A Mulberry BBQ restaurant now has its barbeque sauce on the shelves in Publix.

Carter BBQ’s "Johnny B Brown BBQ Sauce" is featured in Publix’s new “Florida Local” program. It’s being sold in 300 Publix stores across Florida, along with several other sauces, spices, honey, rice, and candy.

  • Polk County restaurant gets BBQ sauce on Publix shelves
  • Carter BBQ's "Johnny B Brown BBQ Sauce" featured in "Florida Local" program
  • Products in Publix's Florida section made, harvested, or grown in Florida

All of the products in the Florida Local section were either made, harvested, or grown in Florida.

“The goal is to increase the exposure of the numerous quality items being produced right in the states our customers live in,” said Publix Media and Community Relation Manager Nicole Maristany Krauss.

The owner of Carter’s BBQ, Johnny B Carter Jr., said when he started making the sauce, he never envisioned it’d get this far. He said the call from Publix surprised him.

"I said whoa, how did this happen? That was my first inkling. How did it happen? I sent them my sample a couple years ago,” Johnny Carter Jr. recalled.

His drive-through restaurant on Highway 60 in Mulberry is pretty popular in Polk County.

"I drive about 40 miles to come here,” said Tom Anderson, from Winter Haven.

Johnny Carter Jr. said he and his son started the business back in 2001, selling barbeque on the side of the road in a trailer. It started as a job for his son, who just dropped out of college after getting injured playing football.

"Pops was basically like hey man, you need to get a job, go to the military, or we can start doing this barbeque,” said Johnny Carter III, who runs the restaurant portion of the family business.

From there, they moved into their current restaurant and in 2005, a trucker told them they needed to start bottling and selling the sauce.

"He was just talking to me and telling me hey it's easier to ship the sauce than the ribs, the meat," recalled Johnny Carter, III.

Fast forward to now, the Carters' sauces have won national awards and are being sold in local grocery stores, including Winn Dixie, and worldwide online.

"We've been selling online for the last eight years. So we ship this sauce all over the country. We get orders from Japan,” said Johnny Carter Jr.

His son said even the celebrities are familiar with it.

"We have fed Trina, Trick Daddy,” Johnny Carter, III said.

Johnny Carter Jr. said he’s glad Publix is featuring Carter's “Johnny B. Brown BBQ Sauce” in its new Florida Local Program.

"I think it's great that companies like Publix and Winn Dixie are reaching out to local vendors now and saying hey, let me make you a part of what we're doing. It does make a difference,” said Johnny Carter Jr.