Operation BBQ Relief is feeding Kansas Citians in need
Operation BBQ Relief, one of the nation’s largest barbecue non-profits, has served more than 3 million meals to communities in need since 2011. So it should come as no surprise the organization is stepping up during the coronavirus era to provide food and aid for affected families in their own unique way.
OBR recently created a new pilot program called Operation Restaurant Relief that’s designed to help both BBQ restaurants and people with food insecurity. The program partners with a restaurant so it can both rehire some laid off workers and cook meals for people in the community, including seniors, the immunocompromised, homeless, laid off workers, and front-line workers. Funding comes from individual donations and/or grants from corporations or governments.
“The idea is to stand up a restaurant with some financial support, then they can bring back employees to prepare the meals and we provide the food for them,” Operation BBQ Relief CEO and Co-Founder Stan Hays told The Smoke Sheet. “The program is built on a two-week schedule. It gets reviewed every two weeks to see if it gets extended.”
Operation BBQ Relief has launched a pilot program to feed people during COVID-19. (Photo by Operation BBQ Relief)
The Operation Restaurant Relief program began about two weeks ago in Kansas City, with Plowboys Barbeque as the first restaurant partner. Plowboys owner Todd Johns said it was incredibly sad to lay off 40 of his workers following mandated shut-downs in Kansas City, so he jumped at the opportunity to work with OBR. Johns was able to re-hire six workers.
“This was a small answer to some big prayers,” Johns said. “We were able to bring six back, but that is six less that are wondering about what they are going to do about money and taking care of their families. Hopefully it can lead to more.”
This new OBR program helps restaurants like KC’s Plowboys BBQ re-hire some of its workers. (Photo by Operation BBQ Relief)
Since launching, the program has served more than 35,000 free meals to people in need, including front-line medical workers, first responders, and the homeless.
Johns said it was quite a transition to move from serving 400 meals a day normally at his Overland Park restaurant to 2,500 meals a day with the Operation Restaurant Relief Program.
“There’s been a lot of fast and furious movement and everyone is trying to figure out how to transition from the OBR deployments we know to virtual deployments,” Johns said. “We aren’t used to this type of volume, and we’ve got new proteins and sides we’re working with. The biggest challenge we’ve had was actually building distribution channels, but we’re figuring it out as we go.”
OBR CEO Stan Hays has done a lot for the communities all over the country since 2011. (Photo by Sean Ludwig)
Feeding Kansas City was just the start of the program. OBR recently announced it would be launching new efforts in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh by working in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services. OBR hopes to provide more than 180,000 meals per week throughout Pennsylvania.
“We are looking to stand up more restaurants as the funding comes in,” Hays said. “This is something that is scalable and it’s going to scale as long as the funding is coming in."
Todd Johns of Plowboys Barbeque poses with meals made for Operation Restaurant Relief. (Photo by Plowboys BBQ)
Johns feels strongly about the long-term potential of the program, given that this could be a template for virtual deployments far into the future.
“We have to believe that something like this could happen again, where our country is shut down for some reason,” Johns said. “Having this in OBR’s toolkit and being able to deploy this across the country gives them another way they can operate.”
If you would like to donate to the Operation Restaurant Relief, you can donate on Operation BBQ Relief’s GoFundMe here.
Sean Ludwig (NYC BBQ)
Co-Founder, The Smoke Sheet
Here are the top recent barbecue news stories from around the country:
The Pit Master Special for two people from Krazy Steve’s in Silver Spring, Md. (Photo by Deb Lindsey)
Tim Carman of the Washington Post recently wrote about barbecue restaurants such as Federalist Pig and Krazy Steve’s Comfort Cuisine in the Washington D.C. area, noting that they are providing reassurance and familiarity during the COVID-19 pandemic. He writes, “sinking my teeth into a spare rib, with its tickle of wood smoke in the nostrils, has been an unmistakable comfort of late.”
Pork producer Smithfield Foods was forced to close its pork processing plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota due to a coronavirus outbreak. 238 employees were diagnosed with the virus, representing over half of the cases in the state. The plant is one of the largest pork processing facilities in the nation and the company warns of potential shortages of meat during the pandemic.
In response to the challenging times we are currently facing, Texas Monthly is offering free access to their online content, including their barbecue coverage, for the remainder of 2020. Recent stories you should check out include:
Daniel Vaughn wrote about the Paycheck Protection Program included in the $2 trillion CARES Act recently passed by Congress and how many barbecue restaurant owners are struggling to understand the rules.
He has continued writing about the unique strategies barbecue joints in Texas are employing during the pandemic. Owner and pitmaster Brett Boren of Brett’s Backyard Bar-B-Que in Rockdale has chosen to focus on the local community by lowering prices by twenty percent, offering smaller portions for kids, and making food easier to pick up. Miller’s Smokehouse in Belton has become a grocery store while still focusing on serving high quality barbecue and coffee. They created a curbside food pickup system and launched an online store called Miller’s Grocery List immediately after Bell county closed restaurant dining rooms.
