Latest / BBQ Therapy / O.G. Bandits — Ashton Smith & Josh Farley | Stick'em Up , Give me all your trophies !!

Transcript

O.G. Bandits — Ashton Smith & Josh Farley | Stick'em Up , Give me all your trophies !! · BBQ Therapy

0:00
During 2020 when we would always take pictures, we all had black
0:04
masks on that would say, oh, Gee, because that's we all had
0:10
to wear masks. And so our whole family would be
0:12
posing, which now hindsight we look goofy.
0:15
If you look back, we have these masks on.
0:18
So I'm like, I started calling us the bandits back then because
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we'd swoop in and grab trophies and with these masks and then
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head out. So I, I said, how about OG
0:29
bandits? And I'll keep the theme of the
0:31
mask going. And instead of we're instead of
0:35
money, we're stealing trophies, one 80s and seven hundreds.
0:38
And he's I like it. So I said, OK, done deal.
0:40
Mango ham BBQ, Ham BBQ Ham BBQ Ham BBQ BBQ.
0:49
Ever notice how the sound of sizzling meat and the smell of
0:52
smoke can silence the noise of the world?
0:55
Now that's BBQ therapy. If the fire moves you like,
0:59
subscribe, share and help spread the message because growth, like
1:03
good BBQ, takes time and patience.
1:06
Welcome to your therapy session. Welcome to the BBQ Therapy
1:12
Podcast. My name is Tavis Bryant and
1:15
tonight we're sitting down with a team that truly embodies what
1:18
BBQ is all about, Family, community, and championship
1:21
flavor from Oak Grove, MO. They've built a reputation for
1:25
incredible cooks, created sauces and rubs that capture
1:29
competition flavor for the backyard, and continue to leave
1:32
their mark on the BBQ scene. They were crown grand champions
1:36
of the 2023 Made for Kansas City BBQ Championship.
1:40
They're featured at they were featured at the Kansas City
1:43
Airport, and they've built a brand that's pure heart and
1:46
authenticity. I'm thrilled to present Miss
1:51
Ashton Smith and in his absent Josh Farley of OG Bandits BBQ.
1:57
Welcome to barbecue therapy. I got one rule.
1:59
Make yourself at home and speak freely.
2:03
Thank you, we're so excited to be here.
2:05
I am. My other half is actually
2:06
babysitting, not babysitting. It's his own kids, so he's
2:09
watching that as well. My my wife up there doing the
2:12
same thing. I still consider us a team.
2:17
Exactly. And we are a team.
2:18
If you ever see us out there, you'll know we're definitely
2:21
A-Team. But when it comes to the house
2:23
stuff, we definitely tag team, just like we do on barbecues.
2:25
Exactly. It makes a big difference.
2:30
All right, let's take it back from the beginning, before the
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trophies and the before the products.
2:35
How did y'all find competition BBQ?
2:38
So actually we are a blended family and I met Josh in 2018
2:45
and he was on a hunting trip and I happened to be a bartender at
2:50
one of the spots he stopped at. And they had told he it was him
2:54
and his brother-in-law. And his brother-in-law was like,
2:56
oh, he's this was up in South Dakota where I'm my family's
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originally from and Josh is originally from.
3:02
And he said, my, my brother-in-law is a championship
3:05
barbecuer. And I was like, like, what king
3:08
of the cul-de-sac? What do you mean barbecue?
3:14
And because I had no clue. I did grow up a little bit here
3:17
in Kansas City and Oak Grove. I graduated from Oak Grove, but
3:20
we were only here for about 12 years of my life.
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And then I moved back home because my family ranches up in
3:26
South Dakota. And so I knew about the American
3:30
Royal, but I didn't really know the extent of what Comp BBQ was.
3:35
And he was like, no, and I'm like, whatever, I don't even
3:38
like BBQ, so that's cool. And he was like highly offended
3:41
the first time he was. And then one thing led to
3:46
another and we started talking and he finally disclosed what it
3:49
meant. And he's at the time he was
3:51
living out in Jersey and I was in South Dakota.
3:54
So he's like, can I fly you out here and show you what a BBQ
3:57
comp's all about? And I was like, OK, I guess.
3:59
So I went to my first BBQ comp with him and I was hooked.
4:06
Not because of the actual cooking but because it was a big
4:09
party and I didn't even realize what was going on in the
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background with him and his old partner cooking.
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And I just was taking shots and having a good time And I was
4:18
like wouldn't want to do this every weekend this is so much
4:21
fun. But then Saturday came and they
4:24
actually cooked, and I realized, wow, this is a lot of work, this
4:29
is crazy. And they got RGC for that
4:32
particular contest. And I was like, wow, that's
4:34
incredible. So one thing led to another and
4:37
time passes and we decide that we're going to be together and
4:41
make a life together. And we chose Kansas City as our
4:44
place to start over together. And we moved here in 2019.
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And he asked me, he said, do you want to continue to barbecue
4:54
with me or not? And I said, whatever you want to
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do, I'll do. If you want to go out on the
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competition trail, we're in Kansas City.
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We might as well. It makes sense.
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I'll support you and whatever you want to do.
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So he said, OK. And we, I think, signed up for
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our first contest here in Kansas City in October of 2019 that
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year. And he cooked his cook.
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I didn't want to touch anything. I was very intimidated.
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I didn't know what was going on. And then we got to brisket and
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he's OK, try the brisket. So I did.
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And I was like, I don't think that's that's good, but I don't
5:33
taste like brisket to me. What do you mean?
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And I'm like, I don't know brisket.
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He's this kid's first place brisket.
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And I'm like, yeah, in Jersey. I'm like, you're in the Midwest
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now. Brisket.
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Brisket, man. So he turned it in and we ended
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up getting calls and everything but brisket.
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And he was really mad. He was like, oh, so I'm like,
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babe, that's not Midwest brisket.
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Like, I assume Midwest briskets like beefy classic brisket, and
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I'm not quite sure, but it feels more like pot roast is what
6:04
you're striving after over there.
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Apparently that was the wrong thing to say to a BBQ guy.
