History

Post War Southern California became a popular place to settle. Back then what is now fully populated urban area was acres of citrus orchards and open space. As the country began to bustle back in the late 1940’s, many saw the region as filled with opportunity.

This was the atmosphere as Chris Pelonis came across an empty storefront in downtown Lynwood that seemed perfect for his long standing dream to open a barbecue restaurant. He borrowed $2000 from his father and began to turn what was a dry cleaner into a restaurant. He and his partner Morris Pittman soon had the first of what was to become a chain of Chris’ & Pitt’s Restaurants.

This first Tweedy Boulevard eatery wasn’t much with its wooden benches and sawdust strewn floors. As word spread of the unique flavor of their original bar-b-q sauce they quickly had a full house every night.

Customer requests for the pair’s flavorful sauce soon had them seeing an opportunity to bottle it for sale. The bottled version was a huge success. Over the years, Chris’ & Pitt’s Bar-B-Q Sauce has grown to become a standard and the best selling barbecue sauce in the west.

Recently, when First Street Food Group, LLC, long time fans of this barbecue sauce icon, saw the potential to capture the renowned quality and taste developed back in 1949, they jumped at the chance to re-energize the sauce and return it to its place as leader in the barbeque genre.

Great care was taken to enhance the recipe with high quality ingredients, complimenting the classic flavor the brand has always represented. The new label design reflects a vision that honors the original flavor begun in 1949, melding the traditional quality with modern overtones for the 21st century.