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May 24, 2025 46 mins

The focal point of today's discourse centers upon the endeavors of Operation Barbecue Relief, as we welcome back Stan Hayes, a figure of considerable import within the barbecue community and a stalwart advocate for disaster relief. Throughout our conversation, we delve into the organization's impressive outreach, which has recently culminated in the provision of nearly 1.6 million meals to communities ravaged by disaster. Furthermore, we explore the upcoming event at Aena Casino, where the organization will impart invaluable knowledge regarding the business of barbecue vending, a topic of great interest to both seasoned and aspiring barbecue enthusiasts. In addition, our dialogue touches upon the significant expansion of Operation Barbecue Relief's initiatives, including its strategic collaborations with various organizations aimed at enhancing support for veterans and first responders. As we navigate these themes, we invite our audience to engage with the mission of Operation Barbecue Relief, highlighting the profound impact of culinary philanthropy in fostering community resilience and solidarity.

Links referenced in this episode:


Companies mentioned in this episode:

  • Operation Barbecue Relief
  • Heritage Steel
  • Painting Hills
  • Hammer Stahl
  • Sonny's Barbecue
  • Bob Woodruff Foundation
  • Ala na

Mentioned in this episode:

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This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:12):
It's time for Barbecue Nationwith jt.
So fire up your grill, lightthe charcoal, and get your smoker
cooking.
Now from the Turn It, Don'tBurn it studios in Portland.
Here's jt.
Hey, everybody.
Welcome to the nation.
I jt, along with my co host,Leanne Whippen, hall of Famer.
There'll be new news next weekabout hall of Fame inductees this

(00:34):
year.
Too exciting.
So that's exciting.
Coming to you from the TurnIt, Don't Burn it studios in Portland
and Tampa.
Today, we've got a friend ofthe show and we've been on here a
number of times, and it'salways great information.
Stan Hayes from OperationBarbecue Relief.
Stan and his crew are comingup in my neck of the woods in June,

(00:56):
but they've got other stuffgoing on, so we're going to cover
everything for the next hour.
Stan, welcome.
Thank you, guys.
I appreciate you having meback on.
No problem.
So let's take it from the top.
You're coming back up here in June.
I think it's the 14th.
That area working with AlenaCasino, they have a big barbecue

(01:18):
fest.
Aena does, and Stan's beenpart of it now for several years
with obr.
And it's kind of interestingwhat you do, and I'm just going to
let you tell us about it.
Yeah, well, you know, we wereone of the, you know, inaugural groups,
if you will, that were part,that was part of the barbecue fest.
And what we ended up doing,you know, we've done vending, we've

(01:41):
done classes there, we've done demos.
And, and this year, insteadof, you know, doing the same class
that we've been doing, like abarbecue academy one day class on
a couple of different meets,you know, one of the things that
we've been hearing is, man,I'd like to learn more about vending
or, hey, how you guys do this.
And we thought, why don't weput together a class, the business

(02:03):
of barbecue vending?
You know, what it takes to,you know, really put on, you know,
and go to an event, you know,so what we're going to do is we're
going to talk to them about,you know, how we price things, how
we, you know, how we figureout how much we're going to take
based on what they believethe, the attendance is going to be

(02:25):
for an event and really getinto, you know, how we plan for it
before we ever get there.
You know, what we're lookingto buy, you know, why we choose,
why we're choosing, what we'rechoosing for the event and you know,
we're going to do, know thisyear we're going to do two different
meats, you know, for this and,and we were asked to do ribs as one

(02:45):
of them pork ribs and, and puton the show because when we, when
you do pork ribs, you know,you just can't pull them out, slice
them and hand them to them.
You got to have the, the grillout front and caramelize them and
do, do some of that show withit to really bring people over.
But if we can get beef ribs, Idon't know that somebody's going
to spend the amount of moneyyou want for a beef rib, but, man,

(03:07):
they make great sliders too.
So we're looking at doing abeef slider.
We're not sure what it's goingto be, whether it'll be that, whether
it'll be brisket, whetherit'll be chuck roast or, you know,
beef clod.
I mean, it could be, you know,and we're looking at that.
You know, obviously we'retrying to use our relationships and

(03:29):
get everything donated.
So all the proceeds benefitthe organization.
Right.
You know, ALA has been greatto work with over the years and they
really, you know, they'rereally working with us to make this
happen.
I'm doing this with a team of volunteers.
I'm not going to bring in anyof my team this year.
I'm bringing in some of thepeople that we've been training in

(03:49):
our lead positions that wantto do more on disaster.
So these are, these are peoplethat have already stepped up to do
more.
And so it's a little bit of athank you, but a little bit of hey,
thank you with work involved.
Right.
And for us, you know, theywill, we'll go through that business

