About
HISTORY
What makes Head Country unique? Cattle drives, land runs, ranches, rodeos, Oklahoma history. The proud heritage that shaped our state and our family is in every bottle. We invite you to visit Head Country. Read about our fierce commitment to quality. Explore tips and recipes from a crowned Bar-B-Q world champion and send us your own questions and ideas. So come on. Head west. Head Country!
The year was 1945. Donovan Fred Head, known affectionately as "Uncle Bud," was home from World War II and his service as a cook on a naval destroyer. Getting back into the rhythms of Oklahoma ranch life felt good, but so did tinkering at the stove and recalling the recipes he served up to his fellow sailors.
One such recipe was for a bar-b-q sauce that used wholesome ingredients easily found in a Navy ship's kitchen: ketchup, brown sugar, distilled vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and spices. Uncle Bud's "Head Country Bar-B-Q Sauce" proved just as popular with the neighbors as it was with his sailors! So many neighbors made the trip to buy fruit jars of the stuff that Uncle Bud decided to make it easier on his adoring fans. Head Country went retail in feed stores.
Through the years the family's bar-b-q sauce recipe became increasingly popular. Uncle Bud felt it was getting too much to handle out of his ranchhouse kitchen so he sold the recipe in 1977 to his nephew, Danny Head. Danny, himself a successful oilfield construction contractor, knew the sauce was too good to let go. After three years of juggling both the oilfield and bar-b-q sauce businesses, Danny had to make a choice.
As they say, timing is everything. Danny sold his oilfield construction business in 1980, just months before the oil boom went bust. From those proceeds he moved his family from Shidler, Oklahoma, to Ponca City and set up the bar-b-q sauce manufacturing plant in an old WWII Royal Air Force training barracks near the Ponca City Airport. It took more than five years for Head Country Food Products Inc. to make a profit. But Danny stuck to his dream, learned the grocery business and made it work.
In 1995 we moved to our new manufacturing plant. Three plant additions have doubled our size. Despite the dizzying growth, we are proud to still be a family-owned company.
Visitors from across the U.S. are drawn to Ponca City and our Head Country Bar-B-Q Restaurant.
Head Country's catering staff pulls our fleet of smokers throughout the U.S., serving genuine, championship bar-b-q to thrilled guests across the country. Our competition bar-b-q teams have racked up hundreds of local, state and regional championship titles, two national championships and a world championship!
From such a simple ranch stove beginning, Head Country Bar-B-Q Sauce has become Oklahoma's No. 1-selling sauce. (That's quite a feat when your competition is international industry giants!)
From a handful of Osage County feed stores to grocery stores across Oklahoma and Texas, Head Country is a true story of a family's hard work and dedication to making a dream come true. (end of narrative.)
AWARDS
A bar-b-q competition is our favorite way to introduce bar-b-q fans to the taste of Head Country. Bar-B-Q at its very tender best! Imagine strolling the grounds of a weekend cook-off with the big smokers, colorful cooks and delicious aromas surrounding you. Then, picture visiting the Head Country team as we are preparing a slab of ribs to be judged. "Care to try a rib and tell us what you think?" You bet!
We field two bar-b-q teams during the height of the competition season. Our general manager, Paul Schatte, is the chief cook for Head Country II and travels across the nation to compete. Brother-in-law Mike Linderer concentrates on west Texas bar-b-q competitions as chief cook for Head Country III.
Among the dozens of state, regional and national contests in which Head Country has done well are these favorite titles:
1994
- Jack Daniels World Invitational Grand Champion, Lynchburg, TN
-
American Royal International Invitational Grand Champion,
Kansas City, MO - Missouri State Grand Champion, St. Joseph, MO
- Illinois State Grand Champion, West Chicago, IL
1995
- Oklahoma Joe's Interplanetary Bar-B-Q Grand Champion, Stillwater, OK
- Arkansas State Grand Champion
1996
- North Carolina State Grand Champion, Tryon, NC
- Oklahoma State Grand Champion,(Cherokee Strip Cook-Off), Ponca City, OK
- OKC Stockyard Stampede, Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion, OKC, OK
1998
- Oklahoma Joe's Interplanetary Bar-B-Q Grand Champion, Stillwater, OK
- Oklahoma State Bar-B-Q Grand Champion (Smoke On The Water), Grove, OK
1999
- Oklahoma State Bar-B-Q Grand Champion (BBQ and Blues), Cushing, OK
- Oklahoma State Bar-B-Q Grand Champion, Pawnee, OK
- Mid-South Regional Grand Champion, Lincoln, AR
- Oklahoma State Reserve Grand Champion (Cherokee Strip Cook-Off), Ponca City, OK
