born in 1926, in Joplin, Missouri, and died on 6 October 2015 in Leawood, Kansas, at 89 years of age.
Initially, Davis named his sauce "KC Soul Style Barbecue Sauce" and the original formula consisted of only five ingredients. He later renamed it "KC Masterpiece". He presented his sauce to several Kansas City area food brokers with the intention of marketing it to the public through retail supermarket distribution. During this same time, he also presented Muschup (a combination of ketchup and mustard) and Dilled Muschup (a combination of ketchup, mustard, and dill relish). Most of the area brokerages were reluctant to give the upstart sauces a chance.
Eventually, Davis met Jim Flynn, of Flynn Brokerage.