Graphic designer M. Brady Clark has created a shirt design and a website to sell merchandise in support of Texas barbecue joints.
According to The Dallas Morning News, on April 15th, Todd David of Cattleack Barbeque is giving away 300 pounds of brisket to those in need of a meal. Brisket and burnt ends in vacuum-sealed bags will be handed out for free to those in need.
J.C. Reid of the Houston Chronicle caught up with Wayne Kammerl, owner and pitmaster of Brisket House to see how barbecue joints are faring during the third week of the shelter-in-place order.
The Kingsford charcoal company pledged $250,000 to help struggling barbecue joints across the country. Daddy Duncan’s BBQ in Katy, Texas was one of the first recipients, receiving a $10,000 donation on pitmaster/owner Randy Duncan’s birthday.
According to Eater Atlanta, Heirloom Market received a $250 donation and opted to pay-it-forward by using it to feed healthcare workers.
The Star-Telegram reports there are still long lines and high demand at local barbecue joints in Fort Worth, including Hurtado Barbecue, Panther City BBQ, Derek Allan’s Texas Barbecue, and Dayne’s Craft Barbecue. Goldee’s Barbecue was also reported to be re-opening.
The popular Jones Bar-B-Q in Kansas City recently launched a no-contact, temperature controlled barbecue vending machine outside its restaurant. The vending machine is available 24-hours a day and offers popular items such as chicken wings, burnt ends sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, rib tips, signature sides, and bottled sauce.
WRAL’s Out and About profiled North Carolina pitmaster Wyatt Dickson. His Durham restaurant, PICNIC, is offering barbecue for takeout and his upcoming restaurant Wyatt’s Whole Hog Barbecue in Raleigh will likely open next year.
San Francisco’s Saison Hospitality is opening a new barbecue takeout and delivery concept called Saison Smokehouse.
Hap’s Pit Barbecue recently celebrated its 29th anniversary of business in Phoenix. They offer free delivery and do a large takeout business.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution profiled Aubrey Lenyard of Decatur, who went from the fashion industry designing wedding and ball gowns to developing AubSauce, a line of award-winning barbecue sauces.
Here are BBQ shows, podcasts, or books you should check out this week:
Learn two ways of assembling barbecue competition turn in boxes from Bethany McAllister of 913 BBQ in this week’s video.
Watch: Bethany McAllister of 913 BBQ Turn in Box Lesson — Kansas City Barbeque Society
2016 American Royal Invitational Champion Bethany McAllister of 913 BBQ, demonstrates how to build KCBS Competition turn-in boxes in two styles. Parsley and kale are used to demonstrate the technique involved in creating an award- winning presentation. This way you can study up for when competitions start back up! Watch here.
Listen: Amy Mills and 17th St. Share Hope for Restaurants, Help for Recovery and the BBQ Backbone of America — WGN Radio
Amy Mills of the legendary 17th Street BBQ in Murphysboro, Illinois joins Dane Neal to talk about tough times now and ahead for our friends and families in the food world. Hear about the unique challenges facing restaurants and workers in smaller communities and possible ways people and government can support to get us through. Listen as Amy fills us in on some positive and exciting things planned for after the crisis including a new BBQ sauce factory for 17th Street, with opportunities to create and support products from other great chefs, pitmasters, and restaurants as well. Listen here.
Read: Award-Winning BBQ Sauces and How to Use Them: The Secret Ingredient to Next-Level Smoking Paperback — by Ray Sheehan
Kick the flavor up a notch by making award-winning sauces with wholesome ingredients in your own backyard. From Memphis Mop BBQ Sauce and Kansas City BBQ Sauce to less traditional flavors like Cherry Bourbon BBQ Sauce and Tangy Peach BBQ Sauce, there’s no end to the combinations you can create. Each specialty sauce takes out artificial ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup and flavor enhancers like monosodium glutamate (MSG) found in many store-bought sauces, so you’ll always have a healthy foundation for delicious showstoppers like Slow-Smoked Memphis-Style Ribs, Texas-Style Beef Brisket and even Asian BBQ Smoked Pork Belly Bites. With notes of smoke and secret ingredients sure to leave everyone satisfied, these sauces are going to bring a new world of flavor to your cookouts. Buy it here.
Try this recipe for burnt ends using chuck roast from BBQ with Rik Rik.
Poor Man’s Burnt Ends — BBQ with Rik Rik
In this week’s Recipe of the Week, we chose this recipe for Poor Man’s Burnt Ends by BBQ with Rik Rik. Instead of using the usual brisket point for these burnt ends, Tarik uses Certified Angus Beef Chuck Roast on his Weber Smokey Mountain with Jealous Devil charcoal. View the recipe here.
In light of the constantly changing coronavirus crisis, we will be leaving this section blank for the next few weeks. Many events you know and love have been postponed. We’ll be updating the events section on our website with the most up-to-date information as we have it.
See the full Smoke Sheet events calendar online here.
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