Island natives Barry and David Dore used to set up a Kool-Aid stand at the corner of S.E. 24th Street and West Mercer Way during the hydroplane races and sell drinks to people walking across the I-90 bridge to watch the race.
Both assumed that was the end of their joint business efforts until this year, when, at the urging of their children, they decided to bottle and sell the secret-recipe barbecue dipping sauce formulated 50 years ago by their father, Docco.
Barry Dore works as a lawyer; David Dore is a teacher. Each has two children.
``Our kids would have friends over, and they'd serve the Docco's sauce to their friends, who would rave about the flavor and tell us we should bottle and sell the stuff,'' Barry Dore said. ``Now that our kids are all out of the house and my brother and his wife are semi-retired, we have more time, and so we figured it was now or never.''
After researching how to start a company and getting food handlers licenses in March of this year, the Dore family set to work in a commercial kitchen in Goldbar, Wash., to brew and bottle the sauce.
``We did a 10-gallon test batch, and took it to farmers markets, where we'd heat it up and get people to dip French bread in it to taste it,'' said Barry Dore. ``We sold out of Docco's Sauce in three weeks.''
The Dore family decided to add hot spices to the mix to make a hot version of their original tangy sauce.
``We made 50 gallons of each, and each time we'd take it to a trade show or farmers market, we'd almost always sell 50 percent of regular tangy and 50 percent of the hot sauce,'' said Dore. Compared to other brands, the brothers say Docco's sauce has more vegetables, such as bell peppers, onions, celery and other vegetables. It also has very little sugar and almost no fat, so it's a healthy alternative to regular barbecue sauce, they say.
``It's very versatile. You can use it on meat or for a dipping sauce for sandwiches or bread. But it's also healthy ... We've had diabetics tell us that they can eat it because most barbecue sauces are very sugary, and ours isn't.''
Dore said that he uses it to cook brisket in a crockpot and as a sauce to revitalize meat leftovers for sandwiches.
``Both of our kids are in college, and when we asked them what they wanted us to bring over parents weekend, they both said `Bring Docco's sauce!' so it has become a family addiction,'' said Wendy Dore, Barry's wife.
``Our friends just rave about the sauce. They tell their friends, so the company is slowly growing, which we like, because we don't want it to take over our lives. ... We're having fun with it just the way it is.''
Docco's Sauce, which costs $7.95 per bottle, is available at Matthew's Thriftway in Lakemont (East Bellevue) and at the Husky Deli near the West Seattle Market. The Dores are currently in negotiations with other stores to sell Docco's Sauce. It's available from their Web site, www.doccossauce.com , or via e-mail at doccossauce@msn.com . For more information, contact Docco's at .
