Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Corpus Christi Originals back at it again today. We got Joe Garcia, the owner of Topsy Craig Barbecue and Kettering.
He's got some local favorites here. He's got the cret spaghetti, barbecue parfait, the Topsy tacos, and then, of course, the old school regular three three piece plates, barbecue briskets, burgers, and all that stuff. We're going to talk about how he built his brand, the crafts of barbecue, the challenges of running a food business, and of course, what makes corporate Christie barbecue culture unique. Grab a plate, because this is gonna be a tasty conversation.
So let's start where that. Where it begin.
Before the big venues, before the catering gigs. How did your journey with barbecue begin?
[00:00:42] Speaker B: Yeah, well, thank you again for. For having us out here, having me here, and. Yeah, so I started doing barbecue competitions around the city, you know, and. And everyone's. I was doing. I was winning. I was winning first, second, third. I was winning something.
[00:00:56] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:00:56] Speaker B: And so became like, okay, well, you know, let's see if we can try to sell this or do something with it, you know, and kind of went from there and. And I started making sandwiches, you know, and. And called up a couple barbers, friends of mine, you know, like, yeah, I got some. I was gonna give them away.
[00:01:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:11] Speaker B: You know, I'm like, yeah, I got a couple sandwiches, you know, you know, y' all want any? And he was like, how much? I was like, $5. He's like, all right, give me eight, you know, you know, like, Cool. So we started doing that and, you know, and it kind of doubled from one week to the next week and the ne. The week after that. And so it's like, okay, well, we're doing more sandwiches now. And so, you know, it just kind of started going from there until I was like, okay, you know what? Let's find a spot.
[00:01:33] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:01:33] Speaker B: Something, you know, to do.
[00:01:34] Speaker A: Yeah. So I guess when starting a business, it's like you give some away at first.
[00:01:38] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:01:39] Speaker A: Maybe see if it works.
[00:01:40] Speaker B: Yeah, Let them try it, you know, hey. And get a feedback off it, you know, and we're just giving it away. Try it, you know, and that's cool, you know, so.
[00:01:46] Speaker A: Yeah, another thing you mentioned, too, like, you were doing competitions. Is it. How different is it, like doing competition cooking and cooking for your business? Is it different?
[00:01:54] Speaker B: Yeah, it is different.
There's times where. Where in the barbecue, the competition, you got to have it almost perfect. You could save the presentation, you know, and. And if you're making beans, you know, the sausage, you need to be smaller than the beans, you know, so there's. There's different.
[00:02:09] Speaker A: You gotta make sides, too, for a competition.
[00:02:11] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. They have a. A habit for sides.
[00:02:13] Speaker A: Whoa.
[00:02:14] Speaker B: You know, and so. So what happens, it kind of prepares you in a way, you know, to where it's kind of like, hey, you know, let's make it the presentation. Right. Let's make it good.
[00:02:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:21] Speaker B: You know, because the. The judges only bite it one time, and that's it. You know, they're not there eating the whole rib or whatever, so they take a bite of it, put it down, and they're like, okay, let's. Wow, let's do it. So you get one bite to. To get the judges, you know.
[00:02:34] Speaker A: Interesting.
[00:02:34] Speaker B: And so whenever we do here at the. At the restaurant, you know, we gotta. We gotta be, you know, it's just like the competition gotta be on point. You gotta be consistent.
[00:02:43] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:43] Speaker B: You know, and so. And. And like, the difference is, for example, like, ribs, you know, they're falling off the bone. They're overcooked. You know, it's. You know, they're too overcooked. But, you know, you gotta have that. That good bite for competition to where it's not falling off the bone, but at the restaurant, they want it. The customers want it to fall off the know, so it's just kind of, you know, there's. You gotta. You gotta, you know, see, you know how. How it works for you.
[00:03:07] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure.
I went to your restaurant on yesterday, Saturday, and, man, the presentation like you're talking about, dude, it was beautiful. I took a picture of it. Just. You want to take a picture of it and just start digging in.
But, yeah, for sure. And I think you mentioned, too, about the competitions.
I was listening to another podcast. Like, the judges, they're just gonna pick anybody. Just anybody?
[00:03:29] Speaker B: Yeah, it could be random. Anybody from. Yeah, from anywhere that's there at the event.
[00:03:34] Speaker A: Cool. And in most competitions, you did here in Corpus, so.
[00:03:36] Speaker B: Yeah, they were here in Corpus.
[00:03:37] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:03:38] Speaker B: A lot of the. A lot around town, you know.
[00:03:40] Speaker A: Okay, so you got into barbecue through.
You just started making sandwiches. I mean, it just. You just had an idea. Well, before we talk about that, we were mentioning earlier, like, you kind of. You're kind of known in the city for your music.
[00:03:52] Speaker B: Right, right, right, right.
[00:03:53] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:03:54] Speaker B: Yeah, I started back in 99 where, you know, changed my life and started doing something positive and started doing, you know, and so we started doing Christian music and started doing some, you know, positive RA in different places. You know, so I kind of started working out and kind of Building my. Building my foundation, you know.
[00:04:09] Speaker A: Right on, right on. I want to mention your tattoo on your head, bro. Looks fresh. I seen it on. On Tik Tok.
[00:04:15] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Shout out to Rudy, man.
[00:04:17] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:04:18] Speaker B: You know, exclusive tattoos.
[00:04:19] Speaker A: Exclusive tattoos. Where's that located at?
[00:04:22] Speaker B: You know, where the malls are at? Was that airline mcardo?
[00:04:25] Speaker A: Okay, okay.
[00:04:25] Speaker B: Uh, in that area.
[00:04:26] Speaker A: Oh, okay. By, uh, Burlington, kind of.
[00:04:28] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I think right on the.
[00:04:29] Speaker A: Right on the other side.
[00:04:31] Speaker B: Right?
[00:04:31] Speaker A: Okay. Okay. Yeah, yeah. So cool, man. So how did you come up with the name? Uh, top secret.
[00:04:36] Speaker B: Just some word play, just something. Trying to. Trying to. Because I was going to put just top secret as a name, you know, Top secret. And so I like, let's do some word play. Let's see what's out there. That, that's going to have them thinking of the name and, you know, not only talking about the name, but talking about the food too.
[00:04:49] Speaker A: You know, had you seen that. The movie 23 before?
[00:04:53] Speaker B: Kind of. That was kind of like, you know, like, hey, that's a good. That's a good way. Cuz I. I was going to put just top secret barbecue. You know, I was kind of like normal.
[00:05:01] Speaker A: Normal spelling.
[00:05:01] Speaker B: Normal spelling, you know, but it was kind of, you know, let's see what we can kind of be creative on, you know, out there.
[00:05:07] Speaker A: S Martinez on YouTube. He says, Great work, guys. Much appreciated showing local talent. You're welcome. Thank you for joining.
So when did the passion become a business?
[00:05:20] Speaker B: My dad always barbecued, so I, you know, I saw what, you know, how he did it. And so you learn from. You learn what to do and what not to do. Right. And, and so it was just something that, you know, let's. I started, of course we did it at home. Backyard barbecue all the time.
[00:05:32] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:05:33] Speaker B: And, and so it was, it. It's always been a passion to do it, but then it. Then it's kind of like, okay, well, I'm selling this product now. Now let's. Let's turn it into a business. Let's turn it into something that we can make money off of.
[00:05:44] Speaker A: So you knew. So I guess. So you knew, like the, the taste and the way you made it would be. Did you think that, that it would be like, oh, man, people, this. People would like this. So I'm going to make this into a business?
[00:05:54] Speaker B: No, not really. It's just, Just something that, you know, I liked it, you know, so. And so, like, well, I'm trying my food, you know, if you like it, then, wow. You know, we'll. We have It.
[00:06:03] Speaker A: That's cool.
[00:06:03] Speaker B: So.
[00:06:03] Speaker A: Yeah. Wow.
So your barbecue style, like, how long did it take? Did it take you a while to, like, develop it? Because when I. When I tasted it, there was a very distinct, like, taste through all the meats. Do you do that on purpose? Like.
[00:06:18] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:06:19] Speaker A: Like the same seasoning? I guess.
[00:06:20] Speaker B: I mean, it's not the same seasoning, but it's. Maybe they're all cooking in the same.
[00:06:26] Speaker A: Okay, right, yeah, that makes sense.
[00:06:27] Speaker B: And so each meat has their own. Has its own, you know, his own flavor and seasoning to it, you know, but, yeah, it's. It. It. It becomes something to where you. You develop it, you know, you. The more you do it, the more you, you know, you. You start. You start figuring it out. Figuring stuff out.
[00:06:44] Speaker A: So did you, like. You mentioned your dad earlier. Did he, like, show you that stuff? How did you learn, like, maybe if I tweak this. Did you.
[00:06:51] Speaker B: I mean, just burning meat. Just try? Yeah, just trying.