6:12
So I was being honest. He asked the question, I
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answered it. So he got upset.
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I mean, he's fine. If you think you know brisket so
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well, you take over brisket. So I said, OK, so the entire
6:24
offseason, that offseason I took over brisket, I practiced, we
6:29
did probably about 25 different briskets.
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I was taking flavor pro. I was researching everything I
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could online, everything I saw comp BBQ.
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Even in 2019, there wasn't much online as there is now as far as
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towels and stuff. So I was really, I was looking
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in forums like, well, you shouldn't have been looking in,
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but I was. And I was finding secrets and
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stuff. And I built my profile and he
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said, OK, we're going to sign up for a contest down in Texas in
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February and let's go and let's take your brisket and see what
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happens. I was like, OK, so the entire
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trip down to Texas, he was just razzing.
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He's Are you sure you want to try your brisket in Texas of all
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places? I'm like, why not?
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What do I have to lose? This is I've never done this
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before. So I ended up doing it and we
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got 5th place overall in brisket and we went head to head with
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the number one brisket team in KCBS and I beat them.
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That was my my hook. I was stuck after that and he
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was pretty proud of me. He didn't want to admit it, but
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he'll admit it now. But yeah, and that's what
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happened is I had asked him, I had been a single mom of my two
7:46
boys for many years and working three jobs and all this before I
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met him and I, he had no kids and he was a single guy out in
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New Jersey. And I was like, how can you
8:00
afford to do this BBQ thing? That's crazy to me.
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And he's what do you mean? And I'm like, it's a lot of
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money just to B, we could go to the bar and hang out on a Friday
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night. I confused.
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And so I asked him. I said, hey, what's your end
8:15
goal with this? I said, I'll support you in
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whatever you want. That's a trip to Disney World
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every year that we're just throwing at the fires basically
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hoping for a name to be called. So I said, do you want a
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restaurant? Do you want rubs and sauces?
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Do you want you know what, what do you want, like out of this or
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is this just fun? And he's like, my main goal has
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always been a team of the year trophy.
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I just want a team of the year trophy from KCBS.
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That's what I want. So I said, OK, I said let's do
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that. Then I will help you achieve
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that goal. And then once we're done with
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that, we're taking the kids to Disney World.
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He said, done deal. And I'm like, OK, done.
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That's what we were planning on doing for 2020 is we had set
9:03
aside, we were going to do close to 50 contests we had.
9:07
We were gearing up to do it. And then COVID hit and we all
9:12
just for a while there after everything shut down, we didn't
9:15
know what was going to happen. And I just knew I had a freezer
9:18
full of Snake River Farm brisket that I was freaking out about.
9:22
And slowly but surely, though, the contest started coming back
9:26
a little bit. And in the year of COVID, we
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ended up doing, I think like 25 contests, But we had to go to 13
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different states. One weekend we were in Wyoming.
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We came home that Monday, Josh was still working.
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He's an essential worker. He's an electrician.
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So he worked Tuesday, Wednesday and then Thursday we packed up
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and we headed down to Mississippi.
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And so Monday we were in Wyoming, Thursday we're in
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Mississippi. And it was easier on us then
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because the kids were out of school already because they had
10:00
shut down school. I was a bartender server.
10:04
My my restaurant was shut down that I was working at.
10:07
So it was really just Josh and they were essential, but they
10:10
were doing not their full workload.
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So as terrible as 20/20 was for everybody, honestly, it was very
10:20
bonding for us as a family because we're driving.
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We went to Pennsylvania, we went all over the country, and it
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allowed us as a family to see things that we normally wouldn't
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have seen and do things we normally wouldn't have done.
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And we spent a lot of time together that year and it just
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so turns out that we ended up second in the world and chicken
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that year for team of the year. And I believe we were like 14th
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or 13th overall. So we got, I got him two team of
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the year trophies that he could hang up on our wall.
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We did it. So that was big for us.
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So that's was our goal. But he knew better.
11:02
He knew he knew I wasn't going to be done with it because he
11:04
knew what BBQ was. So then when the time came and
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he was like, OK, we did it. Yeah, no, we're done.
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And I'm like, what do you mean we're done?
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We still have all this. You go here, we go there.
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I'm like, things are finally opening up.
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And he's what? And he quickly learned he
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created a monster out of me. Yeah, that's what started that.
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So it was all him. Exactly.
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And that's what I tell people I love to see married couples do
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it because they know each other the best.
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They know when something something's off with their
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partner. They know when something's how
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to cheer them up, snap them out of it when something going on or
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snap her out of it when something going on.
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That's why I like married couples.
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A lot of them do it to get out the house, but those that have
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married have married couples as a team.
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It's more good flow and it's more under control because you
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know the other person, everything about that person,
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and you know how to respond based on how they're acting, if
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it's good or bad and stuff like that.
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I love how you do that and I love how you like my wife.
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OK, what's the end game? What are you doing here?
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I don't like the podcast. I don't.
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I'm doing it. I don't know where this going,
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but I'm gonna see where it goes. But you're doing it.
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Exactly. She knows I'm gonna work hard
12:28
when I get into it, do my best, but I was like, I don't know.
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I don't know how this is going to play out, but I'm not going
12:34
to quit just because I get frustrated or anything like
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that. But as well as anything else I
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do. So that's why I love the dynamic
12:42
of husband and wife and stuff like that because it's better
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than any other. Just having somebody in the
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truck and you got an attitude at them or something like that and
12:52
they don't even know it or you mad at something else and they
12:55
don't know how to get you back together and help you to snap
12:59
out of. It's definitely a prolied debt.
13:01
So how did y'all get the name OG Bandits?
13:03
It sounded like a minor League Baseball team.
13:07
Actually, when we first joined together, Josh's team out in the
13:12
East Coast was Pig and Whiskey. Him and Brent Williams, they had
13:15
Pig and Whiskey together. Heard it.
13:18
Yeah, so Brand Brand's a force in his own nature.
