Latest / BBQ Therapy / #62 Military , Horses ,BBQ and Monster Trucks | Tex Hill - Dress Blue BBQ

Transcript

#62 Military , Horses ,BBQ and Monster Trucks | Tex Hill - Dress Blue BBQ · BBQ Therapy

0:00
You know, growing up in Texas when, you know, we used to ride
0:03
force to the gas station time up on a handicap sign, right?
0:06
Like this is like a true story for.
0:09
So that's like how I grew up. And then, you know, obviously,
0:13
like 20 years later, I like go back to visit Houston and it's
0:19
like a completely different place, right?
0:21
All of pastures are gone, all the cows are gone.
0:24
There's like apartments everywhere.
0:26
The culture is different because there are a lot of transplants.
0:28
So like the way we grew up, it wasn't the same culture.
0:32
You know, I would have to the the ropes, if you will.
0:36
And then, you know, I'm out here in Richmond.
0:39
It's a smaller city. And it kind of reminded me of
0:42
what, you know, Houston kind of used to be.
0:45
Definitely. So I'm not, you know, it is the
0:49
South, right? But they're like cultural
0:52
aspects of growing up Southern that Richmond doesn't
0:55
necessarily have. But it is still the South,
0:58
right? Listen, learn, get inspired.
1:01
I'm Tavis Bryant and this is BBQ Therapy Like subscribe and
1:06
follow to help grow the BBQ therapy community.
1:10
Also visit my website at www.barbecuetherapypodcast.com.
1:15
BBQ. Your BBQ off.
1:18
Get your BBQ off. Get your BBQ off.
1:23
Welcome to the BBQ Therapy podcast.
1:25
My name is Tavis Bryant and on today's episode it's about
1:30
discipline, identity, and purpose.
1:32
My guest is a retired United States Marine who took
1:35
everything he learned in uniform structure, accountability,
1:39
service and carried it straight into the pit room.
1:41
He's the owner and pitmaster of Dress Blue Barbecue in Richmond,
1:45
VA, where Texas style smoke meets Marine Corps standards and
1:50
community comes first. This isn't just BBQ.
1:53
So this is leadership, this is legacy.
1:56
This is service through fire. Tex Hill.
1:59
Welcome to the BBQ therapy. I got one rule.
2:01
Make yourself at home and speak freely.
2:05
I appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me.
2:08
All right, no problem and thank you for your service also.
2:11
And I want to start off back when you were young as well as
2:15
your teenage years, Where were you born and what was the food
2:19
seen around your household as well as just regular food is And
2:24
when were you introduced to barbecue if you were growing up?
2:29
So I'm originally from Houston, TX and just organically where
2:34
I'm from, the level that you have BBQ is just just really
2:40
high, you know? I come from a family of
2:42
pitmasters. I've been smoking BBQ since I
2:44
was about 8. You know, I got two boys,
2:47
they're 6:00 and 9:00 and you know, they already started
2:50
smoking BBQ as well. We just grew up in the culture
2:54
of kid, kid mastering fire management and things of that
2:57
nature. You know, where I'm from
2:58
originally, again, growing up in Houston, TX, my daddy lived out
3:02
in the country, my mom lived in the city.
3:06
And it was kind of the best of both worlds.
3:08
And it was really brought up around the fundamentals of, of
3:13
fire, you know, it's just, you know, who were his people?
3:17
The family pitmasters you know. OK, OK.
3:21
It was it back then. Was it something that you wanted
3:24
to do or were you made to go out there and learn or how did it
3:27
go? It was again, growing up just
3:32
kind of back in the country. My, my grandfather, you know,
3:37
they, he was always smoking BBQ. I always hung out with him a
3:41
lot. We used to process some animals
3:44
a lot back then. I was, you know, I was like his
3:46
right hand man. So anytime something was going
3:49
on, I naturally just gravitated towards being outside.
3:53
And BBQ is obviously outdoor sport, you know, just being
3:57
outside, hanging out with my family.
4:01
OK. And what kind of pits were they
4:03
cooking on? So we all had 1000 gallons, 1000
4:07
gallon offsets. It's just, it's like the
4:10
standard where I'm from, you know, even if you weren't
4:12
producing, you know, BBQ at a commercial level, just that's
4:16
what everyone had 1000 gallon offset, right?
4:19
Every time we had a family reunion or I mean really any
4:22
good reason, right? It's the weather's nice outside.
4:26
Everybody just showed up, you know, and like, we all throw
4:29
some splits on the fire and, you know, get after it, really.
4:34
So how did the What made your decision to join the Marine
4:38
Corps? So, you know, I, I joke and say,
4:42
you know, shiny buttons, you know, but honestly, I, I played
4:47
football growing up my, my entire like high school career
4:52
and you know, football in Texas is a real big deal.
4:55
Like, even if your team isn't good, you practice like you are,
4:58
you know, and you know that that discipline and, you know,
5:02
rigidness is something that I wanted to continue.
5:06
I wanted to continue on with that.
5:08
And I ended up going to college for about a year.
5:12
And I realized, like, college wasn't necessarily for me at the
5:15
time, I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do, but I knew that
5:23
the discipline and confidence that came from the Marines that
5:26
I saw, I knew I wanted that. So I naturally just gravitated
5:31
towards it. And when you join, were you all
5:36
over the place, over the world, or was you stationed in the US?