That didn't work. Let's try something else. You know, let's try a different temperature or. Let's try something. Oh, dope. So it all goes, you know, down to temperature and how you're cooking something to where you're going to get the best.
[00:07:06] Speaker A: Yeah. So what's up, Petra vino.
Steve Kanto. YouTube. Yeah, Petra Vino. What up, Steve Ku says, great barbecue. Way to go, cousin love. Yeah. Love you, Ange.
Angie.
Yeah, that's cool. So is most of your stuff. Because when I talk to some barbecue guys, they. They want to keep stuff a secret. They don't want to tell you what they put on it. They don't want to tell you how they. Is that how you are?
[00:07:29] Speaker B: Yeah, well, the name is top secret.
[00:07:30] Speaker A: Okay. Okay.
[00:07:31] Speaker B: You're not really gonna get.
[00:07:32] Speaker A: Yeah, you're not gonna get that. Okay. Okay, I got you.
Yeah. We were talking to Pete also on here, and he was talking about you got to cook a certain way, and I can't imagine, like, doing a big old pit like his.
[00:07:41] Speaker B: Yeah, things big.
[00:07:42] Speaker A: Yeah, it's huge, bro.
So I guess. So I guess the pit is. Is like, it's like a main ingredient as far as cooking it.
[00:07:51] Speaker B: Right, Right.
[00:07:51] Speaker A: So you got. Do you have. I get. So I don't. I'm not. I don't know too much about barbecue and just get a freaking barbecue pit from Walmart.
[00:07:57] Speaker B: Right.
[00:07:58] Speaker A: Put cold in there and that. That's how I know. You know what I mean? I'm not really into it as much as you guys, and you guys are so, like. Like It's. It's. It's am me that there's a whole culture of barbecue just in. In Texas itself, you know what I mean? And to have somebody like you in our city making that and actually selling it, it's. It's interesting to me. So your, your barbecue pit, like, do you. Do you like, do you have like a smoker on the side and like, all the heat comes off through the side? Do you.
[00:08:25] Speaker B: So that's, that's offset.
[00:08:27] Speaker A: So is that like basic barbecue Texas, like how you do.
[00:08:30] Speaker B: Pretty much, it's stick burner. So you're throwing the wood in there and, and, and letting the wood. Then it would cook the meat.
[00:08:36] Speaker A: Let the wood cook the meat.
[00:08:38] Speaker B: Yeah, let it smoke out.
[00:08:39] Speaker A: Interesting, man. All right, cool. So. So your beginnings. Yeah, we talked about a little bit about your beginnings. So creating your own brand.
Did you know that you had to create a brand for, like, for your. Your business?
[00:08:52] Speaker B: Yeah, having. Having the. Having to get the barbecue down the taste down the. The. The names, so the taste part of the brand. Right? Yeah. So because you're going to go different places, you're going to get different. Everybody's their taste, you know, this is their taste. This is, this is how they're. It. You can't just go and judge. Like, this is not how barbecue tastes. This is not how it should taste. Yeah, you know, it's just, it's. It's, you know, it's your taste, it's your barbecue. You know, you can do a different way. It's Central Texas style or, you know, this is my barbecue. This is my way.
[00:09:19] Speaker A: So would you say yours is South Texas style?
[00:09:22] Speaker B: I'll say, yeah. South Texas backyard barbecue. You know what I mean? It's, you know, something you're gonna. You're gonna cook it your own backyard, you know.
[00:09:28] Speaker A: That's interesting, bro. That's very interesting. Me. So top secret, the brand, obviously, you got your family working there with you. I met your wife and we were talking earlier, like, because she asked me, how did you. How do you know Joe? Or how did you come across us? And I was like, oh, he's going to be in my podcast tomorrow. And then you mentioned earlier, like, she asked customers, how do they find you? And you said, they f. Like somebody says TikTok or Instagram. How. How influential are your posts? And, like, you know, as far as people coming in from.
[00:09:57] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, so. So we posted videos of, of the food. And so some of the people that get their food, their food was just in a little video shoot. You Know, I mean, before they get it.
[00:10:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:08] Speaker B: You know, whether you're eating it. It was in the video shoot. So, you know, we try to video the food as, you know, as fast as possible and get it out. Get it out, you know.
[00:10:15] Speaker A: Do you video yourself?
[00:10:16] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:10:19] Speaker A: Dude, your videos are dope too. Like, it makes me. It makes you just want to.
[00:10:23] Speaker B: It makes you hungry.
Even if you just ate, it still makes you hungry.
[00:10:28] Speaker A: So I put. I put some posts and I. I downloaded your videos from Tick Tock. And I put. And I put. Who likes barbecue? Is it ribs over ribs over brisket? People pick brisket.
[00:10:38] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:10:39] Speaker A: And then I put chicken or sausage. People put sausage.
[00:10:43] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:43] Speaker A: So the majority of the boats were for those.
[00:10:45] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Brisket. Brisket is king, you know, but. Yeah, but, you know, you know, there's. People have their own preference, you know.
[00:10:50] Speaker A: Do you make your own like, like, like sauces and stuff? Because. Because there was sauce that came with it and then.
[00:10:56] Speaker B: Right.
[00:10:56] Speaker A: Pickles in the onion.
[00:10:57] Speaker B: Yeah, the barbecue sauce.
[00:10:58] Speaker A: Do you make the.
[00:10:58] Speaker B: Do you.
[00:10:59] Speaker A: You do?
[00:10:59] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:00] Speaker A: Whoa. Seriously?
[00:11:01] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:01] Speaker A: Wow. Then that's a secret. That's a secret handle.
We got. Jose Martinez says, what's up, Joe?
Nice, man. Thanks a lot for joining y'.
[00:11:11] Speaker B: All.
[00:11:12] Speaker A: Yeah. So let's. Let's move on to the next. We're talking about the craft of barbecuing. Corpus Christi has no shortage of food spots, but barbecue is a whole different art form. Let's talk about the craft and the business side of running top secret barbecue. So your barbecue philosophy, Low and slow, flavor first or experimentation?
[00:11:32] Speaker B: A little bit of everything, you know, because you, you know, we want to try to do different things, and so you want to try different tastes or you want to try a different look or something that's different, you know, and then low and slow is always a good way to go, but there's times where we don't have that time. So we're just gonna have to go, you know, hot and fast with it, you know, so.
[00:11:48] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:11:48] Speaker B: So it just depends on the timing that you have. I gotta open up here in a little while or I gotta, you know, I got so many hours to cook, and so it's going how it goes.
[00:11:56] Speaker A: Just so can you. Are you able to keep a consistency? Like, say you gotta. You got those quick days and you have to cook it fast. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you can keep it.
[00:12:02] Speaker B: Yeah, we turn it then, you know, you got. That's when you got to monitor a little bit more.
[00:12:07] Speaker A: Oh, okay. That makes sense.
[00:12:08] Speaker B: Yeah, you got. You Got a. Got a flame.
[00:12:10] Speaker A: Yeah. That's awesome. So the credit cry. Spaghetti, barbecue parfait, Topsy tacos.
[00:12:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:16] Speaker A: I mean, how did you come up with those?
[00:12:17] Speaker B: Or, you know, using the name, of course, you know, still. Still pulling from the brand, still trying to keep it, you know, in house. And so, you know, everybody got tacos. You know, everybody got, you know, the same thing. So it's just this. Let's just do it different or let's add this or try that, you know.
[00:12:31] Speaker A: So you kind of. So you look at your audience or the people that like your stuff and. Oh, they might like this, too.
[00:12:36] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, they might, like, come try it, you know.
[00:12:38] Speaker A: Cool, cool. So the toughest meat to master, which is your favorite to cook?
[00:12:44] Speaker B: Favorite to cook. I don't know the favorite. I probably pick the easiest to cook, you know, which.
[00:12:51] Speaker A: So, like.
[00:12:52] Speaker B: But I mean, brisket, because of the outcome of it, you know, the. The whole thing. The. The. From the beginning to the end, you know, it's like. It's like caring for a little child, you know, you have to go pick it, you know, and look at it. This one's going to work. We trim it, you know, we season it. Slap, little bit. You know, you throw it in a smoker, and then, you know, you're watching it constantly, like a little kid, you know, you're still there. I got to do more to it. You know what. And then at the end, you're like, yeah, this is. You know, if you're not like, ah.
[00:13:18] Speaker A: Dude, there's this movie I saw. It's called Life. It's by M. Night Shyamalan. But, like, they're on this beach and, like, every hour is like. Like seven years.
[00:13:28] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
[00:13:28] Speaker A: It's crazy, bro.
[00:13:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:13:30] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a good movie. That guy, M. Night Shyamalan, he makes some good movies. He made, like, Signs, the Sixth Sense, and all these other. It's. It's crazy just thinking about that. Like, dude, imagine barbecuing like, seven years and what?
[00:13:43] Speaker B: Yeah, forever.
[00:13:46] Speaker A: So signature rub, sauce or technique?
