Toby Keith’s Premium launches with top quality food offerings

Catfish, Smash Burgers, Big Daddy Cups & Big Dogs are now available online

Oklahoma native Toby Keith was known for the passion he brought to all his endeavors, not least of which is Toby Keith’s Premium – a high-quality USA-sourced food brand he was developing for more than 18 months before his passing earlier this year at the age of 62. With the blessing of his family, the company has officially launched and is now available for online sales at tobykeithpremium.com.

Toby Keith’s Premium offerings include Blue Catfish in chunks and fillets with various types of breading, Smash Burgers, Chicken & Beef Big Dogs, Getcha Some Sauces, and double-wall stainless steel Big Daddy Cups, among others. The company is led by CEO Winston Tucker and its 100% USA-sourced meats and other food products are packaged and distributed by the family-owned Rastelli Foods Group and Pier Fish Group.

Tucker and Keith became friends over a shared passion for fishing … and food. “He didn’t like farm-raised catfish,” Tucker says. “His exact words, in fact, were, ‘I don’t want any of those farm-raised catfish that taste like mud.’ Quality was his first priority.”

As opposed to channel catfish – often farmed overseas and found in many restaurants and stores – Toby Keith’s Premium sources blue catfish from the Great Lakes and the Chesapeake Bay, where they are an invasive species. “These are a super clean, freshwater and brackish water fish that feeds on the sweet blue crab – proteins and quality comparable to wild-caught Alaskan salmon,” Tucker says. “We will be the first to bring blue catfish to retail in volume.”

That’s only the beginning, however. “Catfish and fried bologna sandwiches are the top two selling items at Toby’s restaurants,” Tucker says. Keith insisted that his Fried Bologna Sandwich was a must-have on all of the menus. “And Toby loves hot dogs, but he’d say, ‘I don’t want ’em with the throw-away beef and pork parts and all those additives.’ So we created the Big Dog, which is a 3.5-inch round like fried bologna that tastes more like a hot dog and fits on a hamburger bun. Nothing but real beef and chicken breast.”

Smash Burgers give backyard grillers and kitchen skillet cooks an affordable option that reflects Keith’s personal burger preferences. “He’d say, ‘If you’re hungry, just stack a few of them up,'” Tucker says. “And you gotta have something to wash them down with, so we partnered with Grizzly Cooler company for the highest quality, red, stainless, insulated Big Daddy cup.”

The product line grew from there. “This is something he was super passionate about,” Tucker says. “He and the family wanted this to go forward and that’s why it is.”

Keith’s focus on premium quality food extended to packaging that reflects a patriotic color scheme. “All these products come from the USA, so that was important to him,” Tucker says. “I also asked him to send me a picture of himself with a catfish that we could use. He replied, ‘I don’t take pics of catfish … I eat ’em,'” Tucker recalls. “Later he sent me a pic of himself holding up a tiny catfish – spinning it to be funny with that famous Toby grin.”

Online sales for Toby Keith’s Premium are available with select products available in major retailers soon.

The new products roll out as Keith’s legacy flourishes. Last month, NBC broadcast a special concert event, Toby Keith: American Icon. It was viewed by millions becoming the network’s most-watched special of the year. The celebration concert, which is still available on-demand via Peacock, was filmed in a sold-out Bridgestone Arena in Nashville and featured performances and personal remembrances from many of country music’s biggest names. All of Toby’s catalog also saw a nearly 150% increase following the special and proceeds from the event benefit The Toby Keith Foundation’s OK Kids Korral, a cost-free home for families of children with cancer.

On October 4th, Universal Nashville will release a newly compiled 13 Number Ones, featuring a baker’s dozen of concert setlist staples recorded between 1993 and 2005, and a remastered and expanded version of Christmas to Christmas originally released in 1995, making its vinyl debut. His Greatest Hits: The Show Dog Years celebrates the fifth anniversary of its release on October 25th, and encompasses Keith’s work for his own Show Dog Nashville label – which was capped with the inclusion of his hit, “Don’t Let The Old Man In.”

Outside of music, Keith is being honored with singalongs conducted between the third and fourth quarters during OU Sooners home football games throughout the 2024 season. At the August 30th season-opening game verses Temple, his daughter, Krystal Keith, helped kick off “Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue (The Angry American).” The mutual love and loyalty between Keith and the University of Oklahoma was exemplified when the university conferred upon him an honorary degree – recognition he was proud to learn about prior to his passing in February.

Buddy Iahn
Buddy Iahn