5:41
How did that go? So my service is not traditional
5:46
because I was stationed all over the world, right?
5:49
Like I did the embassy security program.
5:53
So we started off in the Marine Corps, you know, just stationed
5:58
on the on the West Coast. And then that's when I really
6:01
got traveling a lot. You know, we're stationed India,
6:04
Brazil, Uganda, and just being stationary and traveling all
6:09
over the world doing, you know, missions, doing security
6:13
embassies across the world. Definitely great experience
6:17
reactivating myself to being stateside.
6:20
It's like when you live overseas for so long, there's like things
6:23
about the United States you forget, like the culture almost,
6:27
right. So just getting reacclimated to
6:30
that. And then I ended up
6:33
commissioning, you know, get finishing my degree, going OCS,
6:38
became a Marine Corps officer, and then getting stationed in
6:41
Hawaii. So we were out there for a while
6:45
in there from Hawaii. We came out here to to Richmond,
6:48
VA and this is where I decided to hang my hat at if you will.
6:54
OK, So what made you choose Virginia?
6:57
Was it something about there? You know, growing up in Texas
7:03
when you know, we used to ride force to the gas station time up
7:06
on a handicap sign, right? Like this is like a true story
7:08
for. So that's like how I grew up.
7:12
And then, you know, obviously like 20 years later, I like go
7:17
back to visit Houston and it's like a completely different
7:21
place, right? All the pastures are gone, all
7:24
the cows are gone. There's like apartments
7:26
everywhere. The culture is different because
7:28
there are a lot of transplants. So like the way we grew up, it
7:31
wasn't the same culture. You know, I would have to the
7:36
the ropes, if you will. And then I, you know, I'm out
7:40
here in Richmond. It's a smaller city and it kind
7:42
of reminded me of what, you know, Houston kind of used to
7:45
be. Definitely.
7:48
So I'm not, you know, it is the South, right?
7:51
But they're like cultural aspects of growing up Southern
7:55
that Richmond doesn't necessarily have, but it is
7:58
still the South, right? But it was so small, you know,
8:02
and you can just kind of skirt around the city like real, real
8:05
fast where it's like back in Houston, you can get stuck in
8:08
traffic the two hours at any time of day.
8:11
You know, 10 in the morning, 10 at night, 2 in the morning,
8:14
Who's going places at 2:00 in the morning, right?
8:16
It's traffic bumper to bumper. I was like, man, so we, we were
8:20
out here and the family, you know, we started growing some
8:24
roots. My children started getting a
8:25
little bit older. They made some friends and I was
8:29
just kind of tired of moving, you know, we got a, a nice place
8:32
out here and I'm like, you know, this is, it seems very much like
8:36
home. OK, OK, well, I'm from Atlanta,
8:40
so I know what the traffic's like.
8:42
So it anytime of day because I get up for work at 3:45 and
8:48
heavy traffic out there to Yeah. So this, yeah, and like you
8:53
said, it's people gradually selling land off and selling
8:56
land off and there's less and less trees and it's it's
9:01
becoming ridiculous that amount of apartments, they're like, how
9:05
many people out there buying houses and stuff like that?
9:07
Do they keep cutting down everything?
9:10
So it's definitely wow. So as far as you going all over
9:15
the world, were there any BBQ out in different places where
9:20
you went? So I'm glad you asked.
9:23
So the way people do me, like when I was out in India, it's
9:30
like a lot of open fire sounds of open fire stuff, right?
9:34
Which, you know, grip like the aspect of who I am, you know,
9:40
especially in the Marine Corps, everywhere you go is always
9:44
going to be like the guy who's like, he's the grilling dude.
9:48
That was me. I was always, my whole life,
9:51
everywhere I went, every party I went to, I used to keep a travel
9:54
case of like barbecue. And it got to the point where
10:00
like no one had to ask me. They just knew.
10:02
Everyone knew when I showed up, I was going to be the guy to do
10:05
this. Then, you know, you went to
10:06
Brazil and they have like today's video, tons of like open
10:11
fire stuff there and Uganda had ironically like, like they had
10:17
AI gotta admit, I I mean, he beat me, you know, but in my own
10:22
defense, behind his restaurant, he's growing the herbs that he
10:26
uses in the and he's doing like on the table, like there's like
10:30
pigs and then and customers, you know, so you could like pick.
10:35
I don't want that one, right. And like they processing
10:38
everything there. And it's, it's really good too.
10:41
So we, I got experience too. A lot of different stuff house a
10:47
lot of different ways that people are, you know, doing
10:50
their processing, how they're thinking, food from, you know,
10:53
live animals, processing the animal to plating it and lots of
10:58
experience there in different cultures the way they do it.
11:01
And I think, you know, honestly that influenced the way, you
11:04
know, that we do a lot of of our own processes now.
11:09
OK, OK. Yeah, that's a big difference
11:11
between fresh animals and ones we pull at the store.
11:15
It's like a great difference and a lot of people don't know
11:18
because for those that don't go out the country and stuff, it's
11:22
totally different than here because you don't see many cans
11:27
being open and stuff like that. Everything is fresh over there
11:31
that they eat and not from cans or bags and stuff like that.