[00:13:49] Speaker B: Sprinkle and slap.
Yeah, sprinkle and then you slap it.
[00:13:53] Speaker A: Just slap it on it?
[00:13:53] Speaker B: Yeah, just let it stick.
[00:13:55] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:13:55] Speaker B: Try it out.
[00:13:56] Speaker A: So you do that before, obviously, before you put it on the pit. On the pit or whatever. Do you like? Well, I guess marinade is a thing.
[00:14:03] Speaker B: I don't know.
[00:14:03] Speaker A: A lot. Yeah, that's like you. You. What. What is marinate?
[00:14:07] Speaker B: I don't know. You can marinate it in the seasoning, or you can marinate it in liquid marinate it.
[00:14:11] Speaker A: It's the, like. Like. So, like the liquid. Soak into it. Okay.
[00:14:14] Speaker B: Soak it in seasoning or whatever flavors you want, you know, like a prime.
[00:14:18] Speaker A: Nice.
So which dis dish took the longest to perfect?
[00:14:24] Speaker B: The longest to perfect?
I don't know. Let me see.
No, it's not really anything. The longest to perfect. It's just, you know, just. Just making sure the meats are down and then. Then creating it, you know.
Yeah. Once the meat is cooked and it's, you know, it's. Then we can create, you know, some. A dish or something out of it, you know?
[00:14:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:46] Speaker B: So the dirty bird bowls, you know.
[00:14:48] Speaker A: Well, dirty bird bowls, yeah.
[00:14:49] Speaker B: Yeah, that was. It was an accident, actually, because it's rice, beans, and chicken fajita, you know.
[00:14:53] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:14:53] Speaker B: And so I had ordered some to go cups or to go plates, but they were too small, and I was like, man, what am I gonna do with these? You know? Like, man, I just wasted all this.
[00:15:02] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:15:02] Speaker B: We started figuring out, well, let's. What can we do with these bowls since we have so many?
So we started doing the dirty vertical rice, beans or whichever side you want.
[00:15:09] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:15:10] Speaker B: And then with chicken fajita and some people add brisket, a slice of brisket and sausage, or they do brisket, you know, sub.
[00:15:15] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:15:16] Speaker B: And so that became a hit. I'm like, man, they're like, in the dirty.
[00:15:18] Speaker A: That's a cool name.
[00:15:19] Speaker B: So. Yeah. Yeah. And so those. Those. Those have been. Those have been flying out the. Out the door, you mean.
[00:15:25] Speaker A: You mentioned something interesting that. That it was like an accident.
[00:15:28] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:29] Speaker A: Does it.
[00:15:30] Speaker B: A lot of things are like that.
Yeah, it's kind of like, oh, man, that was. Well, it looks. You know, it works.
[00:15:35] Speaker A: That's so cool.
[00:15:36] Speaker B: Just keep doing it, you know.
[00:15:37] Speaker A: Yeah. What. What's a secret menu item? Not.
Not online, I guess. What's secret menu item? Not online? I guess all your stuff is online.
[00:15:47] Speaker B: Yeah, pretty much. But the secret menu is not. And it's kind of something that kind of got created by ideas or like, let me try this. And then. And then we. We put it on the menu for a week or so.
[00:15:56] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:15:57] Speaker B: You know, we take it out and people ask for it, and then. Yeah, it just becomes a secret menu that.
[00:16:01] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:16:02] Speaker B: You know, we have chicken lollipops, you know, the.
The.
The legs, you know, chicken legs.
[00:16:08] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:16:08] Speaker B: You know, and then we cut them up, wrap bacon, and smoke them, you know, and so.
[00:16:12] Speaker A: So secret menu. You only. You pull it out only so so often.
[00:16:14] Speaker B: So often. Sometimes we have some. Some of the Secret menu available.
[00:16:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:19] Speaker B: You know, and then sometimes, you know, we.
[00:16:22] Speaker A: That's cool.
[00:16:23] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:23] Speaker A: So do you. I guess that. That helps with the influx of, I guess, purchases that come through.
[00:16:29] Speaker B: Right, right.
[00:16:29] Speaker A: Okay. Okay. It just helps on that part of the business side. That's interesting. I want to mention, too, I went into your shop on Saturday, and there was, like. There was people from, like, I would say, different walks of life.
[00:16:39] Speaker B: Right.
[00:16:40] Speaker A: And I was like, what? This is cool. This is cool.
How do you feel about that?
[00:16:45] Speaker B: You know, it's.
[00:16:46] Speaker A: It's.
[00:16:46] Speaker B: It's kind of crazy because, you know, I'm seeing it from the bomb in the back, so a lot of people don't see me, but I kind of. Sometimes I see or they tell me, you know, what's going on. But in the beginning, it was a lot of friends and family that were supporting. They would come all the time. Boom, boom, boom. So that kind of like, got it. Okay. They're word of mouth. These friends and family are sharing it. And then we started. People started showing up that we didn't know, you know, and so that's. The people that you want to. You want to reach people you don't.
[00:17:09] Speaker A: Know, you know, so they can tell their friends.
[00:17:10] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because your friends are going to back you up all day long. You know, they're gonna. They're gonna be, you know, have your back and support you, but the people that don't know you, you know, and they're telling you that your food's good, then they mean it, you know?
[00:17:21] Speaker A: So how do you. How do you know? I guess. Do you think that that's when you know that you have a product when people come in that you don't know?
[00:17:27] Speaker B: Right, right, right.
[00:17:28] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:17:29] Speaker B: Yeah. Because, I mean, you know, you can tell your friend that it's good all day, you know, but when somebody that. And you're gonna, you know, be like, hey, thank you. But when somebody that doesn't know me.
[00:17:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:37] Speaker B: Says this is this, and that is good, then it's kind of like, okay, you know, that's. It's this.
[00:17:42] Speaker A: Yeah, that's cool.
That's cool. If someone could eat one thing forever from Top Secret Barbecue, what would it be?
[00:17:48] Speaker B: What would it be?
[00:17:49] Speaker A: Yeah, what if they had, like. If they. If they could eat only one thing, like, forever from your menu, What. What would it be?
[00:17:55] Speaker B: I don't know.
[00:17:56] Speaker A: What do you like on your menu? Do you like anything?
[00:17:58] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, Everything.
But you know what? I never get to really taste it as a whole, as the sides and the meats you know, every once in a while, there's times I'll just try a little piece and like, that's good.
[00:18:11] Speaker A: And try, like, have an actual place.
[00:18:12] Speaker B: Right, right. And so I sit down, I'm like, wow, this is actually pretty good, you know? And so there's several times where I get a chance to try it all together.
[00:18:19] Speaker A: Wow, that's cool, man. Yeah, like I said it was, it's some good food, bro. You guys have got to try it.
Let me see what I got. I got to mention some people here real quick. So let me mention some people on the Facebook community group that have been commenting on our stuff lately, especially on the posts with, with, with you, you and I on there.
[00:18:36] Speaker B: Okay?
[00:18:37] Speaker A: We got Cor Holland, Amy Garcia, Business cc, Pete Trevino, Joe Jose Martinez, Janie Vasquez, uh, Chinitas and Cars. Mitchell Finesse, James M. Clem, Nick Lopez, uh, Ben De Leon from the Recycled Corn Podcast. David Guerra, Javier Gonzalez of the CC Food Finds. He's the owner of that page. Awesome dude. Johnny Martinez on Point Barbershop VFW Post 2397, John N. Timmin, post cut. My cousin. He's out there. Who's that? Ron Garcia. Daniel Perales of Iron Compound. Chris Ambrez of Night Creature Productions. Thanks a lot, you guys. If you haven't joined the Facebook community group, go check it out, join it, and you can find out what episodes are going to be coming out soon.
But, yeah, so the next thing we're talking, we'll be talking about.
See, let's see here.
So clearly, barbecue isn't just food. It's a lifestyle. But there's also a community that comes with it.
That's what I want to explore next. Barbecue isn't just about food. It's about people running a business, serving the community, and being part of Corpus Christi's food scene comes with its own set of highs and lows. So what. What have been some of the challenges and rewards of building top secret barbecue?
[00:19:52] Speaker B: You.
A lot of the challenges is, is when, you know, you're having to get everything out at a certain time, whether you know, it's either raining or it's doing something towards having to slow the fire down. And so that, you know, you're having to get it out at a certain time, you know, and you don't want to rush it because you don't want the. You don't want to mess the product.
[00:20:10] Speaker A: Up, you know, interesting.
[00:20:13] Speaker B: And then, you know, and then, you know, then when it's done, you're like, all right, I Did good. You know, now this food looks the way I want it to be, you know, got customers coming in. So that's the, like. Like, all right, you know, you know, there. It's the. The highs and lows all in that few hours, you know, so you're more.
[00:20:28] Speaker A: Concerned about the act, the product, no matter. So that. That's the main challenge, to have the product, the consistency of the product out.