13:21
And Brand called me Yoko Ono for a while because I broke up the
13:25
band. It was pretty rough there for a
13:28
minute. But when we moved down here, we
13:32
decided because they both had founded Pig and Whiskey
13:34
together. So we had asked or Josh had
13:38
asked Brandt if we could be Pig and Whiskey OG like the second
13:41
chapter because at that time Brandt was living in
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Pennsylvania. So Branson.
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Yeah, absolutely. And that way we didn't have to
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re redo the trailer or anything because it was already wrapped.
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We just added an OG because we're from Oak Grove.
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So we just added the OG to it. Then after our 2020 run, Josh
14:01
was, he thought we were done because that's what I had said.
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He's I'm like, no, we're not done.
14:06
We still, we I, we still have Chase in today.
14:09
Oh, like a crazy woman. I was.
14:11
And we did take the kids on a vacation.
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It wasn't Disney World, but didn't take the kids on
14:15
vacation. But he said, you be the head
14:17
cook then will you be the head cook?
14:19
I don't want to be the head cook anymore.
14:20
So you make a team yourself and I'll cook with you.
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And I said, Are you sure? And he's.
14:26
Yeah, absolutely. So I said, OK, so I started OG
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Bandits and the reason why the bandits came into play was
14:34
because during 2020 when we would always take pictures, we
14:39
all had black masks on that would say oh Gee, because that's
14:44
we all had to wear masks. And so our whole family would be
14:48
posing, which now hindsight we look goofy.
14:51
If you look back, we have these masks on.
14:53
So I'm like, I started calling us the bandits back then because
14:57
we'd swoop in and grab trophies, trophies and with these masks
15:00
and then head out. So I, I said, how about OG
15:04
bandits? And I'll keep the theme of the
15:06
mask going. And instead of we're instead of
15:10
money, we're stealing trophies, one 80s and seven hundreds.
15:13
And he's I like it. So I said, OK, done deal.
15:16
And I am originally from South Dakota.
15:18
That's where my family is and Old West and Cowboys.
15:22
And that's very much so part of my heart and soul and that we
15:27
just played off that and went with it.
15:29
Yeah, I'm a big Western fan. Can you tell me Clint Eastwood
15:34
ain't the best? I.
15:36
Exactly There's something about old school westerns that just
15:39
have a soft my dad's a cowboy, a real cowboy.
15:42
We grew he grew up on ranches. They still ranch and raised
15:47
horses and cattle. It's part of my blood and I just
15:52
wanted to honor that a little bit.
15:53
But that was before I knew what was coming for us.
15:57
At that time, it was just me having fun with a team name, and
16:02
that's what we became. All because of the masks in
16:04
2020. It's a good concept.
16:07
You put a lot of thought into it now that when you explain it, I
16:10
was like, wow, yeah. That's why.
16:14
But I love the logo and I love the name because it's different.
16:17
Yeah. So it was a good job.
16:20
What would What's the toughest part of the competition circuit,
16:23
do you think? Time, cost, pressure, or
16:26
something else entirely? Right now for us, we have, like
16:30
I said, we have 4 kids. Our oldest is a senior, our
16:33
youngest is 2 years old. It definitely is cost because we
16:38
have sports, we have now senior stuff going on.
16:42
We have our four year olds in preschool.
16:45
We have a lot of cost coming out besides barbecue and that is 1.
16:51
I know there's a lot of talk about them switching from the
16:54
four meat to the 2 meat and allowing masters to go do 2
16:57
meats. For us personally, that would be
16:59
awesome because if we could just swoop in, do a contest and leave
17:03
within a day and cook 2 meats, we would cook probably every
17:07
weekend and it would allow us financially to open that up.
17:10
But yeah, the cost right now are getting a little.
17:13
I just signed up for the Royal today.
17:18
We were waiting because we didn't know if we were going to
17:20
do it. And then I was like, oh, we
17:22
might as well, let's just do it. And because we do this every
17:26
year, we always say, ah, we're not.
17:27
And then we get FOMO and then we're like, ah, we should
17:29
probably do it. We Why not?
17:33
Exactly. And Ding BBQ, it always wins.
17:36
But I mean that it's gone up significantly since we first
17:40
competed in 2019 there. And but you know what?
17:44
You have kids. You know what it's like.
17:47
Formula, diapers, Daycare, daycare.
17:50
And all this stuff. And then you add the teenagers
17:53
with the cars and the insurance and I'm like, OK, I'm done.
17:58
Exactly. That's a lot.
18:00
So my hats go off to you in doing that.
18:04
It's definitely a lot that goes into it.
18:06
That's why like the rib association, the rib cook off
18:11
association is stealing a lot of people because it's easier to
18:13
swoop in one day and swoop out and cook 1 meat and maybe a wing
18:18
and get out of there. But that and brisket prices,
18:23
it's just, hey, you know how much you could do with two $300
18:27
brisket money? Right.
18:30
And then they want you to cook a double and I'm like, that's a
18:33
lot just for brisket. So yeah, it's, it's pretty
18:37
brutal. And I'm hoping like the housing
18:40
it'll it'll bubble and pop pretty soon and we'll start
18:43
going down on the one of the most expensive hobbies I have
18:47
ever done. So I I look forward to it, but I
18:51
don't look forward to it, right? Yeah, it's cheap to do this.
18:57
Yeah, I maybe I should start a podcast with you.
19:03
Come on, it's nice and easy. Yeah.
19:07
All right. Let's talk about y'all huge
19:10
moment with the 2023 Made for Kansas City, a BBQ championship
19:14
win. Let's talk about how did you
19:16
prepare and whose idea was it Sign up, Was it yours or group
19:22
decision? So we actually, we did the first
19:24
year and we tanked, which was very unusual for us.
19:30
I think that was the first contest we've ever gotten.
19:34
I think we're second to last. The first year we did it, which
19:38
is a, I'm not saying that we're so good, we shouldn't have been
19:43
there, but that was very unusual for us.
19:47
And he's where he would never do it again.
19:48
He's I don't know what the hell, like, OK, whatever.
19:51
So then the next year they opened up the thing again.