11:36
And it's a total different atmosphere and there was
11:40
different countries and you can see how we're spoiled over here
11:44
versus over there. And as far as the food that we
11:48
eat, and you can tell that by the size of our refrigerators
11:52
and stuff like that, we're bigger than other countries.
11:55
The refrigerators are not that big because they didn't not
11:59
sitting there holding groceries in the refrigerator.
12:01
A lot of stuff is fresh. So it makes a big difference.
12:06
This transition to how did you, first of all, how long did you
12:09
stay in the military? How many years?
12:11
A. Little over 20 years.
12:16
Oh wow, that's a long time. Alright, so as you retired, what
12:22
made you go into wanting to be an entrepreneur?
12:26
So that was like, it's always just been who I am, right?
12:30
The creativity and ability to to be a creator, right?
12:33
Like they're producers and consumers come from a family of
12:37
like producers. Like we make stuff.
12:42
And as I like get ready to retire.
12:47
I actually opened up my restaurant right before I
12:50
retired. I run it really like trying to
12:52
capture like what is like, you know, the the value of hard work
12:57
because I was really at the Nexus of do I wanna stay at home
13:03
and do nothing, right? Like just to be honest, like
13:05
people have to stay at home, do nothing kind of was an option.
13:09
And the issue I had with that is, you know, what kind of
13:12
example am I going to be right? Because my children were too
13:15
young to see the late nights, the early mornings, the
13:19
deployment cycle, the, you know, you know, pursue the easier path
13:25
is like someone that's not being very productive.
13:28
And I think that was travesty. The hard work is what makes
13:32
people value be someone who's like doesn't do anything and
13:36
then, you know, contribute to society.
13:38
So to do something and then thinking about it, I was like,
13:44
I'm gonna, I want to do something.
13:47
What would I do for free? So if I was not at all for
13:52
anything I did, would I still do it?
13:55
And I was like, only things I really got like that is like,
13:59
you know, smoking barbecue and, you know.
14:02
That's. The principles and the pillars
14:05
that the restaurant is founded on, the things that important to
14:08
me. I want to praise Jesus, I want
14:10
to help people, I want to build buildings, I want to smoke BBQ.
14:13
I was like, those are going to be my 4 things.
14:16
That's and I always, you know, endeavor because everywhere I
14:23
got stationed in Marine Corps, you know, there and then a
14:27
renovating property, you know, you know, if I renovate rent and
14:31
like we're we're like keeping steady to that.
14:34
So we got like quite a few like residential real estate
14:37
holdings. The portfolio had got to the
14:39
point where, like again, the kids wouldn't necessarily see
14:43
like mom and dad out there, you know, pulling up floors and
14:48
breaking up tile and you know, we're plumbing like, you know,
14:52
we kind of trying to beyond that point.
14:54
I was like, you know, I need to like what homework looks like.
14:57
I love smoking BBQ. This is going to be one of the
15:00
things that I'm going to do. And if I never made a dollar
15:03
from it, I would truly enjoy it. Because like, you know when God
15:09
asked. Me in.
15:11
Nature I sponsored a Virginia War Memorial official sponsor.
15:15
Those guys I got a contract for providing all their for the next
15:21
five years and Christmas and tons of other things, right,
15:24
like not to our own horn, but like on topic in nature.
15:28
So I was like it's going to be the way I can do that.
15:31
And obviously if it's a business, the intention is to
15:34
make to be profitable, right. It also just gives us gives us
15:38
the latitude to truly bless people really everywhere we go
15:42
because everyone isn't going to want to buy a car.
15:45
Everyone isn't going to want to, you know, get into a real estate
15:48
syndication, but everybody's going to eat.
15:50
So that'll be, you know, the medium I use to share my gift
15:54
with the world. So that's kind of how we came to
15:56
that. Yeah, that's definitely true.
15:59
I mean, it's like I, I do this and if I never get any money
16:04
from it, I'm fine with that because I love barbecue and I
16:08
love the people that I meet out in the BBQ world where I go to
16:12
competitions or go to classes or anything like that.
16:15
It's just a good community to me.
16:17
And it's like right now I'm doing it for free.
16:21
So if it happens to be that way, I mean, it's, I'm fine with it,
16:27
but I know it, it in the long run it, it reaches a lot of
16:31
people and it motivates a lot of people.
16:34
So I'm, I don't do it just only for me.
16:37
I love the the people I talk to and the stories, but I also want
16:42
to help other people and motivate other people and boost
16:47
them into where they need to go. And like you're doing it.
16:50
It's like you say you're doing for free and that's the way
16:55
you're supposed to go into doing things.
16:58
If you'll do it for free, you're doing it for the community and
17:00
other people. And God sees your heart and
17:03
blesses you in the midst of that.
17:05
And it's showing off by the results that you have from what
17:10
you're doing. So so do you have a food truck
17:15
or do you have a stationary restaurant?
17:19
So here. So here we go.
17:21
I would do it. I would do it for free.
17:24
But we're we're here. We're here to be profitable.
17:27
So the way the evolution of this restaurant worked, I started off
17:31
in a rented space, ghost kitchen style.
17:34
So everything and was like, and when we opened up, I didn't know
17:40
any rest ownership, right. I knew that I smoked the best
17:45
barbecue around, hands down. Can't beaten BBQ is one of those
17:49
things can't fake it right. Like doesn't matter if you're in
17:52
a hurry, doesn't matter. You know what type of money
17:57
you're throwing at it. Did you go directly?
