Today we’d like to introduce you to April Smith.
Hi April, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
It started with Derek falling off a house when their youngest daughter was 1. We choose to move back East where I’m from for a change and a new beginning. Derek started meeting up with some great guys who loved Smoke BBQ. (That’s a whole different story). After 11 years we moved back to Utah to help the family.
The main story is our youngest daughter and her friend decided one day to they wanted to sell Pork Sandwiches and “special drinks”. Within 2 hours they had made over $200. She came to her dad and said we need to start selling BBQ. And so it began. A lot of learning and growing.
Working together as a family has its ups and downs but we all have the same vision and desire to make J Brian’s Smokehouse a Food Truck that doesn’t just sell food but we love the people. Getting to know everyone has been a pleasure. The Good BBQ is just part of who we are. We want to make our community better.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It hasn’t been so smooth. Our first Case of Brisket cost us $630. Which was all we had in the checking account only to have it be awful. We’ve not started like other companies. We took one step at a time and improved along the way.
We were very adamant that we would not go into debt to start our business. It’s taken us longer than most but we’ve been able to expand more over time. We have a vision for the future that we believe will be positive for the entire community.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
J Brian’s Smokehouse is a family-grown business. We specialize in Southern Smoked BBQ. Southern as in North Carolina Style BBQ. Most people here are Texas-style BBQ. We wanted to bring what we learned and loved from North Carolina and share it with friends and family here. Most people ask why we chose the name J Brian’s Smokehouse.
If you really wanted to know Derek wanted to name it “Buck Necked BBQ”. (You can fill in the blanks there.). However, the stats that it was because we do not add sauce to our meat. Hum! We found that the family had a wonderful history in the area with Grandpa Smith on his horse Cloud so we choose the name J Brian’s.
Our meats, sides, sauces, and seasonings are recipes that Derek has created. We believe we have some great flavors. We do know that we sell a lot of sauce and rubs because others like them.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
We learned to adjust. We weren’t going to let it stop is we just had to figure out how to keep moving forward. Our company started out as doing catering, company parties, weddings, and events. Due to Covid that of course changed.
That was when we adjusted our trailer to be a Food Truck. Opened our trailer and never looked back. Our biggest challenge was how to help others hear about us. We’ve always believed “No one can lick a billboard” so we have always allowed customers to sample our food. We can always tell you our food is good. But we’d rather have our food speak for itself.
We are not afraid. Usually, the struggle is the love them all and don’t know how to choose. Good problem to have, we believe. There will always be obstacles for every business. Learn to think outside the box and never stop pushing forward.
Contact Info:
- Email: jbrianssmokehouse@gmail.com
- Website: jbrianssmokehouse.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/jbrianssmokehouse
- Facebook: Facebook.com/jbrianssmokehouse.com
- Yelp: Yelp.com/jbrianssmokehousr
