Good Reading

I’ve been wanting to tell you about the annual NBBQA Conference and Trade Show in Mobile, AL last month. I was honored to meet a few of my email subscribers at the conference, but many of you were not able to attend.

I can’t give you a thorough overview of every part of the event, but maybe I can feed you a few nuggets will inspire you to attend next year. Barbecue has quite a few different segments by now: Backyarders, competitions, caterers and restaurants, fund-raisers, and even disaster relief. It has become a serious enterprise and the National Barbecue Association supports every segment of barbecue.

The event offered a lot of different learning and networking opportunities for caterers, competitors, restauranteurs, and more.

Cooking a Whole Pig for the Butcher Class

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Birthdays are always a big deal at our house. My special day three weeks ago was no exception and somehow it ended up involving barbecue. (How did that happen?) Anyway, I gathered the goods, fired my Meadow Creek SQ36 Smoker, and cooked up a storm.

The latest (March) issue of StoryQue contains my story and a bunch of dazzling photos. I shared quite a few tips for beginners, including how I cooked and prepped everything. Here is a video from the magazine and the first part of my story:

As you may have heard, I had a birthday earlier this month, and I just had to cook some good barbecue. I’d like to talk about my day, what I cooked, and briefly how I cooked it. The whole experience was a little extreme but I had a great time.

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I’ve known of Famous Dave’s Barbecue and even met Dave himself a few years ago at the National Barbecue Conference in Memphis. But for some reason, I had never gotten around to eating at one—until a few weeks ago.

My in-laws were here for a few days over Christmas, and one day the ladies all went shopping in Chattanooga. The rest of us decided to make it a good day too. First we headed to Best Buy and took care of some tech shopping, then on to Famous Dave’s for an unforgettable experience.

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Last week, I wrote about our week-long family vacation on the Outer Banks. One day we visited the Wright Brothers Flight Museum. I’ve had a long-time fascination with airplanes, but I had no idea it would be such an inspiration. In fact, Wilbur and Orville Wright have become my heroes in vision, creativity, and perseverance.

So what does flying have to do with barbecue? A better question to ask is, “What do Will and Orv have to do with my barbecue venture?” According to the National Barbecue Association, barbecue has expanded beyond the traditional South/Midwest boundaries here in the USA to a national level. We’re not only talking about backyarders, but also other segments of barbecue, including barbecue businesses (people making money cranking out delish que).

Are you stuck in a 9-5 job, wishing you could get out on your own? Do you dream of setting the neighborhood on fire with unbelievable flavors? The business of barbecue offers some amazing opportunities for people wanting to start a small business, such as a restaurant, catering company, or road-side stand. Even part-time or weekend setups in town can be extremely successful once the word gets out.

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There is so much more to barbecue than grilling. And (for the sake of mankind!) there is more to it than drowning oven-cooked meat in barbecue sauce. In fact, there is more to it than barbecued meat or the many other foods you can grill or smoke.

If you don’t know what I am talking about, it’s high time to learn the basics of real barbecue. While I love grilling and eating grilled burgers and chicken, that’s less than half of “the story”. A more wonderful part of barbecue is cooking “low and slow” with a moderate amount of smoke. The slow cooking process keeps the meat from drying out before it’s done and the smoke gives it indescribable flavor.

But it gets even better. The experience itself is a big part of barbecue—cooking outdoors, sitting around the fire eating, having a party with family and friends. Even if you cook barbecue commercially for a living, these experiences are an important part of the barbecue tradition.

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Some days experience brings us face to face with a worthwhile lesson even when we’re not out “digging for dirt.” This recently happened to me when I was browsing the SmokeRing forums and came across a very sad thread. The story of a victim of bad customer service. This poor guy had purchased a smoker from one of our most popular competitors, but he was having a terrible time communicating with the pit maker. Finally, he got so tired of waiting, he asked for a refund. Even then the company was not keeping their word, and the last I heard, he was about to get a lawyer.

Of course, I haven’t validated whether all the details of this story are true, but it certainly seems authentic. Either way, this story is terrible for the brand.

In small business the stories people tell and how your market perceive you is your brand. If you were Pepsi or Nascar, you could afford to spend millions on a 30-second commercial, but you’re not. Build your brand by creating a good experience with your market, the people you are targeting in business.

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