19:55
And at this point in time I had, we had both teams go in.
19:59
So we both our teams qualified for it by qualifications.
20:05
And since it's a lottery that they put your name into and they
20:09
only picks a certain amount, he had asked.
20:13
But he said, can we put both our teams in and.
20:17
And they said, yeah, you can put both teams in if you qualify for
20:22
it. So we did not thinking in a
20:25
million years both teams would get picked, but they did.
20:31
So then we had a choice. Do we?
20:36
And since we did so terrible the first year, him and I are like,
20:40
we should just go head to head. And we've always wanted to do
20:42
that. Let's do it.
20:43
I'll take two cans, you take two cans.
20:45
Let's go head to head. And whoever comes out of on top
20:48
is the winner in the household. And that's what we were going to
20:51
do. Not thinking we were going to
20:54
win or anything, but it was just more of a fun, let's do head to
20:57
head. But then I was super pregnant.
21:03
The contest came with our youngest and as the contest got
21:07
closer and closer, I was like, I think I'm not going to be able
21:11
to do this. What do you mean?
21:15
And I'm like Josh, by the time June gets here, I'll be 8 months
21:18
pregnant. Like sweetheart, I don't know if
21:21
I could be cooking by myself, if that's a good idea.
21:25
So he's OK. So what do you want to do?
21:27
I said I think we should drop A-Team and we should just cook
21:29
together because I'm. I'm way too close to giving
21:33
birth here to be doing this. So he's OK.
21:35
So he dropped his team and we kept mine in.
21:39
And again when we went into that, we honestly we're just
21:47
having fun because we had no expectations because we did so
21:51
bad there the first year that I was like, let's just cook our
21:54
cook. And what's funny about it is
21:56
what happened was I had non alcoholic beers in the fridge
22:02
and the night before Josh and his buddies had gone through all
22:05
of his beer, his IP as and stuff.
22:08
So on cook day all that was in the fridge was non alcoholic.
22:13
So he's man, all I have is this beer and I'm like you can drink
22:16
it because I'm obviously not drinking.
22:17
I thought I would, but I don't even like beer so I don't know
22:20
why I got it. He drank those all day and I
22:26
credit the non alcoholic Bush lights because he was on point.
22:32
I was on point. Obviously I was pregnant so I
22:34
was sober and we just, yeah, it was, we had a great cook, but
22:39
again, we had 0 expectations going into it.
22:42
We just cooked our cook. We were away from everybody
22:45
because I was so pregnant. I just wanted to be left alone.
22:48
I didn't really want to be involved in anything.
22:52
And yeah, it's I didn't think anything of it when awards came
22:56
because it was just our normal cook, which the year before had
23:02
been our normal cook too, so I wasn't expecting anything. 4
23:05
meat like the four meat regular. Yeah, it's chicken, ribs, pork
23:10
and brisket. But this one's a little bit
23:12
different as they provide the meat for you.
23:16
You're not cooking Wagyu, you're a cooking choice.
23:20
And the reason for that being is when you are in the restaurant,
23:24
you are not cooking Wagyu, you are cooking your normal
23:29
briskets. So they wanted to judge it based
23:32
off of what you could do with the food that they would be
23:36
serving in a restaurant. And so that year that I
23:41
practiced all those Dang briskets, trying to find that
23:44
flavor profile really helped us out because I had cooked so many
23:49
store bucks that we had those down to a team.
23:54
It wasn't. We weren't.
23:56
We were pretty used to it by then.
23:57
Yeah. And we cooked chicken legs.
23:59
We're a chicken leg team. We don't cook thighs.
24:02
We cook legs. And they offered thighs or legs
24:06
because they knew that some teams did one or the other.
24:10
So they allowed that. But yeah, it was actually,
24:15
personally, I wish every contest was like that because it really
24:19
levels the playing field. You, you have no, nobody knows
24:23
what they're getting in their cooler.
24:25
And it was a lot of fun. And that's a way to tell who's
24:30
people brag about who's the best, but you never know who's
24:33
the best based on the product cuz everybody can't afford that
24:36
stuff out there. And if you got a very expensive
24:39
meat, it's hard to really just mess it up like that versus so
24:43
it it makes it an even playing field and it shows who can
24:46
really cook and who's just coasting by to the finals and
24:51
stuff. Whoever has the most money isn't
24:53
winning that one. It's whoever can really, truly
24:56
cook. And that's what I absolutely
24:58
love about that contest. And they got a lot of pushback
25:01
from it, but we were always on board with it.
25:03
We always thought it was something that if you can't cook
25:07
a normal brisket and then are you truly a pit master?
25:14
Stay contest. You can't push back on
25:17
somebody's day contest. Yeah, it was as much as the BBQ
25:21
family's family. It's also drama.
25:25
But we did it. And when we got to awards, like
25:28
I said, we weren't expecting anything.
25:31
We were getting calls and then we kept getting calls and then
25:36
we kept getting calls and they were high calls.
25:38
And we finally get to brisket and I think we got like third
25:44
place brisket or something. And I wasn't even thinking we
25:48
were in the running. So I'm sitting there.
25:51
OK. And someone had congratulated us
25:53
walking back. You guys just won.
25:55
And I'm like, I look at Josh. I'm like, it's crazy.
25:58
No, we did it. And I'm like, there's this
26:00
person that should be ahead of us.
26:02
He's like, yeah, I don't know what's going on.
26:04
So then they started calling overall and I'm sitting, I look
26:07
like an oompa Loompa. I'm huge, like my belly, I've
26:11
been swollen. And they start calling the top
26:15
five and they get 543 and I'm like how are we not third?
26:21
Because the person who I thought wanted ended up being like 4th.
26:27
So I was like OK. And I look over at Josh and he
26:31
has our son who at the time was like in his hand and he's like
26:37
pacing, which is his nervous taste.
26:39
And I was like, oh, he thinks we won.
26:43
And so my heart was just when they called RBC, my heart was
26:46
just fluttering and it wasn't us.
26:49
So I'm like, there's no way. I'm like, there's no way.
26:51
We had to have we, we did something wrong.
