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Hugh Fleming never named the wildly popular sauce he created out of necessity in the early 1980s for his Chick-fil-A store in what now is the Spotsylvania Towne Centre in Fredericksburg.

Back then, customers called it everything from “that special sauce” to “Mr. Fleming’s sauce,” and were known to get cranky if the tangy honey–mustard concoction with a smoky hint of barbecue flavor wasn’t available.

Today, they ask for it by its official title: Chick-fil-A Sauce.

“We’re very proud and grateful for Chick-fil-A for naming the sauce after his concoction,” said Todd Fleming, Hugh’s son and owner of the Chick-fil-A in nearby Central Park.

Hugh Fleming gave the recipe to the Atlanta-based company to show his appreciation when he retired 11 years ago. It was a thank-you for all the help it had given him and his family since he opened his first franchise nearly 40 years ago in the mall.

“I could never have developed it without being under the Chick-fil-A roof,” Fleming said in 2008. “It was, as far as I was concerned, a shared credit, as far as making it successful. It was my way of paying the company back.”