18:03
No. So we we started off in that in
18:06
that ghost kitchen and rent was pretty expensive just to be
18:09
honest and I was like, man, I need to own I need to like first
18:14
I need to control what my expenditures are and lower my
18:17
overhead because when we first opened I was like losing money
18:21
at a rapid pace. You know real estate's easy like
18:24
ones and zeros, right like I purchased at this price service.
18:28
This is very simple. Restaurant ownership is like
18:32
especially while I feel active duty.
18:35
But then I thermometer on my pit.
18:38
You know, the first pit that we built was a style surf naval
18:42
gunship plasma set out the baffles welded to a trailer with
18:46
my buddy. You know, fire management,
18:48
right, and teaching people that craft and like customer service
18:53
and their assistant was very cool.
18:55
So I was like, you know, the next endeavor I need to make
18:58
sure that I control my overhead. It was 250 gallons.
19:02
What we started off with, I used to drive around with just 250
19:05
gallon pit and people would always say stuff like, oh, you
19:08
got a little, you got a little food truck.
19:10
We got a little look at you got a little restaurant and you
19:13
know, I'm from Texas. I'm I pick up.
19:15
So I ended up I had a monster truck.
19:19
I've seen I've seen you some pictures of it afterwards, but
19:21
six door 40 inch lifted at 3:50 on 50 forwards, right crazy.
19:28
So like like the the, the the truck.
19:31
And then I was like, I need a you know, I'm sending to build a
19:35
food trailer. So I built a food trailer around
19:37
the truck. It's 40 feet long shipping
19:40
container, you know, 1000 gallon offset and the, the long the
19:46
food trailer lets down to a patio.
19:50
We can like pull up, open up the trailer and it's 1000 gallon
19:53
offset and trailer. So now when it snows, it just
19:57
let the door up. And that came from where at the
19:59
previous restaurant I was sitting out there and cold, it
20:03
was snowing. I was sitting there.
20:06
Outside like watching my pit freezing and I was like, you
20:09
know, I've been cold with hungry a long time.
20:12
You know, I was like, how am I cold and hungry in the
20:14
restaurant? We got to do better.
20:16
So, you know, we designing this food trailer where now you ain't
20:20
got to sit out and rain no more, you know?
20:25
So how you got the exhaust going through the the shipping
20:28
container? Through, Yep, through the roof.
20:31
So the it's two stories, so you can walk with a spiral staircase
20:37
and there's like a top floor, you know, and then we got things
20:42
off that going through the top. That's how cool and innovative
20:47
too, because I've never heard of it.
20:49
That's that's a good idea, though.
20:52
So the people you have working for you when the people that you
20:56
know or just random folks that you had the interview.
21:02
So at the beginning, the downfall was because all working
21:09
with Marines, right, Because you get used to saying go do this,
21:14
yes, Sir. And like that you're going to
21:17
get this thing that you told people to do, you know, and this
21:21
is my first experience really dealing with civilians.
21:25
And I will leave directions and they people would just would
21:29
not, they just wouldn't do it. But in like a, the quality of
21:34
the product I was getting was, just was, was very low at the
21:37
beginning. And a lot of it obviously was my
21:40
probability because the people I used to work with in the Marine
21:44
Corps, you know, just expect like a certain level of output,
21:47
right? Everyone's, you know, working
21:48
very diligently towards the same mission where in the pavilion
21:52
world be paid by the hour. So what's the incentive for them
21:55
to complete tasks? It really wasn't an incentive
21:58
because you get paid by the hour.
22:00
So there was that piece and then so here's the other piece.
22:03
I hired some people to be I didn't know, you know, the same
22:07
man. They dressed apart going OK, We
22:10
went to the interview that it worked out and I always needed
22:14
help. So, and, and I started like some
22:18
people are working with me were like on house, right?
22:22
I was like, how can I affect this?
22:24
I can't say the whole world, like you could say somebody's
22:26
world, right? Some someone individual's world.
22:30
So we ended up like getting a gym membership and telling them
22:35
like, Hey, listen, you know, go to the gym, work out, do your
22:39
thing, shower at the gym before you come to work, just to make
22:43
sure like they're clean, right? Like make sure you always do
22:45
your laundry. These happen, you know, for
22:47
like, I think purposes, you know.
22:50
So. When you start hiring people
22:52
where the business is slower, businesses is fast, people are
22:55
dependent on you to like pay their bills.
22:57
And then they're like, again, there are other people that are
22:59
dependent on you to continue to pay your rent at the restaurant
23:01
because some of them ended up like working overnight just so
23:05
they have a place to be, You know, especially in the winter
23:08
time, because we had a couple real bad winters out here.
23:12
And it was like, we had one employee and like, do the thing
23:17
that he wants to do, right? Like, you know, scraping pans
23:21
deep in the red if I do it. And then he was like, you know,
23:24
boss, I, you know, I don't even care how the fuck at first he's
23:27
like, you're grateful every penny matters in the beginning.
23:30
And then you're like, why are you staying?
23:33
Why are you staying there? And then when I had him to come
23:36
back and he was like, we had a conversation about that.
23:38
And he was like, you know, I don't have anywhere to live.
