Butler looks to hit it big with barbecue sauce

KANSAS CITY -- There's a reason that Billy Butler's nickname is Country Breakfast.

He's a food connoisseur, including of that Kansas City favorite, barbecue.

"Yes, I am. I definitely enjoy my barbecue. So does everyone here in Kansas City, right?" Butler said.

So now, Butler has his own brand of barbecue sauce, "Billy's Hit It A Ton Barbecue Sauce," now in area grocery stores.

"I figured barbecue sauce would be a hit around here, because of how passionate everybody is about it," he said.

All the profits will go to Butler's favorite charity, the Bishop Sullivan Center and St. James Place which feeds the hungry of Kansas City. In his "Hit It A Ton" campaign, Butler and corporate sponsors finance one ton of food for every home run he hits and a half-ton for every double.

The barbecue sauce is made by Zarda, a local company.

"You'll see my big mug on it and you'll know you found it," Butler said. "The size of the picture might not have helped me out."

Butler hopes to have the sauce packaged in plastic bottles as well as glass, so it can be sold at Kauffman Stadium. No glass containers allowed there.

Now, Butler is thinking beyond barbecue sauce.

"Next thing you know, I'm going to have to break into the breakfast business," he said.

It'd be a natural: Billy's Country Breakfast Diner.