[00:20:34] Speaker B: There, to have it. Have it right, have it done right.
[00:20:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:20:37] Speaker B: And so that, you know, when the customer is eating it, they're like, okay, this is. This is good.
[00:20:40] Speaker A: Wow. They know what to expect every time.
[00:20:42] Speaker B: Right, right.
[00:20:43] Speaker A: So what's the biggest challenge? I guess that's the biggest. Is that the biggest challenge of running a barbecue business? Because you got, like, the business side of it also, instead of just cooking.
[00:20:52] Speaker B: I mean, there's so different elements to it. You know what I mean? The challenges from having to make the money, to be able to continue to keep. Keep working, you know, from challenging having to make the food and have it out at a certain time and make sure it's right.
[00:21:05] Speaker A: Yeah.
What's it been like? Like, handling, I guess. I guess money coming in, money going out and stuff like that. Is it something that you have to learn on your own?
Like, you know what I'm saying? Like.
[00:21:16] Speaker B: Right. Yeah. There's. There's. It's not. Nobody's out there. Nobody's going to show you. Nobody's going to teach you. Nobody's gonna, you know, and if they are, then take, take, take. You know, take note of it. But nobody's gonna go out there and say, okay, with this, this, and this and that, and you gotta figure it out. Yeah. You pretty much got to figure it out and see what works for you and see how it works for you, you know?
[00:21:33] Speaker A: Nice. What's the most remote, rewarding moment as a pit master?
[00:21:38] Speaker B: When the food's all gone.
[00:21:41] Speaker A: Yeah, I was gonna mention that. So a lot of, like, every day your post is, like, sold out. Thanks a lot, Corpus. We'll see y' all tomorrow.
[00:21:48] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:21:48] Speaker A: That's cool. How you feel about that?
[00:21:50] Speaker B: And that's. It's. You know, when we first started, you know, we.
Two, three briskets. You know what I mean? And so that was. That was an accomplishment for us. Like, well, we sold out of three briskets.
[00:22:01] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:22:01] Speaker B: So many hours, you know, they're like, wow, wow, that's good. And so. And then the more and more we stuck with it, the more we're doing and the more like, man, okay, we did 15 briskets today.
[00:22:09] Speaker A: Like, wow.
[00:22:10] Speaker B: Like, you know, and within the two to three hours that were open, you know. And so it's pretty good. We got a lot of different companies that we cater for, so that's what helps. That's what gets us out faster. And then we get.
Calling orders the night before, you know, and so, you know, we're already getting. Trying to see what we have and see how far we can push it.
[00:22:28] Speaker A: So what do. Do you mind me asking, like, where you get, like, catering, as far as catering goes? Like, do you cater to, like, businesses or. I mean, what are some of the type of industries that you cater?
[00:22:39] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:22:40] Speaker A: When you do.
[00:22:40] Speaker B: So during the week, we get the caterings from, like, Ed Hicks Nissan Super Mercedes, Flynn Hills Sickle. So they call during the week and. And Ron H.
And they get 30, 40, 50 plates, you know, and so we're having to do those at the same time. You know, we got. We got. We open at 11, too, so. Or sometimes we do them. We. We knock them out before 11 comes, and then we're like, all right, we have no more sides, or we have this, and this is all we have left. And, you know, so it starts becoming, like, okay, there. And then customers themselves order three, four racks of ribs and two briskets. And, wow, you know, so many different. Different things. So it's, you know, they're going out, you know.
[00:23:18] Speaker A: That's cool, man. That's amazing, dude. Congrats. Yeah, yeah, congrats on that for sure.
[00:23:21] Speaker B: You know, thanks for everybody that supports I now, too. I got s. Go ahead. Yeah. S saying, best barbecue ever. You know what I mean? Destiny out there.
Joey, what's. What's the secret? I need to know.
[00:23:33] Speaker A: Yeah, we do, bro.
[00:23:35] Speaker B: Right? Even my son's like, what's the secret? I was like, wow.
I don't know.
[00:23:39] Speaker A: Do you find it hard keeping it a secret, or do you just tell your wife everything?
[00:23:44] Speaker B: It's, you know, it's because I'm the one that cooks from. You know, the. The. The family helps. They. They. They help trim and help get things together, you know, and stuff. But the. The. The initial cook and everything, you know, I'm in there trying.
You know, Secret is not to burn it, you know, not to ruin the meat, you know, so.
[00:24:00] Speaker A: So I guess that. Well, of course that makes it.
[00:24:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:02] Speaker A: Burn it. Don't taste good.
[00:24:03] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
We don't have this today.
[00:24:05] Speaker A: And, you know. You know, when. I guess. When I. I guess the main thing that I look at when I'm eating a Barbie Is it's that it's not dry, right? Like dry chicken.
[00:24:13] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:24:14] Speaker A: You know what I mean? But, dude, I'm telling you, the chicken was. Was good moist. Like, it wasn't dry. Sausage even had a good consistent consistency. But sausage, it seems like it's all usually kind of dry in the middle. I mean, would you.
[00:24:27] Speaker B: Just depends, you know, sometimes you can overcook a sausage.
[00:24:30] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:24:31] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:24:31] Speaker A: Yeah. And then even the. Even the brisket was. I mean, it was all good. I wanted some. I wanted to try some. Do you do ribs often?
[00:24:37] Speaker B: The what?
[00:24:37] Speaker A: Do you do ribs often?
[00:24:38] Speaker B: Ribs. Like, I do pork ribs and beef ribs.
[00:24:40] Speaker A: Okay, okay.
[00:24:41] Speaker B: Okay. Yeah.
[00:24:42] Speaker A: I wanted to try the. Because I like the. I like the ribs, obviously everybody likes. But I was like, no ribs. Just give me the chicken, give me the brisket, give me the sausage.
[00:24:50] Speaker B: I think that. That. That day, I think this one guy came in and got like four racks and a couple briskets. He was taking. Taking to Mexico and stuff for a family, you know, so.
[00:24:58] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:24:58] Speaker B: That's pretty cool. Cool.
[00:24:59] Speaker A: That's cool. The meat that you get, like, do you get, like. As far as that goes, like, in purchasing it from companies or whatever, do you get it, like, wholesale? Do you buy it local or, like.
Is that a secret also?
[00:25:10] Speaker B: That's a secret also.
[00:25:11] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:25:11] Speaker B: Okay. I first started getting off from. Of course I was getting from the locals here, you know, but. And then I started going with pfg. So I was ordering my stuff from them, briskets and chicken and all the stuff. And then the prices started getting, you know, started going up. So I was like, I gotta find another.
[00:25:26] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:27] Speaker B: Another distributor. So I went to Cisco, Cisco, and their prices were pretty good until everything started going up. So they went up on their prices.
It just becomes hard to, like, okay, how are we going to make money off something that's. That's more expensive than it should be?
[00:25:41] Speaker A: Yeah. So obviously, when.
What's up, Jose? Jose?
So obviously, I will read that comment. We'll read your comment here. So obviously, prices go up on stuff. Do you find it hard? Obviously, as business owners, we have to have our prices go up as well to be able to make a profit and stuff like that. How do you feel about, like, having to do that on your customers? Is it hard? Like, you know what I mean?
[00:26:03] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, it is hard. Just because, for one, I mean, barbecue is an expensive.
You're gonna go out and eat barbecue somewhere. You're gonna spend a lot of money ordering from the family.
[00:26:12] Speaker A: To begin with.
[00:26:13] Speaker B: Yeah, to begin with. Regardless, Right. So I try to make it affordable to where anybody can. I only have five dollars, Right. We got a five dollar sandwich, you know, so I kept the five dollar sandwich when I first started, you know, I was like, hey, so we got five dollar sandwich or you want to afford meat for $24, you know, so yeah, it's still, we try to still make it affordable to where anybody can come in. Hey, I only got $5. All right, you can get a sandwich, you know, so. And at the same time it's like I, I, we have to go up on prices, you know, on some things, but, you know, some things I want to keep the same. I still want it to be affordable to where, you know, it's not that, hey, I can't. They walk out because they can't afford it. Like, no. How much you got? I got $5.
Still make it happen.
[00:26:51] Speaker A: Hey, thanks. And now also thanks for coming out to the Art Walk when we're out there posted up selling T shirts and stuff.
[00:26:55] Speaker B: Yeah. I was walking by and I saw like, you know what? I've been, I've been seeing you on you. I was like, let me go over there and some stuff you got, you.
[00:27:01] Speaker A: Know, so yeah, it makes me think about that. Cuz I got hoodie. Hoodies are expensive. And then you got te's less expensive. And then you got stickers and then hats.
[00:27:08] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:08] Speaker A: So that makes sense. Like you got the $5 sandwich, you got the 3 me plate.
[00:27:12] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:12] Speaker A: I mean, interesting. So Jose Martinez on Facebook says, Joe G Bor Garcia ML&R may be a good man above keeping blessings you and the family.