26:54
There's no way this I'm pregnant.
26:57
We can't have a restaurant right now.
26:58
This is crazy. Like we're getting ready to have
27:00
another baby and then they called us and it was a fever
27:06
dream. Like I don't even remember it.
27:08
I see pictures of people hugging me, but I'm pretty sure my blood
27:11
pressure spiked super high. I'm shocked my water didn't
27:14
break. It was like it was unreal
27:20
because now I was about to have a newborn and a restaurant and
27:24
all this responsibility and I just couldn't believe it.
27:29
We couldn't believe it. Wow, how far into it did the
27:35
baby come? So we went in June and Addie was
27:39
born August 7th. So they allowed us to take some
27:45
time off for the and then shortly after she like a week or
27:50
two after she was born we had to hit the ground running because
27:53
we needed to get all of our grubs and sauces.
27:56
So with the restaurant comes for reps and sauce steel that you
28:00
have to be put out. So luckily for us, we already
28:05
had our own stuff that we were working with.
28:09
So it was just a matter of putting it into retail form,
28:14
which that part was fairly easy for us.
28:17
It was the menu development for the restaurant.
28:20
I grew up in the industry. I know all about restaurants.
28:24
I was a food and beverage manager for many years.
28:26
I, I know Josh is an electrician, has no clue.
28:31
It was quite the dynamic because it's all these restaurant people
28:35
talking restaurant lingo and Josh is, I'll just go run the
28:39
pits. I don't know what's going on.
28:41
So it really helped us and I truly believe our background
28:45
really helped our success that we ended up having for the 18
28:49
months and it was quite a journey.
28:51
It was quite a journey. So did they set it up how y'all
28:55
wanted it, or did they have a specific setup already in there
28:58
and y'all just had to work around it?
29:01
So they we got to do everything we got to do.
29:06
They brought in like our director of operations at the
29:10
time was a fabulous chef who used to own his own gastropub
29:15
down in Texas and he was wonderful.
29:20
He sat down with us and he was the, he's the bottom line guy,
29:23
right? He's I'll let you do what you
29:25
want, but our bottom line is to make money, right?
29:27
Which as someone who's worked in restaurants my whole life, I get
29:31
it right. Like I understand that it's not
29:34
about making fancy dishes. This is BBQ.
29:36
This is about making profit and going.
29:39
So they actually took us to Cisco where we got to go talk to
29:44
the chefs at Cisco, see the products that they had.
29:47
We had a rough idea of what we wanted.
29:50
We wanted a more traditional BBQ place where you get plates and
29:53
stuff like that. And I knew I didn't, I didn't
29:56
want, I didn't want your typical sides.
30:00
Like I didn't want the cheesy corn.
30:01
I was OK with the coleslaw, but I didn't want the cheesy corn.
30:04
So I said, what else can we do besides cheesy corn?
30:07
And they were like, oh, what do you want to do?
30:09
And I'm like personally when I BBQ, I love corn on the cob.
30:13
Like I love corn on the cob with my BBQ and I'm like, but that's
30:16
not realistic in a rush chart. And they're like, we have these
30:19
things called corn ribs and they showed me them and what they are
30:23
is they're deep fat fried. They cut the stuff off the corn,
30:27
off the cob, bread them, deep fat fry them, and then we would
30:29
season them however we would want.
30:32
They were the best things I'd ever had in my life.
30:34
I'm like, put them on the menu and no other restaurant in the
30:39
Kansas City area had them because they were so new.
30:41
So I was like, let's do it. And so it was things like that.
30:45
But no, we got to go in there. I had asked if we could have a
30:49
uniform and have them wearing our T-shirts.
30:52
They said absolutely. So they got the T-shirts for
30:55
them. We had everything was orange and
30:57
black because those are our colors and that's what we
31:00
wanted. So it was pretty cool.
31:01
If they followed pretty much anything I asked for, they gave
31:05
me and it was a lot of fun. OK.
31:09
And at that time, were you, did you go back to work in your
31:13
other job or were you full time in the restaurant and was he his
31:19
electricity? So he's never, he's always
31:22
worked, he works for Faith Technologies, which is one of
31:25
the biggest like electrical companies in the world.
31:28
So he's a Superintendent. So he has a pretty good job
31:31
there that he's pretty loyal to. I at the time, because I had our
31:36
son Jameson and after a COVID run, I ended up getting pregnant
31:40
that November. We ended up having too much time
31:45
spent together on the road. You know how that is.
31:49
We ended up having Jameson in July of 2021 and then we had
31:54
Adeline in 2023. I was at that point a stay at
31:58
home mom, which allowed us to do this a little bit differently.
32:03
He could go to work full time. I was at home with the kids, but
32:07
that allowed me the opportunity to deal with the business side
32:09
of it. The restaurant ran itself for
32:11
the most part. We would make it up there.
32:14
We would try and make it up at least every weekend or every
32:17
other weekend depending on what was going on.
32:19
But for the most part the restaurant ran itself.
32:21
It was more of the backside of it of emails and questions and
32:25
stuff like that. So they have a really great team
32:28
up there that that's what they do.
32:31
And anytime there was a question of what to do, they would call
32:35
me immediately and I would give them an answer.
32:37
If they needed me up there, I was allowed.
32:39
I could be up there because I was home.
32:41
I wasn't working. So it it was, we were lucky in
32:44
that fact that we had that dynamic in our house.
32:47
Yeah, I love the concept because it gives people, different
32:51
people, a chance to have their own restaurant instead of just
32:56
giving the building to a name brand place that everybody knows
33:00
and stuff like that. It gives a chance to somebody
33:03
that wants to have a restaurant to compete for it and win it
33:07
that may be able to not have a restaurant on their own.
33:10
So as well as rubs and stuff like that.
33:13
So it's an excellent idea, but how did it feel seeing having
33:17
your night, your big logo in there, thousands of people every
33:20
day coming in and looking at it? So we it was emotional for both
33:25
of us when we first put that sign up because like I had told
33:28
you in the beginning, him and I, he told me he just wanted to do
33:31
this for fun, right? And we never thought in a
33:35
million years that it would lead us to an 8000 square foot
33:39
restaurant in the Kansas City airport.