(04:10):
of barbecue piece, but thenwe're going to get them hands on.
You know, we'll, we'll tellthem why and show them why we do
what we do around.
Like I said, you know, to me,at a festival like that, if you're
not out front with a, with abig party grill based in the ribs
so they can smell it, see it,you know, and, and then passing those

(04:31):
ribs over to get cut for thosepeople, you're missing out on an
opportunity because that drawspeople in at those events, you know,
and then the little thingsthat we've learned over the years
about, about this, we want tobe able to give to them.
So, yeah, it's, it's, it's agood way to get our, get volunteers
and get People engaged.
But it's also a way thatpeople that may have interest in

(04:54):
vending and getting moreinvolved in barbecue of how to do
that can learn.
I think there's two importantthings you need to include in this.
They need to bring.
Bring two books, theircheckbook and their prayer book.
Because if you get the numberswrong, you know what that means?
Oh, yeah, absolutely.

(05:15):
You know, and, and you know,we're going off of experience, you
know, because we've done this.
Now, the vending side of it,like I think three out of five years,
this will be the third one.
And, and we know what, whatour numbers have been in the past
and we know what other vendorsdid like.
And we also.
Last year they got caught off guard.
Last year was one of the yearsI didn't vend and they got caught

(05:39):
off guard because Ala na gaveall their high rollers like a $50
seed, you know, because theydo it all off of a little wristband,
you know, where you tap andpay well.
They gave all of those highrollers, I'll call them a dollar
fifty, you know, like credit.
Right, right.
And then, you know, they hooktheir credit card up to it.

(05:59):
I mean, they threw.
Flew through money because theway you can just go around tapping
stuff and tapping for beer,tapping for food, tapping for this.
But what they weren'tanticipating is they didn't know
about that 50 bump.
And that was about 200 andsomething people that got that and
vendors were flying.

(06:20):
I mean, food was flying off.
I was sitting there behind thescenes and with our class last year
grilling extra tri tips forone of the groups because they were
so far behind that they neededproteins, you know, and they were
bringing them over and we'regrilling them and having the students
help with it, you know, to, tokeep up with the demand.

(06:44):
Right.
So I mean, it, it's always alogistical nightmare.
You know, I'm actually, youknow, right now I'm using their equipment
and they don't have a lot ofbig equipment.
So I'm going to be pre cookingsome stuff, you know.
And you know, the nice thingabout combi ovens is, man, you can't
tell the difference when youreheat something in the combi versus,

(07:08):
you know, other other ways.
But you know, I'm still thekind of guy that would like to be
pulling off ribs fresh, youknow, throwing them on that grill
and doing that.
So I'm working to try to findan old hickory up in that area that
we can get up in there to bein our Spot.
We're, you know, we're.

(07:30):
Excuse me.
There's a saying around here.
It's been here for years.
Keep Portland weird.
And there's merit to that on alot of different issues and levels.
But we're not huge.
Huge barbecue country likeKansas City, if you like.
Yeah.
And so sometimes it's hard.
I mean there's some vetvendors that sell those types of

(07:52):
cookers, but they're notalways readily available up here.
I mean if you, if you wanted aWeber kettle or even a Traeger, you're
in the home turf right here.
You know what I mean?
So it's, it's tough on thatthe, and they've moved it up this
year, haven't they?
Date wise from previous.
So they, it's, it's reallymoving it back to where you.

(08:14):
It was in the earlier years.
Okay.
Last year they, they were,they were way, you know, they moved
back over a month, about sixweeks further back.
And, and it's, you know, justthings that are going on.
They've had a lot of, gonethrough a lot of management change
at Alanae from the casino sideand looking at it and, and you, you'll

(08:39):
notice this year's BarbecueFest does not have the slew of, of
celebrity chefs that it has inthe past.
You know, it's got, it's gotsome influencers and it has some,
you know, people that, thathave, you know, big networks and
stuff.
But it doesn't, it's, it's notthe, you know, you're not going to

(09:02):
see Michael Simon or.
Well, at least I've been toldyou're not going to see Michael Simon
or, or Jet Tila or theseothers that they've been bringing
in over the last few years asthey've gotten, this has gotten larger
and larger.
I mean they, they're expectingover 5,000 people between Saturday
and Sunday and they're,they're four hour SL.

(09:22):
So you bought, you know, youbuy your ticket for a four hour slot
to come there and it'll beSunday, you know, Saturday afternoon,
Saturday evening or Sunday afternoon.
So.
Well, it's a, it's a big event.
I mean it's turned into a big event.
They're still doing thebarbecue contest, you know, and,

(09:44):
and they've expanded that to,to, for bigger space to bring in
more teams and, and they wantto grow that more as well.
Yeah, well, they've got themoney to do it.
Why did they cut the celebrity chefs?
They did, they didn't, theydidn't see the, the need for at least

(10:07):
the full number of them anddidn't see a cop.
You know, the, the, thereciprocal increase in, in attendance.
Yeah.
For having those big names.
And so they're like, hey, whyare we spending money to bring these
people, big money to bringthese people in when we're not seeing
like a huge spike in the numbers?

