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Media Contact:
Shannon Kimball or Lori Kimball
Firebug BBQ LLC
kimball@firebugkc.com
816-868-2154

2010 American Royal Awards

Firebug Grill'n Sauce Hot won The People's Choice Award
Firebug Grill'n Sauce Mild won 2nd place for "Specialty Sauce

Firebug BBQ Announces: Firebug Grill’n Sauce 2010 Awards
Lee's Summit man turns love of cooking into award-winning barbecue sauce for the second time!

LEE’S SUMMIT, MO, April 30, 2010 – Firebug BBQ LLC announces today that their Firebug Grill’n Sauces won more awards at The Great American Barbecue Sauce, Baste & Rub contest-2010. Firebug Grill’n Sauce, a locally made and distributed barbecue sauce, won first place in the “hot sauce” category with their Firebug Grill’n Sauce Hot; second place in the “hot baste” category with their Firebug Grill’n Sauce Hot; and third place in the “mild baste” category with their Firebug Grill’n Sauce Mild. In the Baste Overall category, Firebug Grill’n Sauce Mild took third place.
Results posting

Shannon “Firebug” Kimball, of Lee’s Summit, MO, owner of Firebug BBQ, and his wife, Lori Kimball, were very excited to find out the winnings this week. This will make the second time Firebug BBQ has been awarded for their sauce. Last year, at the 2009 American Royal BBQ Sauce contest, Firebug Grill’n Sauce Mild took third place for the “Specialty Sauce” category. Their Firebug Grill’n Sauce Hot placed ninth in the “Tomato Hot” category. “This has been very exciting and encouraging this past year! Firebug has only been on the market since last summer and we’re not even a year old yet,” says Shannon Kimball, “We are blessed and thankful that we have many people out there that love Firebug! Thank you to everyone who has supported our local product.”
Next Door Pizza, in Lee’s Summit, MO has also joined the Firebug kick. They recently launched a Firebug Pizza on their menu and many customers are lovin’ it! Next Door Pizza is located in the New Longview retail area, across the street from Longview College on Fascination Drive.
You can learn more about Firebug Grill’n Sauces and where to purchase at www.firebugbbq.com.

About Firebug BBQ                                                         
Firebug BBQ’s gourmet sweet and spicy sauces have gotten the attention of many in the Kansas/Missouri area. Created in 2009 by Shannon Kimball, Firebug sauces are considered “gourmet on fire.” Kimball uses 28 ingredients. Special ingredients include raw sugar, caramelized onions and fresh berries. The rest of the flavor comes from the complexity of spices that he blended into his recipe. Shannon, a chef at heart, and raised on a cattle ranch, found a love for cooking as soon as he could reach the counter and hold a spoon. His mother always encouraged home cooking.
Kimball says, “Growing up on a farm in Kansas, I loved to start fires. From setting pasture fires in the spring, to starting the pit when it was time to barbecue. I have always been fascinated by the power of the flame. That’s why I’ve always been called the FIREBUG!”

For more information, visit www.firebugbbq.com.

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Office Space: Shannon 'Firebug' Kimball

by Sarah Benson

Who he is: Founder of Firebug BBQ, a line of barbecue sauces and rubs.

Read the entire article Ink Magazine online

Special Sauce

LS man turns love of cooking into award-winning barbecue sauce

Miranda Wycoff, Journal Staff

Emily Jarrett, the Journal

Lee’s Summit resident Shannon Kimball stirs his chili at Lee’s Summit’s annual Chilifest. Kimball makes and sells his own barbecue sauce, Firebug Grill’n Sauce, which recently received third place in the American Royal Sauce Competition.

It’s all about the spices, said Lee’s Summit resident and barbecue sauce maker Shannon Kimball.

“I use to throw everything I loved into the pot,” Kimball said. “But it just wouldn’t taste right.”

But after spending some time in culinary school and working for local restaurants, including R.A. Long’s in the new Longview area, Kimball learned to perfect his sauce.

“There’s a lot of spices that contradict each other,” Kimball said. “Once I slowed down and started studying them, I was able to create a flavor I really liked.”

Kimball, a tile contractor by day, has always been interested in cooking — an interest to which he credits his mother and grandmother.

“They got me started at an early age, and I’ve just loved cooking ever since,” he said.

Kimball grew up on a cattle ranch in Kansas where his family catered their own events on the ranch.

As a little boy whose primary job was to start the brush fires on the farm, Kimball wasn’t too enthused about cooking, to say the least. But it was the day Kimball decided to run his mouth about women being in the kitchen that it all changed. Hit mother scooted him in, put a spoon in his hand and ordered him to start stirring. And that was it, he was hooked.

“That’s where I got my love for food and cooking,” he said.
So when Kimball moved to Kansas City he decided to take that love to a new level. He started studying at a culinary school and began to intern at local restaurants.

“That’s where I really developed the skills and I’ve been making sauce ever since,” Kimball said.

But it wasn’t until two months ago that Kimball began making sauce for sale.

“Every time I would have friends over and make this barbecue sauce, they would always ask where I bought it. And then when they found out I was the one who made it they would keep telling me I should try to sell it. So that’s what I did,” he said.

And even though he’s only been selling Firebug Grill’n Sauce — named for the nickname his mother gave him on the cattle ranch — for two months, he’s already an award winner.

Kimball received the third place award at the American Royal Barbecue Sauce contest held Oct. 1-4 for his mild sauce in the Specialty Sauce category.

Firebug’s “Hotter than a Prairie Fire” also placed 9th in the American Royal Sauce Competition’s Tomato Hot category.

“There’s not too many first-timers that win in the sauce contest so that made me feel real good,” Kimball said.

Firebug Grill’n Sauce can be purchased at A Thyme for Everything, Lee’s Summit Hy-Vee stores, Cockrell’s Mercantile and R.A. Long’s, in addition to several other Kansas City metro area stores.

For more information, or a complete list of stores, visit www.firebugbbq.com.

To reach Journal reporter Miranda Wycoff, call 816-282-7017 or e-mail mwycoff@lsjournal.com.