You kept the dream of you getting this going for yourself. I remember us doing the cook off as double Js.
[00:27:29] Speaker B: Oh yeah.
[00:27:30] Speaker A: Team.
Keep up the good cooking, bro. Stick. Stick burning is the best way to go. Keep up the good work you're doing.
[00:27:37] Speaker B: Yeah. So when, when I first. Because he was, Jose was already doing it. Joe was already doing, he had been doing Barbie competitions. Yeah. And so, you know, our wives knew each other. So like, yeah, well, so we kind of end up meeting each other like, well, I want to get into it. How do I get into this? You know. And so he kind of started showing me, like, well, this is what they do and this is how it is. And we're using his pit. You know, I didn't have a barbecue pit. I didn't have, you know, this. And so it became something like, all right, I gotta just get an idea of how it goes. And so. All right, listen to me. I Can do these too, you know.
[00:28:05] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:28:06] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, but yeah, yeah, yeah, that's awesome, man.
[00:28:10] Speaker A: Let's see.
[00:28:11] Speaker B: Sylvia said and great portions too.
[00:28:13] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:28:14] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's the thing too, is, is portions, right. You know, you don't want to pay $20 for something and be like, this ain't worth it, you know, and so you got to be able to figure that out too. You got to figure out, okay, how many, how many, many portions of meat do I put in the plate? You know?
[00:28:27] Speaker A: Yeah, I was gonna say that too, because it was pretty, it's pretty proportionate when I, when I tried it out and I was thinking that too. Do you, do you feel like you put, you put too much in there for the price or too little? Like, how do you. I guess, how do you gauge it? You just.
[00:28:39] Speaker B: Yeah, there's times where you can weigh it out and there's times where there's. We don't have time to wait out. I'm just here.
[00:28:44] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:28:45] Speaker B: My hand is. That's how big your sandwiches, you know, something to where, you know, it's like, hey, let's, let's give extra, of course, you know, and then, and not be, not skimp out too much on the plate.
[00:28:55] Speaker A: It's like people want, want extra, of.
[00:28:57] Speaker B: Course, you know, bang.
[00:28:58] Speaker A: For their buck.
[00:28:59] Speaker B: Right, right. And of course, when they see it, they're going to be like, whoa, how big is that potato? You know?
[00:29:02] Speaker A: Yeah. How do you. So I met your wife.
How, how do you and your wife keep the family touch in the business? Because if people mentioned that on the Google review.
[00:29:12] Speaker B: Right, right.
[00:29:12] Speaker A: Oh, it's a nice family business and this and that. So how do you, how do you. I guess, how do you keep that touch going?
[00:29:19] Speaker B: I mean, you know, it's, it's a, you know, mom and pop's backyard barbecue, you know, hole in the wall, you know, and so it, it's family based. And so we're, you know, whatever we, we, we're doing together. We're doing together and I need your help. You need my help. You know, we, we need each other to get it going, you know.
Yeah. And so it kind of, it kind of, you know, sometimes you want, you want to separate, you know, from your family and work, you know, the business part of it or, you know, because, hey, I'm your, I'm your boss, not your, yeah, dad or something, you know, but at the same time it just, it just all kind of flows together, you know, and it works together.
[00:29:50] Speaker A: Yeah. To be able to switch between that, that's that's got to be difficult. You got to be home, at home, trying to think, to think about the business.
[00:29:57] Speaker B: Right, right, right.
[00:29:58] Speaker A: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
[00:29:59] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:59] Speaker A: But it's cool. It's. That's cool to me how, how husband and wife can do stuff like that together. You know what I mean? Because in our city, I mean, even my own parents, they're separated, you know what I mean? There's a lot of that going on. So just it seems like that could be a brush, a breath of fresh air, just having, having a, you know, a family together.
[00:30:18] Speaker B: Right. Doing something, you know what I mean?
[00:30:20] Speaker A: Helping each other out.
So that, that's pretty cool.
So we're gonna try with transness. We're gonna.
You're clearly making an impact in the community. People love your stuff.
Before we wrap it up, let's have a little fun with some quick light hearted questions. Before we do that, I'm gonna go ahead and shout out some people from.
Let's see the. Let me see. I was gonna shout out some notable, uh, I guess podcast. I had some podcasts that I was listening to that are local.
We got the Recycled Corn podcast by Ben Delon. Check them out. He's got these very insightful videos he's got, just talking about life, stuff like get knocked down, get up type of stuff. And then we got the Walking Leader podcast by Daniel G. We got the chinitas and cars out of here, out of Corpus Christi. These are all Corpus. Corpus kind of Corpus basically based podcast. We got every. All things. All things Everything by Gulf Coast Smoke. Have you heard of them?
[00:31:16] Speaker B: Golf course Smoke.
[00:31:18] Speaker A: Yeah, they got a podcast and I was listening to that kind of inspiration, Inspiration for this.
[00:31:22] Speaker B: Okay. Okay.
[00:31:22] Speaker A: And then we got Sound Injection by Meg of Haunt the Sleep. She's a co host there. So there's another Corpus Christi podcast you might want to check out.
So we talked about the, the past and the present and what about the future? Let's look ahead. That's the wrong one. Sorry, guys.
[00:31:38] Speaker B: Monica wants a barbecue now.
[00:31:39] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. You got any comments there?
[00:31:42] Speaker B: Gonzalez wants a barbecue now.
[00:31:47] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:31:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:48] Speaker A: So your, your face. So your Facebook following.
Do you have. You do got a lot of followers on pretty much all platforms. Facebook, Instagram and.
[00:31:56] Speaker B: I think so. Yeah. Yeah, we're, we're growing, you know, getting there. And, and, and the support is what really, what really matters. You know, you can have so many followers, but you're not busy during the day. You know what I mean? I can have no followers, but I'm busy All day, you know, so, so it, you know, it just. The followers help, you know, the support really helps, you know, the people that come in and, and continue to keep coming in from day one, you know, that are still there. I remember when you had a butcher paper on the window, you know, and they were just selling sandwiches only. And so you start incorporating different things and so what happens, you grow with your customers together, you know, so followers.
[00:32:29] Speaker A: Is not the same as like quest, like customers, I guess.
[00:32:32] Speaker B: Right, right, right. You can have a bunch of followers but you know, you're not, you're not not selling out or not selling product.
[00:32:38] Speaker A: Yeah, selling the product. Wow. Wow.
So I guess we'll talk about the future. Let's look ahead. What's next for the top secret barbecue?
After that we'll do a couple of rapid fire questions. So where do you see top secret in 5 years? 10 years?
[00:32:51] Speaker B: 5 years. Of course I want to, I want to expand and do more of a sit down so they can sit down and enjoy the food and have, have them to sit down and eat, you know, instead of what we have now is takeout, you know, so, so eventually, yeah, it's going to get to a point where we got it though. We got them sitting down, dining in.
[00:33:08] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I was thinking that too. I was like, man, I wish we could sit here and eat it.
[00:33:11] Speaker B: Right, right.
[00:33:11] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure.
[00:33:12] Speaker B: So go ahead.
[00:33:14] Speaker A: No, I was gonna ask you just about like thinking, thinking ahead in the future and stuff like that and do you, do you do that often? Like we can be like. Or do you just do it like year by year, month by month? Or do you just say, okay, in five years I want this and 10 years I want this. And then you strive for that goal.
[00:33:28] Speaker B: Right. You know, it's just, it depends because sometimes it could take five years, sometimes it could take two years, you know, you know, in whatever your go.
Yeah, you can have a five year. Like, you know, in five years I want to do this, but maybe in two years it's already happening, you know, so, so you're, you're able to, you got to be able to, to move in when, when you're ready, you know.
[00:33:48] Speaker A: So you would, so you would set a, set a goal.
[00:33:50] Speaker B: Right, right, right, right. Yeah, I got goals, I got visions, I got, you know, I'm constantly thinking of how to make myself better, how to make the business better, how to make the product better.
[00:33:58] Speaker A: You know, that's interesting.
[00:34:00] Speaker B: And what's, what's, what's, you know, what's going to work for you, you know, interesting.
[00:34:03] Speaker A: So just real quick. We were talking about. I want to talk about, like, creativity, because you feel like you have, like, a creative mind that. Do you. How is that, like, transferred to what you're doing now as far as, like, being creative and writing lyrics and making music and stuff like that? Do you see, like, any of those, I guess, like, skills in what you're doing now?
[00:34:24] Speaker B: Yeah, in a way. In a different way, but in the same way, because when you're doing music, of course you're wanting to perfect what you're doing. Either the song or an instrument or a beat or something you're making. And so you wanted to make it good. You want to make it right. You want to make sure everything is sequenced good. Everything has a beginning and end, you know, and so whenever you. You're. When you're doing the barbecue, you're. You're wanting to a. From the beginning, when I get the product to the beginning, when the customer's eating it, you know, there's so many different. Different levels to it to where, you know, you gotta. You know, you gotta keep it, stay on it. And so staying on point with your music is. Staying on point with. With barbecue. And pretty much whatever you do.