(10:27):
Because we have these people.
And so they've been playingwith them with different festivals
and not having as many of thebig names and numbers haven't gone
down.
People are coming out for thefood, for the experience.
And not necessarily, you know,because somebody like Michael Simon
or Aaron Mayer is getting upon stage and doing a demo.

(10:50):
Yeah, yeah, And I canunderstand that.
I mean, it's, it's, it's greatto have them.
They're a wealth ofinformation and personality and all
that.
But again, that kind of keepPortland weird crowd, even though
it's across the river inVancouver, if you will.
But you know what I mean, it'sjust those things have never been

(11:12):
huge, huge draws.
And I understand why they didit, but I understand why they brought
them in originally.
But I think they're right.
And I think you're rightthere, Stan, that if it made a difference
of a 15% bump in youraudience, the cost might be worth
it, you know, but if you'renot seeing 10% to 20% increase in

(11:36):
your warm bodies out there ondoing it, that can be a big expense.
Yeah.
And you know, those guysaren't cheap.
I mean, and gals, you know,and, and for me, it was great because
I, I've met many of them.
We've had a chance of, of, youknow, building relationships with
many of them so I get to seethem at these events.

(11:59):
But for me, that's not why I'm there.
You know, I'm there because Iget a chance to work with, you know,
first responders and veteransand, you know, and, and the business,
the barbecue class, we'restill focused on, you know, trying
to get the veterans and firstresponders around the area that are
interested to come out, butwe're opening it up a little bit,

(12:20):
you know, because we're alsotrying to build the, our base of
volunteers.
You know, the PacificNorthwest has been lucky in, in many
ways.
You know, you guys have hadyour fires and, and, and they've
been some bad ones, but therecould be, it could be much worse.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
There's not a lot of humanexposure to that, you know, the after

(12:44):
effects of smoke and whatever,but we don't have like, they have
in la.
Big residential areas beingwiped out.
We're going to take a break.
We're going to be back withStan Hayes, Leanne and myself right
here on the Nation right after this.
Stay with us.

(13:07):
Hey, everybody, it's Jeff here.
I want to tell you aboutsomething really cool.
Heritage steel cookware.
I just got mine.
I do a lot of cooking and it'sgot five ply construction.
Stay cool handles.
It's titanium strengthened.
It's got all the great stuff.
Just go to HeritageSteel usand find out more.
You'll love it, I guarantee it.

(13:38):
Welcome back to the Nation.
I'm J.T.
along with Ms.
Whippen.
She's busy, this boy.
She's just trying to get heron the phone someday, I'll tell you
that.
It's, it's tough out there.
If you want to follow theshow, we're on all the social media
platforms and all the podcastplatforms and excuse me, Leanne has
her Instagram, which she's gotabout 9 million people that follow

(14:01):
her on that.
I've got mine, which I havethree, and of course Facebook and
Twitter and all that.
So we're pretty easy to find.
Like I said, we've got StanHayes with us.
Stan's been on the show anumber of times from Operation Barbecue
Relief, the Carolinas, thestorms they had there, all through

(14:21):
that swath of the South.
And I followed it.
You know, I watched your postsand stuff, how you were, you were
responding to things.
This isn't so much about theinstantaneous response, but are you
still in some of those areason occasion helping or what's going
on back there?
Yeah, so especially in westernNorth Carolina, we have, you know,

(14:44):
we were there for over a month.
We left, but we've been backsubsequently probably five or six
different times to dodifferent things in different communities.
Most recently over Easter, we,we did meals for four different communities,
sort of centralized it in oneone of those communities and then
sent it out to threeadditional communities to do a few

(15:05):
thousand meals, you know, toget out to those people because it's
amazing that, you know, it's adouble edged sword really for, you
know, many of them live therebecause they want to be left alone.
Right, right.
You know, they, they, theydon't want government interaction,
they don't want, you know,sometimes people interaction.
But when something like thishappens, you know, we have to do

(15:28):
better.
You know, I mean, you used tohave people that live in intense,
they lived through the winter intense.
I mean, how, how can that be,you know, with, with, with everything
that we have today.
And, and so we, we did it.
You know, when you saw theresponse to the LA fires was greater
than what happened in westernNorth Carolina, you know, it just,

(15:50):
that's politics at work.
Right?
And, and I'm not a political person.
I don't like to play gameslike that, but I think it was just
glaringly obvious what washappening and, and we were in la.
I mean, don't get me wrong, wewent out there because there was
a huge need and we were, youknow, we were asked to come out and.
But it doesn't compare in my,in, in my eyes of, you know, when

(16:12):
you look at what happened outthere and, and we'll continue through
this year, you know, probablyevery other month, almost every third
month, we've got somethingplanned to go back in there and do
thousands of meals, you know,with different groups and, and teaming
up with groups to, to continueto help up.
Because it's going to beprobably two years before many of
these people get back into,into their home if, if.