33:42
We had we had Chiefs players that now know who our names
33:46
were, things that like him and I were just a husband and wife
33:49
goofing off in the trailer talking about excuse me.
33:55
And now all these things are happening.
33:58
And it happened very quickly. We had the news.
34:00
It was so surreal. It still is.
34:02
It still is surreal. That was an opportunity we won
34:06
and we it was we were originally there for 12 months and then
34:11
they extended our contract for another six months.
34:14
So we ended up being there for 18 months.
34:17
So it was a lot of fun. And the thing about it, like you
34:20
said, is it gives people who never would have the
34:24
opportunity, like him and I, maybe someday we could have had
34:27
a restaurant where we're at in our life right now.
34:30
It just wasn't feasible financially, but it allowed us
34:35
to have our ideas, showcase our food and see if people even like
34:41
their food to open a restaurant. You know, there's you always
34:44
have that doubt in the back of your head because it's not comp.
34:47
You can't cook comp BBQ when you're in a restaurant and it's
34:50
totally different. So it gave us that space to be
34:54
creative without us having to worry financially.
34:58
And it we were, we will forever be indebted and grateful to OHM
35:02
that allowed us to do that. Yeah, great opportunity for
35:06
y'all. And it ain't about our time.
35:08
And this guy said it's time, it's time.
35:10
You got to get out there and make it work.
35:13
But he'll give you the resources you need.
35:15
So when it's time. I think because him and I were
35:18
struggling so hard with where we wanted to go in the next
35:21
direction, he really did. God stepped in and said this is
35:25
where you're going. And he laid that path out for us
35:27
and it I believe in everything's already predestined.
35:32
And that's one of those things where when we started doubting
35:35
what we were going to do next, and then they said, here you go,
35:39
this is what you're going to do next.
35:43
Let me help you out. There you go.
35:47
All right. And through the process, you
35:48
started a food truck. What inspired you to start the
35:52
food truck? So when you're in the airport,
35:54
you have massive amount of people who are seeing your name.
36:00
Most of the people that are flying, obviously flying out of
36:04
of Kansas City or Kansas City. And it's not necessarily a
36:08
layover city. It's more of a people who live
36:11
here fly out. So when we started gaining
36:14
momentum there and we were getting positive feedback and
36:17
stuff, We want to strike when the iron's hot, right?
36:21
him and I sat down at the very beginning.
36:23
We said, OK, what do we want out of this?
36:25
Because we, again, we had this conversation.
36:28
There's a lot of ways this can go.
36:29
We can sit at home, not do anything and get our royalty
36:32
check every week and call it a day, right?
36:35
We can grow this into something for our kids that we're going to
36:39
be passionate about, and if they choose to ever follow in our
36:42
footsteps, we can do that. So what are we going to do?
36:46
So him and I decided at the very beginning, we're going to run
36:50
this as far as we can run this for our kids.
36:53
We want to leave a legacy for them.
36:55
If they choose to follow us, great.
36:57
If not, OK. It was fun. him and I did it.
37:00
So that's pretty much what led us to the food truck we took
37:06
over in March. Him and I had the conversation,
37:10
he had it built by May and he and I was a little hesitant
37:15
about how quickly we're moving, but he's no let's get it out
37:18
there. Let's you wanted to do this,
37:19
let's do this. So I said OK, yeah.
37:22
So he had it built by May. We went down.
37:24
We actually bought it in Georgia, the people who built it
37:26
for us down to Georgia to go get it.
37:32
And, And the rest is pretty much, yeah, we got it wrapped.
37:36
It was amazing. Brandt, Josh's old partner, is a
37:38
graphic artist. And we asked, he's in
37:41
retirement, I think, but we had asked him to come out of
37:43
retirement to do our trailers. So he did our trailer for us.
37:47
And it's just everything we thought it would be.
37:52
And now we're getting to the point where we're getting so big
37:55
that people keep asking us when are we opening our own brick and
37:58
mortar? And I'm like, I don't know, like
38:03
this food truck keeps us pretty Dang busy.
38:05
We do a lot of catering. Like we're busy with catering
38:08
all the way till December right now.
38:10
We do a lot of catering. And yes, a brick and mortar
38:13
would make it a lot easier to do the catering, but I don't know
38:17
if we're quite there. People keep asking.
38:19
I don't know that we have some stuff in the works, but I don't
38:21
know if we're quite there yet. So who's all helping with the
38:25
catering and the food truck? So right now it's just him and I
38:29
This summer, my oldest worked with me all summer long.
38:33
We took it out to Josh's job site.
38:36
He does? Yeah.
38:37
We took it out there three days a week.
38:40
And my oldest, Andrew, and I worked on the food truck for
38:43
every lunch for them. And then on the weekends we
38:46
would go wherever, festival or whatever thing.
38:49
What we found out is a lot of BBQ competitions want to serve
38:54
the public food, but they can't due to health code reasons.
38:59
Well, we have our permit, we have our thing.
39:01
So Friday nights we've been vending out BBQ comps, and then
39:04
Saturday we turn around and cook the comp.
39:08
So it made cooking comps easier for us because we could make our
39:11
money Friday night and then just cook whatever.
39:15
So it was. It's been a pretty cool concept
39:17
that we've been able to do with that and it's been fun there
39:20
too. But yeah, otherwise it's just
39:23
Josh and I, we are the only ones that do it.
39:25
So it's a lot of work. It's a lot of.
39:28
Work, I know it is. So for people just looking to
39:32
start their own food truck, what are some of the challenges and
39:35
what are some of the upsides doing a food truck?
39:39
So the biggest challenge is the amount of permits and things
39:44
like that you need here in Missouri, it's county based
39:47
permit and then you got to go. Each city you go into is a city
39:51
based permit. It's, it's a lot of money for
39:56
before you even do anything. And then once you do that, then
40:01
it's a matter of it's an all day job.
40:03
Just two weeks ago we did a festival.