23:41
So as a result, I was like, hey, listen man, you got every
23:46
overnight shift, you know, tennis, fire, make sure I ended
23:50
up like getting some, getting some, you know, so tell what the
23:53
temperature was, the pigtail, what the temperature was 'cause
23:57
everybody couldn't just, you know, know, But we started
24:00
giving, giving those dudes some like overnight stuff because it
24:03
was like snowing and sleeping. And the more I did that, the
24:07
more I realized like, I'm like very loyal.
24:10
But then nature of like there's circumstances, some of them just
24:14
disappear, right, like this show up one day and then just I know
24:18
where they went. You know, some of them were like
24:20
transient and just making sure that we maintain, you know,
24:25
obviously the food quality was the thing, right, Because when
24:28
we start talking like the health department is everybody they
24:32
doing that they need to do that, you know, obviously was very
24:35
important, but just realizing what they're capable because we
24:38
were take out only in the beginning.
24:41
You know, you had to be a pit master, you had to be a line
24:44
cook, you had to be able to bring food to the front.
24:46
We didn't have like a ton of front of house responsibilities,
24:49
but it was this very demanding environment.
24:52
So we were kind of going through people at a pretty rapid pace
24:56
for a while until we found like a team that has some synergy.
25:00
I, you know, started to understand what my
25:02
responsibility was better as the owner and the restaurant
25:06
manager. You know, the better I
25:07
performed, the better I was. People look like I went together
25:11
and you know, we ended up finishing out that lease, did a
25:15
couple of events, and then transitioned over into a new
25:18
restaurant. Like we built A-Team and now I
25:20
knew what I needed, right? Like I knew I needed a chef.
25:24
I knew I needed like very specific functions to, to
25:27
complement my own skill set. So we we hired to that.
25:32
OK. And did you have somebody
25:34
teaching you a lot, coaching you along the way, or did you just
25:36
have to figure all this out on your own?
25:40
Smart people learn from their mistakes.
25:41
Wise people learn from the mistakes of others.
25:43
And the more I started to, to research this because I was
25:47
like, I understand, like I will do I do this for free.
25:49
But like, how do I make this sustainable?
25:52
Because at one point I was working 105 hours a week.
25:55
Me Jesus, black coffee, red mansion tobacco.
25:58
So 105 hours a week is a real number.
26:01
People that haven't put those types of numbers in, they don't
26:04
think that it's real. Like they don't understand what
26:07
it's like when you're, you can't come home.
26:09
Your kid, my kid had to come see me at the restaurant.
26:12
I was there before sunup there after I got off work just
26:16
figuring out a way to do that better.
26:19
And the more I delved into like the skill sets I needed, I
26:24
figured out what what my surfaces and gaps were like.
26:27
What am I strong at? What am I weak at?
26:30
And I started hiring to my weaknesses and people that were
26:33
like very structured and very rigid.
26:35
They had a background in the culinary industry.
26:38
And we were able to like, like really get blessed and find what
26:43
we needed. And could you run us through one
26:47
of those 100 hour weeks, one of those days how everything that
26:52
you have to do because a lot of people don't really know what
26:56
all goes into selling food like that because there's a whole
27:01
part before you open up the truck, it started selling.
27:05
Could you just run through real quickly just some of the stuff
27:08
that goes into that? For sure wake up at 4:00 in the
27:13
morning, get all your stuff ready to because I again, I was
27:16
still active duty at this time. So we're getting up at 4:00 in
27:19
the morning, getting over to the restaurant, making sure that all
27:23
your sides are prepped, all your sauces are prepped.
27:26
And this is like stuff that you have to have.
27:29
But it was the thing that weren't directly generating
27:33
income. So I couldn't like at that time
27:36
afford to have labor do it because we weren't making the
27:40
money to make it to justify it. Filling sauce cups, making sure
27:45
that all of the things are put in their location for our Coho
27:49
stuff, make sure it's in the making sure that it's in the its
27:54
proper location in the refrigerator, labeled date time,
27:57
produce all that size and stuff like that, right.
28:00
And then making sure that all your, your BBQ that's that's
28:05
going on, it's prepped, it's ready because at that time I was
28:08
opening the restaurant at 5:30 PM, right?
28:10
So I'm there at 4:30 AM getting all this stuff ready.
28:16
It's seasoned, it's in the walk in.
28:19
It's been marinating the, and we have that rotation is marinating
28:24
like 4 hours, right? So making sure that all that's
28:26
being rotated so we know what's supposed to go on.
28:29
Then we would have like a crew come on at lunch because then
28:32
when all that changed and I'm going, I'm going to work in the
28:35
Marine Corps. They're starting the fire, doing
28:36
all, all the things they needed to do in that aspect, making
28:39
sure, you know, last minute, you know, necessity is stocked and
28:42
then the everything is put on a smoker, right.
28:45
So then I get off work at 4:00 at 4:30 I'm changing over,
28:50
putting on my BBQ gear, heading straight to the restaurant and
28:54
you know, we're closing down at midnight.
28:56
So after we close it at midnight, starting to clean up
29:00
and like by by that time and I'm there till midnight right now.
29:05
Mind you, I'm I got to get back up at 4:00 in the morning.
29:07
It's like 3 hours of sleep every day for a long time.
29:10
For a long time, man, it was, it was rough.
29:15
Yeah, that's wow. How long did it take you to get
29:18
the people working for you standards up to as far as 'cause
29:22
there's a difference between you cooking and then you having
29:26
somebody else to cook your product.