(16:35):
They have ever built.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know, you're, you're waysouth from where I am and from Stan
there.
Are they on the local news?
Are they covering the peoplein Carolinas or.
Occasionally, but, you know,occasionally they're covering la,

(17:00):
occasionally they're covering us.
And I mean, my daughter'shouse just got imploded two days
ago and the storm was quite awhile ago.
So I mean, it's going to be ayear before she even gets another
house.
So it's, it's touch and gowith the news.
It's, as you said, it's kindof political.

(17:22):
I have family in NorthCarolina and I know how devastating
it was and I feel that theygot slighted.
Well, for what they went through.
Even me sitting 3,000 milesaway, I thought they've always, they've
kind of turned their back onthem or just, you know, they came
in for the.
I promise not to get toopolitical here, folks, but the powers
that be at the time came infor the photo ops and yeah, we'll

(17:44):
do.
But it took a while to evenget them there and they did that
and then they left and then itjust kind of sat.
I think the most importantthing about the Carolinas is those
people didn't have insurancebecause they didn't expect this to
happen to them.
Whereas in Florida, you know,they have insurance or they should.
You know what I mean?

(18:04):
So when they lose something inthe Carolinas, it's not coming back
to them.
They lost it.
And I feel like that focus hasbeen lost.
You have a lot of generationalhomes that were paid off, you know,
handed down from family tofamily in some of those hollers and
some of those areas aroundthere that, you know, they didn't

(18:27):
see a need to have insurancebecause, you know, most people think
of insurance for that, youknow, know, tragedy and, and it,
and sometimes it becomes, youknow, that cost benefit.
Is it, is there a benefit tohaving it or not?
Unfortunately.
Right, right.
And when, when things are paidoff, you don't have a mortgage company
that tells you you have tohave it, you know, so.

(18:51):
But again, it is, There's alot going on now and there's a lot
more people involved and, andother groups that we've worked with,
that we've gone back andworked with, you know, are helping
in those efforts to getpeople, you know, a little bit more
situated.
You know, we worked with agroup that I think in one weekend

(19:14):
brought in a, they brought ina group of Amish from Pennsylvania,
Ohio area.
I saw that.
Yeah.
And they built 20 tiny homesin a weekend.
Amazing.
And, and I'm like, look, thisis what humanity is about right here.
You know, it wasn't thegovernment, it wasn't the state,

(19:34):
you know, it was non profitorganizations, church groups, civic
groups coming together to say,you know what, we're gonna have to
take this in our own hands.
Right, right.
No, I, I saw those news clipson that, Stan.
And you know, those Amishfolks, they got, they can build stuff,

(19:56):
you know, we all know thatthey can build stuff and they could
do it.
You know, they raise a barn inan afternoon, a huge barn, you know,
and they got the roof andsiding on.
By the end of the day, maybethe interior isn't finished.
But, you know, you, it's, it'sup, it's tangible at that point.
And I saw those clips aboutthe Amish coming into North Carolina

(20:18):
and building those littlehomes and stuff, and they were just
knocking it out.
You know, I thought that was impressive.
We're going to have to take abreak here in a minute, but what
I want to talk to you about isI think you came on the show the
first time, what, six yearsago or something?
It's been a while.
It's been a while.

(20:38):
Yeah.
And you were really startingto hit your stride with OBR then,
you know, and if you don'tknow what that stands for, it's Operation
Barbecue Relief.
All right, but when we comeback, I want to talk to you about
the expansion.
And now you have what I wantto say satellite divisions.
I'm going to let you explainit better than that around the country

(21:01):
where you can, you know, yourresponse can be as soon as they open
the gate, we can be there type thing.
All right, we're going to takea break.
We're going to be back withStan Hayes, Leanne and myself on
the Nation in just a second.
Got to listen to thecommercials, though.
But we'll be right back.