[00:35:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:35:00] Speaker B: Is. Is, you know, is. So we're paying attention to it.
[00:35:03] Speaker A: Yeah, there's a lot in there, bro. That's crazy.
[00:35:05] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:35:06] Speaker A: You can look at it like a song. You can look at work ethic. I mean.
[00:35:09] Speaker B: Yeah, there's a lot of moving parts, you know, and so. And. And the more product I are moving, you know, so the more I'm moving, you know, so, you know, I'm having to get another pit made and bring it over. And so now I got two big pits going. And so it's like, okay, I'm moving over here. I'm going to the other one. I'm coming to the other one.
[00:35:24] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:35:25] Speaker B: You know, it gets. It gets. You know, it gets going.
[00:35:28] Speaker A: You said. You said having a pit made.
[00:35:30] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:35:31] Speaker A: What, like custom made?
[00:35:32] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:35:33] Speaker A: So is that the norm for, like, bar? I guess?
[00:35:35] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. They want to get something that's going to work for them or that's going to be. Is big enough for their. For their company and.
Because when I first went in there, I had a smaller pit on the trailer, a little smaller one. You know, I can do like five briskets or something, you know. And so you. I grew out of that one, so it's like, all right, let's get a bigger one made. And so we made a bigger one.
[00:35:53] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:35:53] Speaker B: Add more briskets to there.
[00:35:55] Speaker A: Do you want a shout out who makes them or. I mean, do you get it local made local?
[00:35:59] Speaker B: Yeah, there's a, there's a friend of mine. We kind of do it together, you know, let's put this here. Let's put this here.
[00:36:04] Speaker A: Like welding it.
[00:36:04] Speaker B: Yeah. He welds it together. Yeah, yeah. Sam, my boy Sam, you know, and so, you know, he put it together and we have it ready and. Yeah.
Drag it to the shop.
[00:36:13] Speaker A: Yeah. I wanted to get some welders on here, dude. So. Yeah, you weld like yourself?
[00:36:17] Speaker B: No, I don't.
[00:36:17] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:36:18] Speaker B: I just kind of like. Well, I was helping him. I was attacking a couple things and I was holding something. The last time I was doing the first one and he was in it.
I guess the people falling on me started burning.
Yeah, it was crazy. I'm not helping you no more.
[00:36:35] Speaker A: Yeah, there was a dude on Tick Tock, you probably follow him. I think his name is Homer, but he has this thing called.
So you want to be a welder, huh? That's like, that's his saying.
[00:36:43] Speaker B: Oh yeah.
[00:36:44] Speaker A: But he reached out and so we might get him on here. We had Nick Lopez also.
[00:36:48] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:36:48] Speaker A: He was working like at the Tesla factory unit in Austin or something like that. So that, that was interesting. So rapid fire. Is there any, you got any comments there on your Facebook?
[00:36:56] Speaker B: Yeah, let me see. I've tried.
I don't know. Let me see here. We had slice brisket, highly recommended.
Judy, let's see if we got here.
Stacy. 100 recommended. You know what I mean?
[00:37:13] Speaker A: Nice. Yeah, yeah. I wanted to. Let me read your. I wanted to read your, your. The, the Google.
The go. What Google says, like the reviews.
[00:37:22] Speaker B: Right, right.
[00:37:23] Speaker A: Yeah. Because like Google like now it, it actually AI's it and it takes all the reviews juice and it puts it like in this one paragraph. It's very interesting what they do.
And I wanted to read that for you. It says people say this barbecue restaurant serves juicy smoky and tender brisket as well as delicious pulled pork, beef ribs and chicken. They highlight the reasonable prices and generous portions. They also like the friendly family owned staff and fast service.
4.9 star.
Dude. How you feel about that?
[00:37:56] Speaker B: That's good. That's good. You know, and so we get customers that come in that are visiting from out of state, you know, from out of town. And they Google, you know, best barbecue or not best or barbecue near me or something, you know, and so they said that our, our ratings were high and you know, the reviews. Cool, man. Appreciate it, you know, so that helps. Yeah. Yeah. They're coming to a little hole in the wall, you know, and so. And then they like it, you know, and so we get. We get, you know, we get a customer.
[00:38:22] Speaker A: That's awesome. Awesome. Joyce Garcia says success takes time, but innovation is daily with Joe G Boy Garcia, since I've known and watched, is always reinventing his craft. Wow. Garcia.
Garcia's roots run deep, but there's nothing that he can't do. Love you, brother. Super proud. Awesome.
[00:38:41] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't know who that is.
Nah, that's my sister.
My sister Joyce. She helps out at the shop, too, whenever she.
[00:38:48] Speaker A: She's working.
[00:38:49] Speaker B: Yeah, she helps out, too, whenever. Whenever we. Yeah, we got some extra. We need to. We'll call in a whole bunch of people.
[00:38:55] Speaker A: Yeah. So. So once, I guess, like talking about family and stuff like that, sometimes when you start business, people think you're making money. Family come out of the woodwork, right? Does that happen? Like, has that happen?
[00:39:04] Speaker B: Of course. You know, it's kind of like, hey, you. You know it's gonna happen, right? Yeah, yeah. Like, no, I don't have. My money's not long. I don't got money like that. Sorry.
[00:39:11] Speaker A: You know, you may think, right, you.
[00:39:13] Speaker B: Know, you may see all these people lining up, coming and paying me money, but, you know, I gotta go buy. Buy more stuff, you know?
[00:39:19] Speaker A: You know, Indiana walking stick on. On Instagram, he said, because I was put. What would you ask Joe? Right, Right. And he was like, I would ask him how come I can't go to the front of the line.
[00:39:28] Speaker B: You got to pay a little extra. And then you, you know, I mean.
[00:39:31] Speaker A: Like, yeah, it's awesome, man. Do you think you're. You're. You're reinventing your craft? Like.
[00:39:37] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Constantly. Constantly, you know, from. From, you know, and it becomes. You become blessed and highly favored. You know what I mean? So anything that you put your hands on, you know what I mean? It's going to be. It's going to be. It's going to be good. It's going to, you know, it's going to flourish, you know, and you just got to have the mindset of like, okay, this is going to work. This is. This is what I'm doing. And, you know, ain't nobody can't stop me, you know.
[00:39:56] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:39:56] Speaker B: You can. Only yourself is the only person that. That's going to stop you. You know, I'm just trying to be better than I was yesterday last week, you know, that's My only competition. Yeah.
[00:40:04] Speaker A: So it's not just barbecue. I mean, it's your.
[00:40:06] Speaker B: Yourself, Their whole mental. Your whole mentality, you know what I mean? From waking up to going to start it, to like, man, I ain't trying to do this.
[00:40:15] Speaker A: How do you come up. How do you like, end up with that mindset, you know?
[00:40:18] Speaker B: Because, Yeah, I mean, it. You just kind of, you just kind of have to. This, this, you know.
[00:40:23] Speaker A: Yeah, you said like blessed and highly favored. That's, that's like. Cuz I've heard, I've been, I've talked in like Christian circles. Would you say that you're like a religious person or.
[00:40:31] Speaker B: It's, I mean, it's not, it's not religious. You know, I have more of a relationship, you know, with, with. With God, you know, and so I, I want to be able to, to be able to put that into my foundation. How I, you know, I'm. How I move, you know, and so, because I changed my life, so you got to be able to be positive in a lot of things you do. So whenever something negative happens, you know, you're able to like, okay, you know, know what it's. Make that into? Let's make that into something a better, you know, let's make it good for something that's bad, it's turned into something that's good.
[00:41:01] Speaker A: Wow. When I look at all your tattoos and stuff, I'm like, has he always been like. Cuz, like just talking about your personality right now, like, it's awesome, right? And it's like, has he always been like this? You know what I mean?
[00:41:11] Speaker B: Yeah, I was born with them. They.
They appeared, you know, Sometimes I just got to freshen them up.
[00:41:17] Speaker A: Joey Nevado says your cousins want to know if you have a family discount.
[00:41:21] Speaker B: Family discount? Yeah. That's on a secret Men.
[00:41:24] Speaker A: The secret menu.
[00:41:25] Speaker B: You got. You got to bring in like five people and then you get a discount.
[00:41:29] Speaker A: Hey, come on.
[00:41:30] Speaker B: You know what? I wanted to bring out those old school. You know, they used to stamp the little cards because you came in.
[00:41:33] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:41:34] Speaker B: And then at the end of the card you get a free something. Yeah, I might, I might bring those back, you know, dude, for sure.
[00:41:39] Speaker A: Hell yeah. That's awesome, man. Oh, shoot, real quick. I wanted to. So we got. We're almost at 45 minute. I wanted to shout out some people that have been on the Instagram also and the Tick tock. That just real quick.