29:27
How long did it take the for them to make the product at
29:31
least close to what you're doing?
29:34
So it took six months to like 6 months and a lot of oversight,
29:43
right? And it was like a lot of, you
29:45
know, OK, I started it when it gets to this temperature, right?
29:50
Like you start, if you come out, dip down below that, you know,
29:53
just really being forced to because I just, you know, find a
29:56
way, right? And that's what we did.
29:58
And they would like call me and like, OK, so this is what the
30:01
temperature is at right now. And I'm like, OK, all you got to
30:03
do, open the damper, add 1 block of wood.
30:06
And then I had a cowboy hat. We fanned the fire with a little
30:09
bit to make sure the fire catch. And we don't get like no dirty
30:12
smoke out there. And like, all right, just fan a
30:14
little bit. I could like look at it and tell
30:16
that was my, my gift, right? I was like, let me all right,
30:18
let me see the exhaust. OK.
30:20
Are you burning blue? We good.
30:21
All right, just keep it right there.
30:23
Come out and check it every 10 minutes.
30:25
Yeah, I know when you leave. I know in your head you probably
30:29
like, are they doing what they're supposed to do and all
30:31
that because you're leaving your dream in somebody else's hands
30:36
while you're gone and believing in them that they're going to do
30:40
what they're supposed to do and keep up the standards and stuff
30:43
like that. Let's run through your menu some
30:46
of the things you have on your menu because I know I seen some
30:49
unique things on there. But can you run through some of
30:51
the stuff on your menu? Absolutely, I got smoked beef
30:57
Dino ribs which is a a fan favorite.
31:00
Smoked beef short ribs, pork ribs, smoke reverse eared lamb
31:05
chops, whole alligators. We smoked those legs that smoked
31:12
Mac and cheese, candy yams, collard greens.
31:17
Fan favorite is our Triple B. It's a brisket.
31:22
Which is. Like a our take on baked beans
31:25
is great. It's real good.
31:27
So and the brisket sandwich is pork sandwiches, coleslaw,
31:34
potato salad, rinskin, potato salad.
31:38
So and then there's like the things that we do like steamship
31:42
Round, which is a colleague. We got those as well.
31:47
And really as we continue to evolve, it's like doing things
31:53
that are just unique. We're going to have some smoke
31:55
rattlesnake coming up pretty soon and just I got 1000 gallon
32:00
smoker it I I can generally just smoke just about anything I want
32:04
on it. So at some point, like in the
32:06
near future, we're probably going to have a whole ostrich on
32:09
there things. Where y'all getting these
32:12
ostriches stuff from? Yeah, I got a butcher.
32:16
I got a. Buddy I got a buddy of mine who
32:19
owns the ostrich farm also a a marine so he owns the ostrich
32:24
farm and I'm getting them from him.
32:27
So how does ostrich meat taste? Is it gamey or does it taste
32:32
like chicken or pork? It could be gamey, but this is
32:37
the process we take it through cleaning it, seasoning it,
32:40
marinating it. Once we take it on that long
32:43
smoke ride, by the time we come out on the other end, like you
32:45
won't taste any anything gamey like we in the industry.
32:50
It's a lot of things that you can see.
32:52
There's people like our pitmasters.
32:53
It's like, oh, that's overcooked or this that.
32:56
But at the end of the day, you got to produce the type of food
32:58
that your cut your customers like and there'll be things that
33:02
they don't know that they like that you'll introduce them to.
33:04
Like when I when I hit them with the alligator, I'm from Texas.
33:08
We eat alligator all the time. Like we right next to Louisiana,
33:11
but out here on the East Coast, that is not what they do out
33:13
here until I got here. So just introducing them to it
33:17
really. Yeah, I mean, a lot of people is
33:20
used to certain stuff. So a lot of people to be honest
33:23
is used to overcook food. They think they say the tender
33:28
stuff, but if you overcook it, it's going to fall off the bone.
33:31
But there's a place between cooking it just right and
33:35
overcooking it. And people don't know that.
33:37
But if you used to eating one thing, it's always it's going to
33:40
be good to you because that's what you used to.
33:42
And by people like you and other pit masters that know how to do
33:46
it correctly, they introduced them to how it's done correctly
33:52
and how it's supposed to taste. And then they'd be like, OK,
33:55
when they go somewhere else because me, I go somewhere all
33:58
the time, be like, yeah, this ain't this ain't this brisket
34:00
ain't good. Everybody swearing this is good,
34:03
this is right. If you didn't have some of the
34:06
brisket I didn't have, this ain't it.
34:09
I agree and it's oh, at the end of the day, it is making sure
34:15
that your customers enjoyed it. You make something you feel this
34:19
is the your your customer base doesn't enjoy it and what are
34:23
you really doing right? So it's starting that balance.
34:26
I want to introduce some of the things that they're not familiar
34:28
with, but I'm doing it slowly and it and like they're starting
34:32
to trust me, right, like my customers, but I tell them like,
34:36
Hey, look, I'm gonna let you sample it for free.
34:38
Like I don't know, but I mean, the last thing they had was real
34:43
good. But at the end of the day, like
34:45
I said, it's introducing it slowly and making sure that the
34:49
customers and really, truly enjoy what they get.