(21:27):
Hey, everybody, it's JT And Ihave eaten, if you've ever looked
at me, you know that.
But I have eaten seafood allover the world and I can tell you
there's no place better thanhere in Oregon and our Dungeness
crab.
If you want to learn moreabout Oregon Dungeness crab, just
go to oregondungeness.org findout how to cook it, how to catch
it, where to buy it, and thesustainability of what they're doing

(21:50):
there in the Oregon Crab Commission.
Check it out.
Welcome back to BarbecueNation Nation.
I'm jt.
One of the things we mentionevery week on this show has to do

(22:12):
with this blonde lady with asteak growing out of the back her
head right now, if you can seeher back picture.
Yeah, I was in a steak kind of mood.
Yeah, it's a beautiful looking steak.
Pig powder.
Love pig powder.
She's going to give us anupdate on that because it's a great
product.
You can go to pigpowder.comand order it.

(22:34):
And Leanne's the only one onthe show I ever let do this, so.
Yeah, and I appreciate that greatly.
It is available on Amazon as well.
And it is a rev, an awardwinning rub.
And you hear award winning alot with food and anything.
But it did win best rub on theplanet, which is a very big award.

(22:54):
It can be used on pork andchicken and french fries and baked
beans.
It's very versatile.
Jeff, you've used it a lot.
Yes.
And then we also have a spicypig powder coming out and that will
be on the site as soon as Ireceive it.
And some labeling changes, too.
I'm even gonna use it Fridayon a live show.

(23:16):
Oh, good.
I'll tell you what I'm doing then.
We'll get back to Stan here.
I'm doing a grilled chickenthigh with basil and then some mango
peach salsa on rice and somecouple of sides.
Oh, that sounds good.
Yeah, it's one of those things.
I went to the fridge and went,I didn't plan anything for dinner.

(23:37):
And so I yelled in the frontroom, shell just Got home, I said,
hey, how about some chickenand rice?
And she goes, sure.
Well, we had not to belaborthis, but we'd gone to Costco and
got one of those big peachmango salsa containers.
I don't know if they have themin your area, but they have them
up here.
So I did that and I got tothinking about it and I thought,
I can do that.
And so I used a little pigpowder on it.

(23:58):
Yeah, pig powder wouldcomplement peaches, mango, anything
like that.
Yeah, it's perfect.
So go to Amazon or go topigpowder.com I'll show you.
I'll send you a picture of thehero shot when we're done.
See it?
I want to see it.
Anyway, we're talking withStan Hayes today from Operation Barbecue
Relief.
And as we said going into thebreak, when Stan first came on the

(24:20):
show, they were just reallygaining traction and he'd been, he's
put a lot of years in on this.
So.
But now they not only havethat, they have their retreat farm,
if you will, where they cantail with veterans and, and as you
know, you hear me rail aboutit a lot that we need to do more

(24:42):
for our veterans and Stan hasfollowed those leads.
So bring us up to speed fromwhere you started, stan, to where
OBR is now.
Well, you know, this is our14th year actually tomorrow I believe.
So we're right on, on that,you know, already talking about 15

(25:07):
years what we're going to dofor a little celebration.
But as you look back at wherewe've come, you know, from, from
the days of a volunteer group,you know, caravanning around the
country to major disasters andfeeding communities to, you know,
last year we did 24 differentdisaster events across the country.

(25:28):
Just shy of 1.6 million mealsprovided to those communities after
disaster strikes and firstresponders and groups that come to
help them.
But we did 100 non disasterevents last year across the country
to support our veterans, ourfirst responders, communities in
need outside of disaster insome way, fashion or form.

(25:51):
I mean, one example is, and wejust finished, it was at the beginning
of May is InternationalFirefighters Day.
And on that day three yearsago, we started a small little movement
of hey, let's go out and feedthe firemen at firehouses on that
day.
And we did it in Vancouverthree years ago was one of the first

(26:14):
areas I just happened to beout there around that time and was
able to go help feed and youknow, was part of this event.
Well now as you move forwardthis year we did over 180 different
firehouses and 30 differentcities and 21 different states.
Wow.
So in three years thatmovement is just jumping up and you've

(26:38):
got, we've got companies andgroups coming on board.
You know, Leanne down in yourarea, Sonny's barbecue jumped in
and said we want to be part of this.
We love this idea ofcelebrating our heroes, you know,
on a day like this.
And, and for us, you know,this is how we keep our, you know,
our volunteers that we spend alot of time, effort, they're the

(27:02):
backbone of what we do.
This is how we keep themengaged by getting to do things in
their own community that, youknow, for their friends, their neighbors
and, and such.
And, and so it's, it's justbeen a great thing for growth wise.
It's been a great thing for engagement.
But more importantly, it givesa lot of ownership to those individuals

(27:23):
to help with the brand intheir community.
Sure.
How you've got a lot of peoplethat are members, if you will, of
obr.
How has that grown over the years?
I mean you just gave theexample of Sunny's Barbecue helping
you with the first responders.
Sure.
But.
And I was thinking while youwere talking, I think it's probably

(27:44):
closer to eight years ago.
You were on the show.
First time this show's been,wow, we've been on the air.
We're going into the 11th year.
So it's, it's been a while.
Anyway, you've got, I knowlike Meathead is a supporter.
Yep.
You know, we do stuff here, soon and so forth.