40:05
We've ended from 3:00 to 10:00 PM on Friday and then from 10:00
40:09
AM to 10:00 PM on Saturday and it was straight Monday.
40:14
There's no time for breaks. You're out there and you're
40:16
slinging meat. That's what you're doing.
40:19
So it's a lot of endurance and a lot of it's a full time job.
40:24
The upside to it though, is one weekend can be a full paycheck
40:27
for you and you, if you do it right and you do it smart, you
40:32
can easily make a very good living on it.
40:34
And you're on wheels, so you can go anywhere, you can do
40:37
anything. And that's what I like about it.
40:40
I like the flexibility about the food truck because if my kid is
40:44
sick or has a doctor's appointment or something and I
40:46
can't open, I'm not letting a bajillion people down with like
40:50
I would if I didn't open my brick and mortar.
40:52
So I like the fact that we can make our own hours and do our
40:55
own thing with it. That's pretty much what we can
40:59
do right now for us so. Yeah, it's a lot of people don't
41:02
see. Go ahead.
41:05
No, go ahead. A lot of people don't see the
41:08
backside, like when you said 9:50, but there's a whole other
41:12
side before that where you have to prep, stock up, actually cook
41:16
the meat and all this other stuff.
41:18
And they don't see that time, which goes from 8 to 10 hours to
41:23
15 to 20 hours. Yeah, it's not like we we could
41:27
make burgers on site. No, this is briskets and stuff
41:30
that all had to be cooked Friday night when we got home and we
41:34
got back and we unloaded everything and we were cleaning
41:37
out everything. Then we were turning around
41:38
getting ready for Saturday and I think Kim and I got 2 hours of
41:42
sleep before we started working that 9:50.
41:45
So it's it does, it's exhausting.
41:50
But like I said, it's all what do you want out of it?
41:55
What are you, what are your goals and what do you want?
41:58
So that's it. All depends on you and what you
42:01
want, how hard you work. Definitely true.
42:06
All right, let's try to sell some rubs and we're going to go
42:08
through each of your products and just tell me a little bit
42:11
about which one. All right, let's start with the
42:16
banded original BBQ sauce. So that is our classic Kansas
42:21
City sweet and smoky sauce. It is.
42:24
We call it our chicken nugget sauce because that's what our
42:27
kids call it. It's your classic BBQ that
42:31
everyone loves. It's not too hot, it's not too
42:34
sweet. It's just your Smokey's nice BBQ
42:37
sauce. All right, and the Saddle Up
42:41
Sweet Heat BBQ sauce. So that is a concept off of our
42:46
ribs and comp world that we brought over to the retail
42:50
world. It is a cherry habanero flavor,
42:56
but the habanero flavor is not too spicy that if you take if a
43:00
four year old takes a taste of it, they're not going to go
43:02
screaming to their parents. It's a very mild, but you still
43:06
get that flavor of the habanero, right?
43:08
Like the IT doesn't burn your mouth, but it's a nice sticky
43:13
sweet hot sauce. It it's a pretty color too.
43:16
When you when it bakes on that, that saddle of sweet heats
43:19
really pretty. It's a pretty mahogany.
43:21
And the tangy tomaweed BBQ sauce.
43:25
So that is our vinegar based sauce.
43:27
We call that our pork sauce. We pair it with pork because I I
43:30
think pork and vinegar go together really good, but it is
43:33
more vinegary and tangy on the tangy side of it.
43:37
Cattle rustler brisket rub. That is the number one hot rub
43:43
at the American Royal this year. I'm very proud of that.
43:46
That is my brisket in action all those years ago.
43:50
That is, it should really be called an AP, and I wish we
43:54
would have called it an AP because that's what it is.
43:57
It's very as a very heavy umami flavor to it.
44:02
It's beefy and delicious, but we put in on our chips in the food
44:08
truck, we make our own chips and we put it on our chips and
44:12
people are like, that's crack. It's so good.
44:17
Burgers, brisket, everything. It's literally one of the best.
44:22
And the American oil said it was one of the best rubs.
44:25
Ever. All right, the Gold Rush Poultry
44:31
Rub. So that one is our poultry.
44:34
It's going to have a honey Peach flavoring to it.
44:38
It's a little bit different than your normal rubs.
44:41
It's really good on veggies and fish and poultry and Turkey,
44:46
really good on Turkey. If anyone's looking for a Turkey
44:48
rub for Thanksgiving, that's 100% it.
44:51
It's more fruity. I always say don't judge that
44:56
rub by the taste of it out the bottle because it cooks way
45:01
different and it's really good and it's just very complementary
45:06
to poultry. Outlaw rib rub.
45:11
So that is going to be a spicy pecan.
45:14
It has jalapeno in it and heavy black pepper.
45:18
It's sweet though. It's but not overly sweet.
45:22
It's more on the heat side of it.
45:24
Very good on pork, very good. But I have had people tell me
45:27
that it's really good on their steaks or their chicken or
45:31
whatever they're using it on. So it's but it's more of the
45:36
heat. It's the next one you're going
45:37
to talk about. It's that one, but with more
45:39
heat. There's a pecan bounty.
45:43
Pecan. So that one is our pork.
45:47
That's a sweeter pecan flavor, more of your traditional BBQ
45:54
flavor. I guess that it would be.
45:56
It's pretty mild. It goes really good with pork or
45:59
ribs or anything like that. But yeah, that's the more
46:02
sweeter 1. All right, and the bucking
46:05
brisket rub. Our bucking brisket wrap, it's
46:09
our So when we. I know you're good.
46:13
When we opened the restaurant, one of the biggest concerns for
46:18
us was holding brisket because they were cooking like 26
46:23
brisket a day where you serve so many people, right?
46:28
And when you slice your brisket, then it holds and you you lose
46:34
all that juice and all that stuff.
