(Seguin) — The taste and flavor of Seguin’s Davila’s BBQ can now be found at a HEB store near you.
Davila’s BBQ’s special dry rub, a finalist in HEB’s Quest for Texas Best competition, has officially made its way onto shelves in more than 200 HEB stores across the state.
Celebrating the accomplishment of having a lifelong dream fulfilled are Davila’s Owners and Operators Edward Davila and son, Adrian Davila.
Adrian says he is grateful for the opportunity to move forward in the company’s ventures while also honoring the legacy of the family owned Davila’s restaurant here in Seguin.
“We’ve always aspired to be able to take this step as some of these other things and this started five years ago where we started getting the recipe mixed by somebody in order to bottle it and pitch it — we didn’t know (to) who but pitch it somewhere. We had it in the store kind of selling it on the side and then we came up with the label and then about a year ago, we decided to join the Quest for the Best contest with the rub and became a finalist and throughout that process finishing the label and the packaging and all the numbers and how it would be distributed and more so the learning process of how HEB’s logistics work and the purchasing and all those things were quite a learning process,” said Adrian. Edward says he applauds Adrian for taking that initiative to not only compete in the contest but to also work through the logistics of making sure it all happens. “As Adrian said, this was a big aspiration for us. For years, we thought about doing it and thought about pitching it to several of the stores but I just didn’t know how to do it. Luckily, Adrian was able to figure a way of how to do it. In fact, he talked about the Quest for the Best (contest). Out of 800 something entries, we ended up being in the top 20 and then Adrian went and competed in Houston to finally make it to the shelf,” said Edward.
More importantly, Edward says having a product on the shelf is more than just business.
He says it’s a way of honoring his parents the late Raul Sr. and Geronima Davila. Edward says his parents not only began Davila’s but they are also the original recipe holders for the rub and all other ingredients that go into their food. “The main thing about this, right here, my feeling is that I wish my dad who started the business and my mom were here to see this. He really would have been proud of his product,” said Edward.
The label on the BBQ rub bottle includes a photo of Raul plus a small history of the 60 year-old recipe — a recipe that has helped add “a little bit of magic and a whole lot of flavor to any meat, fish or fowl.” Although a special family recipe, Adrian says it is important for his family that the product be shared with others.
“A lot of people have also asked both of us why we were giving away our secrets? Barbecue has this culture of secrecy but our view is if when they cook with our rub — they are cooking with a part of who we are and our family’s story and it’s a beautiful thing in order for us to share with people our recipes and our flavors and the flavors of our community and that’s a cool thing to us. We definitely don’t see it in that way of sharing some sort of secret thing. We want to share the love,” said Adrian.
Adrian says he hopes finding the Davila’s BBQ rub on HEB stores will also become a sense of pride for the entire community as he credits the community for helping to make the family business a success.
“What makes us proud is the legacy of our community because we know — it says Seguin, Texas — on that label so anybody that buys that throughout Texas will see that it is Seguin, Texas and that’s where we come from. That’s who we are and that’s the food that we make which is formulated and shaped by our community. You cook how the people around you cook because we cook how Seguinites cook so this is definitely a representation of also our community of Seguin,” said Adrian.
The 14 ounce bottle of barbecue rub retails for $7.98 at HEB.
The packaged bottle can also be purchased at the local Davila’s restaurant located on West Kingsbury Street.