Sausage Rolls Are Back And Better Than Ever Thanks To Two Beloved Alabama Brands

Millie Ray's and Conecuh Sausage just released a new ready-to-bake breakfast roll.

Alabama-based rolls and biscuits maker Mille Ray and Sons have long been famous for their orange rolls—petite, spiraled twists of bread, drizzled with a tangy-sweet orange glaze. If you've had one, you know precisely what they are and why many holiday tables are incomplete without them in the bread basket.

For decades, Millie Ray made and sold those orange rolls to friends, family, and anyone that wanted a dozen or two in her hometown, Homewood, Alabama. But in 2010, her sons, Ryan and Ben, encouraged Millie to expand, and together, they launched Mille Ray and Sons. Orange rolls were of course a hit product, but they added other favorites like cinnamon rolls, too.

Now, a new introduction to the company's product line may give their orange rolls a run for their money.

In mid September, Mille Ray's introduced Sausage Rolls made with hickory-smoked Conecuh Sausage. The product combines two beloved Southern favorites into one delicious ready-to-bake offering—and the response has been tremendous.

"It's been really wild," says Ryan Ray, who, together with brother Ben, is now running the company after Millie passed away in 2018. "We launched two weeks ago now, and it has just been busy since day one."

Several years ago, another favorite Southern bread company changed their beloved frozen sausage rolls, leaving a gap that Ryan and his brother knew they wanted to fill.

"We got more phone calls from people asking if we could do a sausage roll. They'd say, 'Y’all gotta do one,'" Ryan says.

Millie Ray's had offered a sausage roll at one point, but the brothers felt they could do something different, something better. At the time, the brothers were contracted with a co-packer in Atlanta that didn't have the capability.

As luck would have it, however, the brothers were preparing to move their baking business back to Alabama, after the contract with the co-packer expired. The timing was right to strike on this idea of a new and improved sausage roll.

"We did the research and tried all kinds of different sausages. My mom being from Conecuh County, we grew up eating Conecuh sausage. We sorta knew we wanted to use Conecuh, so we had a meeting with Conecuh sausage earlier this spring. They were very excited about it, and they wanted to do the project as well," Ryan says.

The brothers got to work, making and perfecting the rolls in their Irondale, Alabama kitchen. Then it was time to roll them out to stores.

Two weeks after launching their first rolls, the orders are pouring in—and the rolls are rolling out as fast as they can make them. Week one, the company used 400 pounds of sausage, then 800 pounds. For their next batch, Ryan says, they've just ordered 1600 pounds.

"Everybody is familiar with Coneuch sausage, and a lot of people are familiar with us a well. But we’re reaching new people having Conecuh on the box," he says.

If you're looking to find the rolls near you, they're on their way. Ryan says some Piggly Wiggly stores have them already, and a handful of wholesalers are stocking them for stores.

"We're working as hard as we can to get them out there," Ryan says, adding that if you want to see the rolls at your neighborhood grocery store, the best thing to do is request the store manager to get them. Person-to-person requests make a big difference in what small and local grocery stores will order for their shelves.

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