So we got Rob Coffin E. Morales, Recycled Corn Podcast Hero Garage Isaac Cruz Sanchez, the Almighty Public Zoo Samurai Blitz David Guetter, Marty McPies, Hype Bike Sam and Louise.
My Mother's Name is Nature Tex Mex 361 Snack Daddies, Gratitude, Texas. Another band in the Iron Crypt Gym. These. They commented on one of my videos recently, so I was just. Was just shouting them out. There's some people on the Tik Tok Live that were there. I did a per A live on Friday, which I'm trying to do every Friday.
We had Garza Vil A Meg Sheridan, Joshua Mar Paranormal, the Officiant, Renee, and Drift Goon Garage. Thanks a lot, you guys for being on the live chat and commenting on the Instagram. Yeah, man. So let's do some. We're almost. We're about wrapping it up. Let's do some rapid fire fire questions, I guess.
[00:42:47] Speaker B: Steven Smith Wick.
[00:42:48] Speaker A: Yeah, go ahead.
[00:42:48] Speaker B: He. I've tried GWS and far, and this man's barbecue is on that level. So thank you.
[00:42:53] Speaker A: Gws.
[00:42:54] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:42:54] Speaker A: Tell. Tell me about. So GWS is like a famous.
[00:42:57] Speaker B: I don't know. I don't know. It's in far.
[00:43:00] Speaker A: Far. Oh, far Texas.
[00:43:01] Speaker B: Yeah, it's in far Texas. Yeah.
[00:43:02] Speaker A: David Guetta, he says for those of us on the out of town.
Can you share one more time the address and the hours of operation?
Last time we were in Corpus, most of the barbecue shops were closed.
[00:43:14] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a top secret.
So it's at 4709 Castor. 4709 Castor. And it's every Wednesday through Saturday from 11 to 2. 11 to sell out. Best time is get there at 11, you know, because there's times where, you know, the customers are the ones that are buying all the product, you know, and. And so, you know, we can't always. Can't always say we have so much to last so long, you know.
[00:43:40] Speaker A: Yeah, get there early, bro. Cuz like I'm saying, I'm looking on your Facebook and you're like, like always, like, so sold out. Yeah, see y' all next time. Sold out. Yeah, see y' all next time. Which is amazing, dude. So, yeah, David, it's 47.
[00:43:52] Speaker B: 4709.
[00:43:53] Speaker A: 4709. Stores Wednesday through Saturday. Wednesday through Saturday. Sorry, man. I got like time blindness. We were like start. I was trying to schedule you, bro.
[00:44:02] Speaker B: Right.
[00:44:03] Speaker A: I kept on getting the times wrong. I put the times wrong on Facebook.
[00:44:06] Speaker B: Yeah, 4:30. I was like, are you sure?
[00:44:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:44:09] Speaker B: 4:30. Or is it we six? What's going on?
[00:44:12] Speaker A: Just hit me over. Hit him over there. Hey, bro. You got it or not?
Yeah. Thanks a lot. Sounds good. Let's start. Line starts behind me. Yes, sir.
Yes, sir. David G. Got the Walking Leader podcast.
[00:44:25] Speaker B: There you go.
[00:44:26] Speaker A: Walking Leader podcast. Check him out.
Yeah, man. Is there anything you want to. Want to add, I guess, before we kind of wrap it up?
[00:44:33] Speaker B: Just thanks to. Thanks to the customers, really, man. Those are the ones that keep us. Keep us still here, you know, going on six years, you know, so.
[00:44:39] Speaker A: Years, bro.
[00:44:39] Speaker B: Yeah. And so, you know, it's them that. That continue to keep, you know, keep me keep moving, you know, you keep on buying the product, I'm gonna keep making it, you know, and so that's what. And I'm gonna keep trying to keep trying to make the food as consistent, as good, you know, as possible. We have our bad days, you know, and so I try to make that bad day something like, you know, hey, it's good.
[00:44:56] Speaker A: Make it a good day.
[00:44:57] Speaker B: Yeah, it's gonna be a good day. We're gonna work around and do something to where your product's still going to make it, man.
[00:45:02] Speaker A: It's awesome, dude. Hey, I really like your outlook. Luck on life, as far as, like, reinventing yourself and just keeping yourself on the other side, stepping up, you know what I mean? And I think that that channels into your. Your business.
[00:45:12] Speaker B: Right, right. Positive. You got to stay. You know, there's so much negativity in this world that you gotta. You gotta just. Just keep a. Keep ahead on and just keep it positive and keep it moving.
[00:45:21] Speaker A: I mean, how. I'm just so real quick on that. Like, I talk about corpus and stuff. How do you feel like, about. I mean, the city, where it's going? Do you. What do you think about the barbecue culture in the city? I mean, what are your thoughts on that as far as, like, Corpus goes?
[00:45:35] Speaker B: Yeah, it's. It's. It's growing and it's growing slow. You know what I mean? It kind of. Everything kind of tends to skip us and go. To go, you know, up north, but we're getting there in a way of where we. We. We could be. But the barbecue scene. Yeah, it needs. Yeah, we can we. It be like Austin and San Antonio and, you know, you know, there's a whole bunch of options, barbecue places out there that brings that culture that much more rich. Brings that the city that much more. Like, man, we have them, we have them, we have them, we have them. And so you have more options. You know what I mean? You know, so it's like there's a variety of different, different, different Barbecue that tastes different, you know what I mean? And so, you know, that's what, that's what's going to bring it. The more we have what we have, the more it's just gonna bring more in our city, you know.
[00:46:16] Speaker A: Interesting, interesting. So, so I guess the more people doing it or the more people actually bringing the craft to light, right?
[00:46:24] Speaker B: You would think, you know, it's gonna, it's gonna continue to make it that much more, you know, like, hey, I'm here in the city now. Where's it at? There's one here. There's one here. One here. Like. Yeah, that's, there's only a couple, you.
[00:46:33] Speaker A: Know, so, so it depends on us. You would say like.
[00:46:35] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, it depends on. Yeah, you know, because there' close down that, you know, when I, since I've been doing it that it's like, man, you know, it's, it's hard. So it's, the more that we support, you know, the food locally, you know, the food got to taste good too because not corpus is going to spit you out, you know, they're going to eat you and spit you and you know, they gotta, you know, you gotta be, you gotta be good, you know, with the food and so, you know, but the food's good, you know, customers gonna love it. They're gonna keep coming, you know, they're gonna support you regardless, you know. So that's just the thing is the support from, from the, from our customers and from the city and from whatever we do, you know.
[00:47:07] Speaker A: Yeah, like that, that's awesome, man. That.
So you got a website? You got a website. Is there another way to like find you? I guess. I mean, how can people follow you online?
[00:47:17] Speaker B: Yeah, you can go to the, the website. It's just a website menu.
Top secretbbq.com. yeah, so it just gives you all the arcade prices and, and the everyday.
[00:47:25] Speaker A: Prices, dude, just real quick like I really like your website. It's very simple and I think that that's how restaurants to do it.
[00:47:31] Speaker B: Right, right.
[00:47:32] Speaker A: Put your menu on there. Just put contact information where you're at. That's all people need on the website. They don't need all these pages and all. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, sorry about that. Sorry to cut you off, man.
[00:47:41] Speaker B: Oh, you're good, you're.
[00:47:42] Speaker A: Yeah. So you got the website and then.
[00:47:44] Speaker B: I guess the Instagram too.
And then of course Tick Tock, Facebook, you know, all the platforms that, that have us on there. So it's been going good.
Support from, from, from all of them too. You Know.
[00:47:56] Speaker A: Nice, bro.
Real quick. So rapid fire. What's your favorite cut of meat?
[00:48:02] Speaker B: I don't know. I would say the brisket.
[00:48:03] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:48:04] Speaker B: The marble. The marble brisket. The marble brisket. Marble brisket.
[00:48:07] Speaker A: Oh, favorite side dish, Right.
[00:48:09] Speaker B: Well, since we came out with credit spaghetti. That Mexican spaghetti that's kind.
That I've been. I need to have. Yeah.
[00:48:16] Speaker A: Whoa. Nice. Barbecue sauce. Sweet, spicy or no sauce?
[00:48:20] Speaker B: No sauce, but I'm a dipper, so, you know, I'mma dip on the sauce. So. Yeah, you know, either way, you know, a little tangy, little spicy.
[00:48:27] Speaker A: Hey, I'm a no sauce, dude. When I ate you, when I had yours, I was like, it's got to be good with no sauce. Let's try it.
[00:48:33] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:48:33] Speaker A: Good, bro. It's good. It's good. Got to try it. Craziest thing that's happened during a cook.
[00:48:38] Speaker B: Craziest thing that happened during a cook.
I don't know. Let me see.
Probably almost burning the meat. Probably.
There's times I put it in there and then I open the pin. I'm like, oh, this is done.
You know, we're out of here. Let's go.
You know, so I gotta pay attention a little more.
[00:48:56] Speaker A: Barbecue hack or kitchen trick?