46:36
And if you ever reheat A brisket or put it in a warmer, it starts
46:41
to turn Gray because all that moisture is being stuck, sucked
46:44
out of it. So I had asked are Co Packer if
46:50
they could take I made my brisket aju my brisket wrap and
46:54
I said can you take this and put it in powder form And they
46:57
looked at me like I was crazy. I was like I just want this in
47:03
powder form. So they did and the team was
47:05
awesome and they worked on it and we got it in powder form.
47:09
So what you do is you take 1/3 cup of that and you add 3 cups
47:13
of water or I do beef stock and you let that simmer and you boil
47:21
it down a little bit and you put it in your brisket before you
47:25
when you wrap it. Or you can put it, put it after
47:28
the fact, put it on your brisket, let your brisket sit in
47:32
it and it just retains that juice.
47:34
It's a smoky, beefy flavor that is easy to get when you need it
47:40
because it's right there in that bottle and you don't have to
47:43
carry around tons of stock. It has more depth than just
47:47
stock alone. So they nailed it.
47:49
That's I'm pretty proud of that one too.
47:53
That's cool that they able to do that and you sit put it in
47:55
powder for. Yeah, it's there's a whole
47:58
science behind it and it was pretty cool.
48:00
And it the thing about it at the restaurant, though, it was a
48:04
game changer because we could let that brisket sit on the
48:09
warmer in that. And when you would put it on the
48:12
plate or the sandwich, you still got that smoky flavor, you still
48:15
got that fresh flavor. And it was it's.
48:19
Yeah. So our food truck and we, it's
48:22
winning out in the trail to everyone that uses it scores
48:25
with it. But that's not what I intended
48:28
that to be bought to afford competition.
48:30
That was more for home use and the restaurant and the food
48:33
truck. And so many people were asking
48:35
for it that we ended up going retail with it this year all.
48:37
Right, y'all competing, running a business, working full time
48:41
job, managing products, raising families all at once.
48:44
How do you balance it all? Very carefully.
48:51
We know a lot. We're a great team, him and I
48:54
honestly, that's what it comes down to.
48:56
And we have an amazing support system within both of our
48:59
families. So if there's ever anything we
49:03
need, like though I just told you we were working those 10
49:06
hours, 12 hour shifts. My dad flew in from South Dakota
49:10
and my stepmom and they came in and they worked the truck with
49:14
us that weekend. And whenever we need his parents
49:18
to come and help out, they'll babysit hands down.
49:21
And they live in South Dakota, they live 6 hours away.
49:24
But every, everybody who stops and helps us, and we're very
49:28
fortunate that we have that. It takes a village, especially
49:32
with this business and him working all the time and
49:35
everything. So it's we're very blessed
49:38
though, that we have that village to help us.
49:40
That's excellent to hear that everybody's gathering and
49:43
rallying behind Y'all dream and pushing it forward.
49:47
So it's definitely good to hear. All right, in the next 5 to 10
49:51
years, where do you see OG Bandit BBQ?
49:56
Hopefully we will have a brick and mortar because I think
50:00
that's where him and I are going for and I just want to be a name
50:05
that people know and when they come to Kansas City, where can I
50:09
get go BBQ OOG Bandits is great and I think we could do that and
50:14
I have full faith in that. So that's where I want to be it.
50:18
We need you to take out there hopefully and say I will be in a
50:21
brick and mortar, all right, but that's all the questions I have.
50:27
I got one quick game and I'll get you out of here.
50:29
In college basketball, they have a tournament bracket.
50:31
So what I created was a tournament bracket with 16 meats
50:35
that you cook on the grill and just tell me which one you
50:37
prefer to eat and we'll see which one is the winner.
50:40
All right, first matchup, beef ribs versus lamb.
50:45
Beef ribs. OK.
50:47
Next matchup is smoked ham versus smoked Turkey.
50:52
I'm going to go with ham. OK.
50:56
Burnt ends versus hot dog, Pork ribs versus steak.
51:02
Steak. I'm a steak girl.
51:05
All right, smoked Bologna versus brisket.
51:09
Brisket. You'll have a baloney one a few
51:13
times the whole thing. All right.
51:16
BBQ shrimp versus sausage. I like shrimp more.
51:20
That's going to be weird, but I do.
51:22
All right, pork chop versus smoked chicken.
51:26
Pork chop. All right, a little pork chop.
51:31
All right, a pork belly versus hamburger.
51:34
Oh, pork belly. All right, next round is beef
51:39
ribs versus ham. Beef ribs.
51:42
Sorry, Ham. Burnt insurance versus steak.
51:48
Steak. All right, brisket versus
51:52
shrimp. Oh brisket, Dang it.
51:55
And pork chop versus pork belly. Oh no, I'm gonna go with pork
52:04
belly all. Right.
52:08
And final four, you got beef ribs versus steak.
52:12
Steak. I'm sorry.
52:14
I know it's going to win. I can save you.
52:18
All brisket versus pork belly. I'm going to do brisket.
52:23
All right. Brisket versus steak and you
52:26
said steak is the winner. Yeah, OK.
52:30
But let me clarify. Go ahead.
52:33
Steak only made. Hi Josh, man, I have.
52:39
He's taken me to some of the nicest chop houses in America,
52:43
but we've had some of the best beef.
52:45
But I will forever only eat his steak.
52:50
I don't. Care what, anyone?
52:53
So if you ever get an opportunity to try his steak,
52:55
everyone out there do it. It's the best steak I've ever
52:58
had. All right.
53:00
And Miss Aston, your therapy session is over.
53:03
If you want to promote your websites or anything you're
53:06
doing, you can definitely do that at this time.
53:08
OK, we are www.ogbandits.com you can get all of our rubs and
53:13
sauces there. Other than that, thank you so
53:16
much for having me on. I had a blast.
53:19
No problem, no problem. Glad you enjoyed it.
53:21
I appreciate you coming on and sharing your story and hopefully
53:24
it'll inspire people out there. All right, but on that note,
53:27
we'll see everybody next episode.
53:30
We just wrapped up another session of BBQ therapy.
53:33
Remember, stay patient, stay passionate, and keep that fire
53:37
burning hit. Subscribe, share the good smoke,
53:40
and pay the secretary on your way out.
53:42
Have a blessed day.