As a little girl, Tracey Richardson remembers spending Sundays with her great-aunt Lillie, enjoying flavorful meals prepared with love and inspired by the vibrancy of the Gullah culture, steeped in West African traditions
“No matter who came to visit, they never left her house feeling unwanted, unloved or hungry,” Richardson said.
The savory recipes passed down through generations of her family have since become staples of Lillie’s of Charleston, a Black- and woman-owned business that makes and sells specialty barbecue sauces, hot sauces, spice mixes and, most recently, seasoned popcorn. The company is known for its gourmet mustardy sauces that offer a smoky, hickory taste.
After more than a decade of enjoying popularity in regional restaurants and specialty food shops in the southeast, Lillie’s of Charleston turned to Amazon to handle their growing fulfillment needs. In September 2017 the family company enrolled in Fulfillment by Amazon(FBA), opening their savory sauces and gourmet products to national sales.
Sales tripled in that first year, with orders from as far away as Alaska.
“The ability to use FBA allows us to change the game in terms of how we spend our days,” said Jamel Richardson, Tracey’s husband. “If we didn’t have FBA, we would spend half of every day packing up orders and doing logistics and returns.”
Instead, the Richardsons focus their attention on developing their award-winning flavors.
“A lot of the culture in Charleston is food, but the Gullah culture is missing from so much of that scene,” said Tracey Richardson. “Lillie’s of Charleston was an opportunity to share that history through food.”
“Gullah” is a name for the culture and people of the coastal region of South Carolina, Georgia and the surrounding Sea Islands, often the descents of enslaved people who labored on rice plantations in the southeastern United States. The Gullah language resembles other English-based creole languages and is influenced by West African speech patterns.
“In honor of an American heritage that has yet to be thoroughly discovered and is begging to be preserved, we named many of our products using Gullah expressions,” said Tracey Richardson. The family recipe for “Hab Mussy” hot mustard barbecue sauce is a two-time award winner. It’s a huge accomplishment in the barbecue circuit, in part because South Carolina is iconic for its mustard-based sauces.
Lillie’s of Charleston is also part of Amazon’s Black Business Accelerator(BBA), a program backed by a $150 million commitment over four years to help Black-owned businesses achieve sustainable growth. The BBA helped the Richardsons more effectively navigate Seller Central, understand inventory management and break down barriers to power growth.
“Amazon is our biggest marketing tool because we’re a small company, so we can’t do a big splash with advertising and commercials,” Tracey Richardson added. “Amazon is basically our focus group, marketing tool and our way of being able to introduce a product to the whole country.”
As Lillie’s of Charleston continues to grow, the Richardsons are determined to bring the flavors of the South to the world.
“Southern hospitality is so deeply rooted in eating and hosting, which has been a big part of my life from childhood to adulthood,” Tracey Richardson said. “There’s no better reward than creating good food and happiness for families that buy our products.”