[00:48:59] Speaker B: Barbecue hack or kitchen trick?
I don't know. Let me see. There's always. There's always things that you do that. That kind of worked out. Like, oh, man, that was, you know, they made my job a little easier. It made something, you know, hack. I mean, I don't know. There's. There not really a hack. It's just, you know, I mean.
[00:49:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
You know what I like, like is when. When. When you got the black gloves on, it just makes it seem like professional, you know, somebody or not even that, like, because it. Because when you're getting a tattoo, like the black. He's wearing the black.
[00:49:30] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm about to tattoo this, you know. Yeah, the same thing, you know, you're.
[00:49:34] Speaker A: Carving with the hobby outside of bar barbecue.
[00:49:38] Speaker B: I don't know. I like playing darts.
[00:49:40] Speaker A: Oh, no kidding?
[00:49:41] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Darkly dart league and so.
[00:49:44] Speaker A: Dude, that's cool.
[00:49:45] Speaker B: Some trophies. I want people out there in the steel tip, you know?
Yeah, they support me too, man. They come into the shop also too. All like our family, you know, because I've been had. Did it for so long. So they come in too, and they, they.
[00:49:57] Speaker A: You know, there's like teams in town or.
[00:49:58] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Soft tip and. And steel tip.
[00:50:01] Speaker A: Dude, I got to get some of those dudes on here. That's awesome, man.
[00:50:03] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, that's pretty cool.
[00:50:04] Speaker A: That's cool. Well, man, Joe, thanks a lot for coming into to the podcast.
[00:50:08] Speaker B: Appreciate it.
[00:50:09] Speaker A: Yeah. If there's any other. Is there any other people that want to shout something out on there?
[00:50:13] Speaker B: Stacy, ribs are on point.
Melanie, Best, brisket.
Let me see what else we got right here, Ralph. Best Q in town, hands down. Thank you, Ralph. You know, the support, you know what I mean? It's kind of like, you know, it. It. It just keeps you. It keeps you moving, you know, I mean, keeps you still wanting to keep doing it, you know, I mean, because if you're not getting any support or any customers, you know, it's squeeze. It's gonna. It's gonna put you in a way like, you know what? You know, what am I even doing? Why am I doing?
[00:50:39] Speaker A: I was so thinking that before I came here. Yeah, yeah, dude, for real. Like, I was like, people even, like the part. People even like, this. What am I doing?
[00:50:46] Speaker B: Yeah. Like, I get no reactions. Nobody's even, you know.
[00:50:49] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:50:49] Speaker B: You know what? You know, and it. And that's what. That's what I'm saying. That's how you got to stay positive. Because if not, that's. That's going to shut you down before you even get started. You know what I mean? That's going to be like your mind. Mind's the battlefield, you know what I'm saying? You constantly think all day long, and so you got to be able to, you know, let's turn that around. And. And I'm gonna keep doing what I'm doing regardless of somebody showing. People are watching, regardless. So.
[00:51:12] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:51:12] Speaker B: You know, just. Just keep it moving. You know what I mean?
[00:51:14] Speaker A: So that. So that thoughts. Those thoughts are going to be there. I guess that's the normal part of life, right?
[00:51:18] Speaker B: Right. You know, like, man, there's nobody showing me love. There's somebody this and that, you know, and the more you not think about that, the less you think about it.
[00:51:24] Speaker A: You know, so don't dwell on it.
[00:51:25] Speaker B: Right? No, because that's where we get ourselves sick, you know, we start thinking about, you know, man, this and that. No support, no this, no that. And, you know, you just got to keep it. Keep it positive and positive. Just keep it going. And by the time you know it, yeah, you're going to. You're going to be where you want to be.
[00:51:38] Speaker A: I talk to my wife, like, I'll. I'll tell her, hey, my mind overthinking on this and stuff like that. Do you. Do you.
[00:51:44] Speaker B: Do that, like, there's times, you know, I try not to question myself.
[00:51:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:51:48] Speaker B: Because, you know, whatever I'm thinking or wanting to do, questioning myself, will keep you from. From accomplishing it. So what I do is I just give ideas out and. To the. To the. To like, the family, my kids and wife and stuff. Like, hey, what do you think about this? What do you think about that? You know, and their ideas help me flourish and think. Like, okay, you know what? That's a good idea. Let's add it to it. Or let's do this.
[00:52:08] Speaker A: Or does every idea make. Make the. Make.
[00:52:11] Speaker B: Not every idea.
[00:52:12] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:52:12] Speaker B: What happens is sometimes if somebody has a good idea, then we kind of go around the idea and. And, you know, let's perfect it and just kind of go around and.
[00:52:20] Speaker A: Cool.
[00:52:20] Speaker B: See what we can do with that, you know?
[00:52:21] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, I like that. I like that. That ideas don't have to necessarily make the cut, you know?
[00:52:25] Speaker B: Right.
[00:52:26] Speaker A: And they can just be ideas.
[00:52:27] Speaker B: Right, right.
[00:52:28] Speaker A: So people get upset. Oh, yeah. Like my idea or. You know what I mean?
[00:52:31] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just, you know, it's an idea. It's a suggestion. We're going to use it or not. It may work next week, may work next year.
[00:52:39] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:52:39] Speaker B: You know, but right now it's not. It's not working.
[00:52:41] Speaker A: Cool, man. Yeah, that's awesome.
[00:52:43] Speaker B: You know, but. Yeah, no, but thanks to everybody, man. That. That.
[00:52:47] Speaker A: Yeah. Desiree Garcia says, top secret barbecue and catering. Best barbecue in town.
[00:52:51] Speaker B: Yeah. Yep, yep.
[00:52:52] Speaker A: Nice, man.
[00:52:52] Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you, Joe.
[00:52:54] Speaker A: Hey, dude, thanks for coming in, man. Thanks for having this chat with me. Anything to let. Let the listeners know before we go.
[00:53:00] Speaker B: Every Wednesday through Saturday from 11 to 2 or. Or sell out. You know, come, come. Continue to keep supporting what we got going on. You know, a little hoe in the back, hoe in the. In the wall. Backyard barbecue. You know what I mean? Like, you know, let's, let's. Let's keep it going. The more support we have, the longer we're going to be around, you know what I mean?
[00:53:18] Speaker A: And so, yeah, be careful in that. Going into that parking lot. That street's busy right there. But once you get.
[00:53:23] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, once you. Once you park, you're good.
But. Yeah, it's a parking lot. You know, the parking's kind of small, so.
[00:53:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:53:29] Speaker B: You know, get there. And that's what's cool, is that we start seeing a line start forming.
[00:53:32] Speaker A: Oh, you.
[00:53:33] Speaker B: Yeah, they're like. We start getting the line, and so it's like, what?
[00:53:35] Speaker A: Like, Like, I want to go to. Yeah, yeah.
[00:53:38] Speaker B: Like we start getting the line. Like man, that's.
[00:53:40] Speaker A: That's a good feeling, man.
[00:53:41] Speaker B: Yeah, it is, it is. And that's what keeps it like. You know what man, these people are waiting, you know, to. To try this food or they get their food, you know, like man, let's go, let's go. Wow.
[00:53:48] Speaker A: Let's go. That's awesome, man. Well, Joe, thanks a lot, man. I keep saying this is the. This is what I call the Hispanic goodbye. Like we say goodbye.
[00:53:54] Speaker B: We got.
[00:53:55] Speaker A: Keep talking. Yeah, yeah, keep talking.
[00:53:57] Speaker B: Exactly right.
[00:53:58] Speaker A: Next time, you know, you're like 12:12pm yeah.
[00:54:01] Speaker B: This thing going.
[00:54:02] Speaker A: Yeah, man. Thanks a lot, Joe. This is awesome. I hope some more people find out about you through the podcast.
[00:54:08] Speaker B: Alex Martinez.
[00:54:09] Speaker A: Martinez.
[00:54:10] Speaker B: What it do best. You know what I mean? So yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:54:13] Speaker A: Alex Martinez. Thanks a lot. Is that Skateboard Universal?
Shout out to him.
[00:54:18] Speaker B: Yeah, y.
[00:54:19] Speaker A: But yeah, shout out to the uh, the.
There's producer back there. Maya. Thanks a lot for producing the show. Check out corpus christi originals.com for merch and hats and T shirts and stuff like that. Also I got a actual web page for the podcast called CCO OriginalsPodcast.com and you can find previous interviews and previous stuff like that. We also got a.
In the market for sponsors actually I just put a page out there for just cc originals podcast.com sponsor if you want to sponsor the show.
If you like what we're doing here. We don't just sponsor you on the actual long form podcast. We sponsor you on TikTok on Instagram. We put the tag, we put an address on the post. Just depending on the type of sponsorship that you sponsor us with. But until next time you guys, thanks a lot. Corpse Christie Ridgels. We're out. Thanks a lot.
[00:55:09] Speaker B: Appreciate it.