34:52
Because at the end of the day, that's what we're here for, is
34:54
to put a smile on folks face, make sure they leave these they
34:58
cared about. They got full bellies, full
35:01
spirits. That's what we do, yeah.
35:05
Definitely, definitely. That's what we tell you.
35:07
Do it for the people and what they think about you.
35:10
That's you could think your BBQ is good, but hearing it from
35:14
somebody else is the ultimate compliment you.
35:17
You can tell yourself all day, that's your stuff.
35:19
Everybody think that BBQ is good, but it takes other people
35:22
to tell you BBQ is good to stamp that that that thought of
35:27
yourself. So it is definitely true.
35:29
Who's going? To put in you exactly and.
35:34
And so how do you go ahead? I was going to say.
35:37
Let me look look back at the reviews.
35:41
Our customers are very loyal. But like I tell folks, if I, if
35:44
I see one of BBQ, I get people when I meet them, I tell them
35:48
like, this is gonna be the best barbecue you ever had in your
35:50
life. And like people think that I'm
35:53
playing and I'm like, I do this professionally.
35:58
Like I understand, like a lot of people smoke fool, but sometimes
36:03
I'm like great. So like, and I'm not knocking
36:05
anybody, right, like perfecting their craft and there's a
36:07
difference between smoking £100 a week one time times, right,
36:12
because to really be considered the craft, right.
36:19
So just producing that that very, very high quality,
36:22
consistently understanding like what?
36:26
Like have we ever had a bad? I have, right?
36:31
Did I learn from that? I did.
36:32
And make sure that we input into the system and processes to make
36:35
sure like that doesn't happen again because especially at the
36:38
beginning stages, they are the constraints.
36:42
They're time time constraints. Great.
36:45
I've had it generated power. Go out, out lost.
36:50
Propane the line got messed up right?
36:53
Like all the things but at the. End of the day.
36:56
Can you produce a high quality product better than the next
37:01
closest thing the customer has ever had, regardless of what
37:04
constraints you're going through?
37:05
Because they don't care. Oh, why does the power go out in
37:08
your food trailer? Like no one cares.
37:09
They paid you to get a a high quality level food.
37:13
So that's the responsibility, the burden of ownership.
37:16
Yeah, it's definitely true, 'cause.
37:18
It's it's a lot to go into. It is that people don't think of
37:22
as well as serving the food, but you got the equipment and having
37:27
to do stock as well as the payroll and all this other
37:31
stuff. Do your wife and kids help out
37:34
or anything? As far as the restaurant or
37:36
anything? For sure.
37:38
So at the last location, like my wife is like part of the
37:43
lunchtime crew. You know, she, she, she has a
37:46
cleaning service and she would come in and be clean my
37:49
restaurant every day. And she, she did for like a year
37:52
and until we finally got staffed to the point where like we
37:54
didn't necessarily need her to do that.
37:56
And my kids, they're pit masters in training.
37:59
They got shirts like they're doing fire management, also
38:03
doing like hope hosting. So they're greeting customers
38:06
and not right now 'cause it's winter time, but come spring,
38:09
summer, they're like seating customers, entertaining them
38:13
'cause they're like, they're like they're characters.
38:17
They they really are. And they're really good at it
38:19
too. So we have our flagship right
38:20
now which are 40 foot and every franchise will have a 40 foot, a
38:24
20 foot and a 10 foot food trailer and that'll be 1
38:27
franchise unit. So the way we're looking to grow
38:30
is 20 franchises over the next 10 years.
38:34
And then I'm going to sell the. Then I'm going to sell a
38:37
business that's like our path and if I sell it to my children,
38:40
that's up to them if they want to buy it from me.
38:43
If they don't, then I'm going to sell it either way.
38:45
And like, we just keep my flagship here and making sure
38:48
that they understand every, every aspect of the business
38:52
because I'm mop floors, I do dishes and they'll grow up in
38:56
the business. They'll be so familiar with it
38:58
in the next 5 years. Like they'll be able to like run
39:01
the line by themselves, right? Because we do this every day.
39:05
So the kids definitely are still going to be a huge part of it.
39:11
Kind of I did it for them. So at the end of the day, my
39:14
children won't need to like, go ask somebody for a job, whatever
39:18
their skill set is, I'm going. To make sure they have a place
39:21
in the. Company to do that like the
39:23
whole philosophy on the back end of this it's a creative vision
39:27
so big that everyone's dreams can fit inside of it right?
39:31
Success is a team sport regardless of what your function
39:33
is. I'm going to make sure that you
39:35
can fulfill your wildest dream and still have that nested
39:38
within my dream right. So we're all still pulling in
39:42
the same direction, their synergy and we're all, we're all
39:45
aligned in that nature, OK. And what's your favorite meat to
39:49
cook? My favorite thing to cook, beef
39:54
ribs, hands down. Love it again from Texas.
39:57
We're big beef cattle guys out there.
39:59
And ironically, like I can't even eat a lot of the things I
40:04
cook just because I I produce it at such a high volume and I have
40:08
for so long, like I can't eat my pork ribs.
40:11
I just can't and. I like keep certain seasons that
40:15
I don't use in the restaurant and I keep those seasons because
40:19
it'll make it different. That way I'll be able to eat it.
