It All Began in Mom’s Kitchen
Otis D. Lawson – Founder of O.T.’s Hickory Smoked Barbeque Sauce
Otis, or O.T. as he was nicknamed, became a leading BBQ sauce entrepreneur in northern California and up and down the West Coast.
A Pittsburg, Calif. native, Otis was one of 13 children. By the time he was 11 years old, he was in his mother’s kitchen cooking. He introduced his legendary sauce to his family in 1975.
According to newspaper accounts, Otis never liked store-bought BBQ sauce because it didn’t have the flavor he wanted. He said, “You always had to add something to it.”
His family and friends loved his creation’s smooth, sweet, finger-licking, hickory pit flavor and began pestering him to make more. Otis was making sauce for everyone.
He worked full-time as Director of Environmental Services at Los Medanos Community Hospital in Pittsburg, California. At the hospital, he cooked and barbecued at luncheons for fellow employees, prompting one administrator to suggest he go into business making the sauce. According to Otis, the minute people tried it, they wanted more.
And so, it began. In 1982, he created Lawson Enterprises Co. His scrumptious sauce was known from Bremerton, Washington down to San Luis Obispo and many cities in between.
O.T.’s Hickory Smoked Barbeque Sauce was sold at Safeway, Albertson’s, Lucky stores, Nob Hill Markets, Longs Drugstores, Certified Grocers of California, meat companies, restaurants, and many independent grocers. At one time, his sauce was sold in more than 700 stores, and he was shipping 3,000 cases every three months.
He also created two cookbooks to share his family recipes with consumers.
Otis passed away at the age of 48. However, his spirit lives on in his BBQ Sauce and cookbooks.
His family eventually found a CEO in Bob Brooks who they trusted to uphold O.T.’s famous recipe and insistence on using the best ingredients.
O.T.’s is now owned by Brookridge Foods, Inc., located in Pittsburg, Calif.
E.R. “Bob” Brooks, MBA – Former CEO of Brookridge Foods, Inc.
The legendary flavor of O.T.’s Hickory Smoked Barbeque Sauce lives on thanks to Bob and Barbara J. Brooks of Antioch, Calif. The couple purchased O.T.’s BBQ Sauce after Otis’ passing.
An entrepreneur at heart, Bob purchased the company and all rights to O.T.’s BBQ Sauce. He loved the BBQ sauce and its distinct hickory-smoked, yet sweet and tangy flavor. He knew the sauce was a winner. Anyone and everyone who tasted the sauce raved about it and wanted to take a bottle home.
In the 1980s besides being a successful real estate broker, Bob became an Associate Professor of Real Estate at Cal State University Hayward. Mack Lovett, PhD hired Bob to write the curriculum on real estate and finance for the Extended Education Department at the university.
Bob was no stranger to starting new businesses. Bob and Barbara founded and created many businesses, one of which was Bob Brooks & Associates, a real estate and mortgage brokerage firm, an income tax consulting company, and in 2000 the Delta Gazette Newspaper.
He was on the Antioch Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and at one of the chamber dinners, Antioch Chief of Police, Mark Moczulski, asked Bob to start a new bail bond company. The chief wanted to use his officers’ time effectively and not have them transport defendants all the way to the Martinez jail. So, they opened the city’s first-ever bail bond company, Antioch Bail Bonds.
Bob proudly served in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam war. He served with Robin Olds, an American fighter pilot and general and with Daniel “Chappie” James, Jr., the first Black to become a four-star general in the U.S. military.
Bob recognized the budding entrepreneur Ernest Nichols III, and mentored him in real estate and how to run the BBQ sauce company.
Bob passed in 2017 and in 2018 Ernest Nichols III and Bob’s spouse, Barbara J. Brooks, joined forces to create Brookridge Foods, Inc.
Ernest Nichols III
CEO
Brookridge Foods, Inc.
Ernest Nichols III , CEO of Brookridge Foods, Inc. has been a successful entrepreneur for more than 25 years.
As CEO, Ernest is responsible for staying on top of the ever-changing business landscape, managing his team effectively, and making strategic decisions that drive growth.
He was born in Martinez and grew up in Pittsburg, Calif. A 1988 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, he received a key to the city of Pittsburg which prominently hangs in his office. Ernest says that one of the biggest things he learned at West Point is that “Anything is Possible.”
At the young age of 34, Ernest began his career as a stockbroker. He then entered the world of income tax preparation, adding real estate broker and mortgage broker to his long list of accomplishments.
Ernest had a mentor, E.R. Bob Brooks, MBA, and Bob groomed Ernest in real estate and in all aspects of manufacturing the barbeque sauce. When Bob passed in 2017, his spouse, Barbara J. Brooks, and Ernest continued growing the barbeque sauce company also known as Brookridge Foods, Inc.
The company has always prided itself on staying true to the original recipe and using expensive ingredients and no substitutes.
That tradition remains today. Otis and Bob are smiling with approval.
Barbara J. Brooks, CFO of Brookridge Foods, Inc. is responsible for handling all the financial decisions and aspects of the company.
An entrepreneur and astute business professional herself, she and her late husband Bob started all their businesses from scratch. They were both licensed in the real estate brokerage, mortgage brokerage, and income tax consulting businesses and created the first-ever Antioch Bail Bonds and the Delta Gazette Newspaper. Barbara spent many years working in the probate and inheritance tax fields.
And while Barbara says Bob was the business visionary, she played a huge role in the success of each company. Whatever needed to be done, she learned or got her license, and took it upon herself to make it happen!
In 2000, when the couple founded Antioch Bail Bonds, Barbara stepped in and became the office manager, running everything and ensuring that all the legal processes were followed and the documents complete. When she and Bob created the Delta Gazette Newspaper, she became the publisher and managed a team of 20 reporters, ad salespeople, payroll, and circulation personnel.
Purchasing O.T.’s Hickory Smoked Barbeque Sauce was no different. Like her husband, she knew the flavor was a winner and believed in its success from the start.
When Bob passed away in 2017, she took the reins and enlisted Ernest Nichols III to help her create Brookridge Foods, Inc. in 2018.
Together she and Ernest proudly sell the barbecue sauce Otis Lawson created in his kitchen more than 40 years ago.
Barbara J. Brooks
Chief Financial Officer
Brookridge Foods, Inc.