Disability Resources Incorporated
Q&A with Tony Dry
Billy Bean from Abilene collects national prizes
with family recipes
March 21, 2004
By Melissa Borden / Reporter-News
Billy Beans sauces have been heating up Big
Country recipes for six years. Owner Tony Dry
started with his mother’s salsa recipe
and now has several award-winning sauces. Manufactured
in Abilene by residents at Disability Resources
Inc., 3602 N. Clack St., the products now include
pickled jalapeños, diabetic-friendly
barbecue sauce and dry seasoning. Dry works
full time with numerous grocery chains and restaurants
to offer the salsa in Texas and surrounding
states and oversees day-to-day operations for
the Billy Beans business and manufacturing.
How did you come up with the Billy Beans
concept and name?
I was in the oil field 22 years. And there
was a joke about ‘Billy Bean from Abilene
knew everybody.’ And I got dubbed that
in the oil field, and we just kept it.
Why did you start the business?
Believe it or not, we just prayed about it
one night at church. We had won the Sweetwater
Rattlesnake Round-up cook-offs in 1997 and 1998.
We decided we might want to start up a business.
So, we approached Disability Resources and asked
for their help.
Why use residents at Disability Resources?
We just felt compelled to come out here and
see if they could make our product. And we went
to the Fiery Foods Show Shootout in Austin,
not knowing anything, and made up a banner and
went down there and took first place in the
state championship. We knew it was a blessing
then.
Every product we make out here has won a national
award, which is very unusual because most people
never win anything. It has to be a quality product,
and we’re so blessed to have some of the
best folks putting out the best-quality products
today.
How many types of salsa do you have and
how did you create them?
We have Billy Beans I Scream Sauce, Hot and
Medium. We also have our Billy Beans Down Right
Incredible BBQ Sauce, which, by the way, only
has 1 gram of sugar and 1 gram of carbohydrates
per serving. Diabetics and carb-counters need
to check this one out.
We also have our Billy Beans Heavenly Hot Jalapeno
Relish, great over cream cheese. And our Billy
Beans Hubba Bubba Rubba — if you season
your food, this is the only thing you need.
All of these recipes are from different family
recipes.
How do you compete with larger companies?
We don’t really compete against the majors.
We try to get the stores to give us a chance
to do demonstrations and put the product in
the customers’ mouths and let them see
what kind of a quality product we produce. Let
them decide, and hopefully they will tell their
friends about the products and the folks.
What is your favorite salsa snack?
My favorite salsa snack is hard to pick there
are so many. I guess the one I like the best
is — a jar of Billy Beans I Scream Sauce
Hot and a bag of chips. I sit down, start dipping
until the jar is empty. You just can’t
stop once you get started.
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