(28:05):
But how has that grown?
You know, by adding that the,the first responders and veteran
component and even active military.
It's growing us into newverticals out there because there's
more companies that want tosupport those than there are just

(28:26):
those supporting disaster relief.
And then there's more foundations.
I mean we've just startedworking with and been in the works
for quite some time.
But the Bob Woodrufffoundation is one of the biggest
ones out there that focuses onfirst responders, you know, veteran
groups and such like that for.

(28:50):
And they've become sort ofwhat a gatekeeper, I guess might
be the best way to put it forso many foundations that if you aren't
sort of an approvedorganization with the Woodruff foundation,
you aren't going to beeligible for a foundational grant.

(29:11):
That's like, it's like a weedout question.
If you're not a part of thethey call got your six member then
you, you don't even qualify.
It's just like, yep, that'sjust a weed out.
You're done.
Yeah.
And, you know, it's taken us awhile to get there and understand
it and, and be able to getthrough that.
But that's just a new thingfor us.
That's a new avenue, It's anew relationship.

(29:34):
But that relationship is theywant to support these groups that
make it to that point.
And you know, I was with agentleman yesterday who's a brand
new member as well, and he'salready, you know, seeing benefits
from it.
He, he trains therapy dogs forveterans for PTSD and anxiety and

(30:00):
stuff like that.
And you know, he has atremendous facility.
You know, they're, they'regrowing leaps and bounds and we both,
you know, they're, they're acouple months ahead of us and in
becoming a member.
But we were, we just happenedto be talking about it yesterday
how it's already, thatrelationship's paying off and each
one of them's like that.

(30:20):
Right.
I mean, the number ofcompanies, you know, we, it's amazing.
You know, after 14 years wehave some of the, you know, same
people that we had in thatfirst year, second year, as we started
growing.
Yeah.
And still right beside us,still promoting, you know, how we
do good in the community andhave deepened their relationship

(30:42):
with us.
How do you feel at the end ofthe day?
It's kind of an abstract question.
Exhausted.
Exhausted.
Exhausted.
You know, I'm down here at thecamp right now.
We just did a, we did ourMonday was our annual golf fundraiser.
Huge success until about, youknow, about 4 o' clock in the afternoon

(31:05):
when amazing, you know,massive storm came in.
So, you know, only about athird of the field actually finished
18 holes.
But there wasn't anybody complaining.
I mean, it was, you know, whenyou have a golf tournament and you
have seven different chefs onholes around the golf course putting
out fresh, you know, you know,handheld items for the golfers and,

(31:27):
and if there's not food,there's booze.
You know, everybody had agreat time.
And then we took and, and wedecided, hey, let's get some of these
people that are coming in fromout of town.
Let's get them down to the camp.
So we did a VIP one day campexperience yesterday and had a small
number of them stayedovernight because of their travel

(31:47):
and left this morning.
But it gave us a chance toshowcase the property.
But they all got to, you know,with Johnny, I, my chef, get to sit
down and they got to breakdown a, you know, a whole chicken
to do A half chicken.
They all got to, you know,hear about it, watch them do it,

(32:09):
then go do it themselves.
And that really, you know, andthen get into the fun part of.
All right, how am I going toseason this?
What am I going to use?
Right, Pig powder.
Pig powder, yeah.
Right.
You know, know, we're going tohit up Leanne after this to get some
down here because we do.
We have a little bit of.
We have like a, A littlepantry there of different spices.
So.

(32:29):
And, and that's part of theculinary therapy, when you think
about it.
That's the creative side ofthe brain that if you are painting
and you're trying to decidewhat color you want to paint something
or what you want to put inthere, what kind of flower you're
going to do or whatever it is.
Well, it's the same thing.
How do I want to.
How do I want to season this?
Do I want to season.
Do I want sweet?
Do I want savory?

(32:50):
Do I want, you know, do I want he.
And, you know, those are, youknow, it's engaging the same, same
part of the brain that youwould if you were doing art therapy
or music therapy.
It's just food, you know, andthe biggest distinction between all
of them is everybody has to eat.
So at the end of the day, youknow, it's not just the culinary

(33:11):
therapy is not justtherapeutic for them.
It's life skills, you know, ona grill and smoker for people.
And, you know, we had peoplethat were, you know, gung ho, people
that were really ginger asthey're trying to get through, you
know, cutting the backbone outof a chicken for the first time ever
or something.
But everybody had a blast.