40:22
But like I can always eat brisket and beef ribs every
40:27
time. Like I it's always going to be
40:28
like very near and dear to my heart.
40:31
Oh yes. Oh yeah, definitely.
40:33
Alright, and where do you see dress blue barbecue in the next
40:38
five years? Glad you asked.
40:42
So our. Our target.
40:45
Demographic is not actually Richmond.
40:48
We're here we did some testing here.
40:51
We're definitely going to go international.
40:54
So in the next 5 years, we definitely will be for sure.
40:57
We're already kind of broaching that, that that portion right
41:00
now we, we partner with a company called Hot Logic.
41:04
So Hot Logic creates thermal lunch boxes.
41:08
So we're not just giving like frozen dinners and like frozen,
41:13
frozen meals. We're given like a complete
41:16
solution. So we, we just finished up
41:19
shooting the commercial for that actually.
41:21
So we got that out there and we're getting ready to start
41:24
pushing that. So we'll have frozen, frozen
41:26
meals to coincide with our our franchise model and that's going
41:33
to that's going to take us that's going to take us
41:35
overseas. OK, so.
41:37
At the end of the. Day, when we looked at it, it's
41:40
not about getting 10% of the market in which we reside, it's
41:44
about getting 10% of the global market.
41:47
Yeah, that's when it starts with.
41:48
The game plan definitely you got it together, so I wish you the
41:52
best of luck on that. I'm going to play a quick game
41:55
on with you to play on every episode and get you out of here.
42:00
In college basketball, they have a tournament.
42:02
So what I did is a tournament bracket of 16 meats that you
42:05
cook on the grill. Tell me which one that you like
42:09
the most and we'll keep going through the tournament, but I
42:13
pretty much know where it's going to end up at all right?
42:15
Round one is lamb versus brisket.
42:19
Oh, that's. Man, that's you going to start
42:22
off with the sixth goal. So I'm still I'm a that's
42:26
actually a very hard one, but I'm going to I'm going to differ
42:29
in my brisket. All right, smoked.
42:31
Ham versus sausage. Sausage.
42:36
Smoked sausage. Alright.
42:38
Smoked Turkey versus beef ribs. Beef ribs, Alright, next one is
42:45
BBQ shrimp versus hamburger. BBQ shrimp OK Pork chop versus
42:51
smoked chicken. Smoked chicken OK.
42:58
Smoked Bologna versus pork ribs. Pork ribs OK hot dog versus pork
43:08
belly. Pork belly.
43:12
OK. And steak versus burnt ends
43:18
steak. OK.
43:20
Next round, brisket versus sausage Brisket.
43:26
All right, beef ribs versus shrimp.
43:30
Beef ribs. Right chicken versus.
43:32
Pork ribs. Smoked chicken OK.
43:37
And pork belly. Versus steak steak.
43:41
All right, Final four. Briskets and beef ribs.
43:47
Beef ribs. All right.
43:50
Chicken versus steak, Steak OK And steak versus beef ribs.
43:59
Beef ribs is the winner. Yeah, I.
44:02
Already knew what the winner. Was it was just fun getting
44:04
there? All right, I.
44:08
Appreciate you coming on the show.
44:10
Your therapy session is over. If you can give any website or
44:15
any shout outs or anything you want to promote, you can
44:17
definitely do that at this time, absolutely.
44:20
Our website is dress blue BBQ feel free to check us out there.
44:25
We got merch on there and you can also follow us on Instagram
44:28
and TikTok. Dress blue BBQ.
44:31
Yeah, I saw the picture of your. Truck I was like that bug is
44:35
huge. Yeah, we just be tipped on.
44:41
Well, I can get like. 2 miles a gallon 3. 3 miles a gallon.
44:48
Wow. But I definitely appreciate you
44:52
coming on the show and giving your story and sharing your
44:54
time. It was definitely good
44:56
information that you gave out. But I'm definitely going to
44:59
check back with you and if I ever get in that area again,
45:02
because I actually, let's see, I think I went Virginia to a
45:05
class. But if I ever come around the
45:08
area, I'm going to definitely come check you out though.
45:11
Absolutely always welcome, brother.
45:13
But also if. You get got a couple of pictures
45:16
of the restaurant. I love this.
45:17
You can text them to you got my number, but send me a couple of
45:20
pictures. I want to see how it look.
45:21
It's a very interesting concept, so I would definitely like to
45:24
see how it look. Absolutely.
45:28
All right, but I know. We'll see everybody next
45:30
episode. I built something onto my
45:32
podcast that every BBQ brand should be a part of.
45:35
It's called the BBQ Therapy Smoke Showdown Bracket 16 meets.
45:40
You cook on the grill, go head to head and every guest picks
45:43
their winner. It's one of the most engaging
45:46
parts of the show. Every guest plays and every
45:49
listener loves it. Because No2 brackets are the
45:51
same. Now I'm opening it up for a
45:54
presenting sponsor, meaning your brand becomes part of the
45:57
segment. Every single show.
46:00
This isn't just an ad, this becomes part of the show.
46:04
And if you're interested, reach out to Tavis Bryant at
46:07
barbecuetherapypodcast@gmail.com. Thank you.
46:11
Thank you for joining us for another therapy session.
46:15
And remember, like, follow and subscribe to help the BBQ
46:18
Therapy community and also visit our website at
46:21
www.barbecuetherapypodcast.com.