(33:32):
And then they, at the end,they're sharing their chicken, you
know, say, hey, you should trymy chicken.
Here, let me try some of yours.
And, and it's.
It's that, you know, food'sthe greatest unifier in the world.
Oh, yeah.
So if we can use, you know,that therapeutic, you know, approach,
everybody left you know, and,and several with organizations that
will probably look at rentingthe camp, you know, and, and including

(33:56):
the culinary therapy alongwith what they do.
So for us, each of these thatwe do gets more awareness for the
organization, gets moreawareness for the camp.
You know, that's how we grow.
That's how we've always grown.
It's.
Has always been around, youknow, let's just put our head down
and do what we do best.
Excellent.
And it will start gettingrecognized and it will start growing

(34:19):
and it'll Start a movement orit'll do this.
And that's where we're at.
You know, we're at a pointthat, yeah, we need more people.
We want to do more camps herebecause at the end of the day, you
know, there are so many moreblue sky days than there are gray.
So if we can, you know, haveprograms that are, you know, 24,

(34:40):
seven or, you know, 24, seven.
365 days a year.
You know, most camps run on a seasonality.
Our goal is to be one of theelite camps, which means that you're
doing more than 24 camps in a year.
Right.
We're going to take a break.
We're going to come back withStan Hayes, Operation barbecue relief,

(35:00):
and Ms.
Whippen, hall of Famer.
And me, I'm just a mic jockey.
We'll be right back.
Hey, everybody, it's jt.
You know, I talk about PaintedHills all the time, and we always
say beef the way nature intended.

(35:22):
But it's more than that,because each bite of Painted Hills
will make your taste buds explode.
Put a big, bright smile onyour face, and whoever's at your
dinner table will have a big,bright smile on their face.
And you can thank me for that later.
Just go topaintedhillsbeef.com and find out
more.
You won't regret it.
Hey, everybody, JT here.

(35:42):
I want to tell you aboutHammerstahl knives.
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They're part of the HeritageSteel Group, which also does their
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So go to heritagesteel us.
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If you're really into cooking,I think you're really gonna like
them.

(36:06):
Foreign.
Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
I'm JT along with LeanneWhippen and Stan Hayes.
I was Leanne.
I flashed on something here.
This is what, your third yearsitting in that chair?
Yeah.
I'm pretty sure Stan has readthe label of pig powder, though.

(36:28):
Not to belabor the point, butwhen he was talking about savory
and sweet with little heat, Imean, I was like, I'm thinking that's
right on your label.
I'm gonna send Stan some so hecan have it at his camp and put it
in his pantry.
I want to come down.
Fantastic.
I want to come down theresometime, Stan, if you're available
and we can hook up, and I wantto see that camp.

(36:50):
And because I like to do allthose activities.
Hunting, fishing, you know, golfing.
That's kind of in mywheelhouse now.
What do you have on the agendagoing forward.
I know we talked about theevent coming up at ALA in June and
that, but what other kind ofstatic events do you have on the

(37:11):
agenda for, say, the next four months?
So we have so many eventsthat, you know, one, I start cutting
them off about, you know,about August.
They have to be local, standalone.
That doesn't take any, youknow, is being done by a local person
with their own equipment.

(37:31):
Because once we start gettinginto the height of hurricane season,
I'm not going to tie upequipment for that, but I would bet
you we have.
Between now and then, we'vegot over 20 events already on the
calendar.
I mean, I'm.
I'm doing.
In one week, I'm doing threedifferent events.
Coming up at the beginning ofJune, I'm doing the national high

(37:53):
school barbecue championship.
We're going to do a meal forall the kids and their families coming
up to Kansas City because it'sbeing hosted up here in Kansas City.
So, you know, I offered, sinceit's our hometown, we might as well
show them a little hospitalitybecause there's a lot of kids from
Texas, Oklahoma.

(38:15):
There's a team from Florida, Ibelieve, coming up this year for.
For it.
And as.
As it continues to grow.
That's the future of myvolunteer base.
Yeah.
Is the.
Those kids.
So I want them to know who we are.
I want them to, you know, knowwhat we do and be able to talk to
them about how it can impactwhat they're doing today, can impact

(38:38):
people in the future.
And so that's an opportunity,you know, and then that same week,
I'm doing a thing withNational Beef.
You know, we're just gettingmore and more, you know, involved
with events.
And in all of those, I thinkwe've got a couple of.
You know.
We'Ve done already this yearseveral reserve units where they've

(39:02):
been called up and are leavingthe country for deployment.
And we're fortunate enough tobe able to give them a little celebration
with their families beforethey leave.
At the same time, you know,every time we do that, we offer to
do the homecoming, you know,and so we have some that are now
coming full circle this summerto do some homecoming barbecue for

(39:27):
those reserve units that havebeen called up and been away from
home for, you know, some.
Some of the.
Man, some of these are longdeployments now, 14, 15 months away
from home.
Yeah, and those are.
Those are the fun things.
Right?
Because disasters aren't fun.
Disasters are, you know, thatnecessary evil out there where, you

(39:49):
know, you have to, you needsomebody out there providing a good
hot meal to people on theirworst day.
Where do you keep all your equipment?
Is it scattered about?
So we have yes and no.
I mean, so we have ourwarehouse there in Tampa you've been
to before, and we've got asmall amount of equipment down there.

(40:13):
We've got equipment in.
Our biggest warehouse spacenow is no longer Kansas City.
It's actually East Tennessee.
And, and that's partiallybecause the people I have work on
the, you know, and, and on theprogram side, operational side.
But I can get so much more persquare foot in, in Johnson City,

(40:36):
Tennessee than I can anywherearound the Kansas City metro area.
Anywhere around.
I mean, I don't think I.
In Florida I can touch it.
You know, the space that wehave and, and then Dallas, you know,
the Dallas area is, is thefourth location which we've moved
stuff and, and most recentlywe, you know, we've consolidated

(40:57):
some of our other locations,freezer storage space and everything.
You know, we warehouse around400,000 servings of protein at any
given time to ensure that whenwe, when a disaster strikes, we have
the protein on hand to be ableto serve those communities.

(41:19):
So, and there's no place thatwe can have that just in one place,
you know, so we, we do havemultiple locations.
They're between Kansas Cityand Dallas right now.
But we're adding our ownfreezer storage in East Tennessee.
That'll be about, you know,about a enough for a tractor trailer
load to start out with.

(41:41):
We've got a couple minutesleft here.
Stan, do you, do you, as youknow, hurricane season is coming,
do you ramp up your, yourprotein storage in, in cold storage
and that, I mean, do you, youknow, it's kind of like projecting
the futures market.
Yeah, it's like vending.

(42:03):
Yeah.
Right.
So, so what we do is, youknow, we ensure that we're over that,
you know, 400, 000 mark tostart with in there.
But we're in contact withthose companies that support us and
they can't give it for freeevery time, but they give a good

(42:25):
portion of it.
We try to get that free andget that into storage when storage
opens up or before this ever happens.
But it's easier to buy even ifit's at a highly reduced cost and
get a whole truckload broughtin to backfill.

(42:46):
Right.
Fairly quickly.
And so now when you, you know,we did between Hurricane Helene and
Hurricane Milton, it was likejust under 1.4 million meals.
The majority of those inFlorida, across the state, you think
about that and you try to workthe math backwards and I'm not, I'm

(43:08):
not near, I don't have enoughtoes and fingers to figure that all
out.
But we, you know, when youlook at that, we're buying a tremendous
amount and, and, and we keep,we don't keep quite that many, you
know, sides.
Obviously we don't have number10 cans to match 400,000 servings
because we can get that alittle easier.
But we have, you know, we havemore than a tractor trailer load

(43:30):
that's going to be rolling inof number 10 cans.
But you know, we've startedadding more to our arsenal so we
can do more diversified typemeals when we get in there.
Things that can be puttogether so much faster than barbecue.
Right.
We do a lot of rice disheswith chicken with, with pork and

(43:51):
things that are quicker cookstuff using the tilt skillets and
things like that.
The combi ovens we just, youknow, purchased, you know, some combi
ovens and cooking holds, youknow, cooking holds are, you know,
with our testing is going tohelp us out greatly in that area
because, you know, we canstart that overn and cook and hold,

(44:13):
you know, hot sides and beahead of the game before, you know,
and it reduces the labor indoing that.
Yeah, absolutely.
Stan Hayes from OBR OperationBarbecue Relief.
Stan, where can direct peopleto where they can find you on your

(44:34):
websites and social media, etc.
Yeah, so website is OBR.orgjust nice sweet, short.
And you can donate, you canvolunteer right from the homepage.
There's two different buttons there.
And then all of our socialmedia, whether it's Instagram, Facebook,
X, Twitter, I guess, I mean XTikTok is all OPBBQ relief.

(45:04):
So OPBBQ Relief is our handleon all of our social media.
Stan, thank you so much as always.
You're a wealth of information.
I really admire what you doout there, but it's terrific.
Again, thank you guys forhaving me on.
No problem.
We'll be back next week.
Don't know where Leanne'sgoing to be.

(45:25):
I don't know where I'm goingto be, but we'll be somewhere and
go up to the Alna in June andsee Stan and if you live in the Portland
area or Seattle, come on downand we'll do then.
Until then, I'm jt, thanks forlistening, thanks for watching and
go out, have some barbecue,have some fun and remember our motto,
turn it, don't burn it.

(45:46):
Take care, everybody.
Barbecue Nation is produced byJTSD LLC Productions in association
with Salem Media Group.
All rights reserved.
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