Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeremy Staggs.
Jeremy, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
To be honest, it is wild to think about how I got to where I am now. I was 26 years old living in Corpus Christi Texas, I just started culinary school at Del Mar College when a buddy of mine Benny Perez (Vaeh’s Pit BBQ) wanted to make some ribs. I had never made bbq and I was curious on the process. We fired up his pit that he had in the back of his parent’s house and I was hooked from the maintenance of the fire to the saucing and wrap. I cannot remember if the ribs turned out great but that was the moment in time that I fell in love with bbq.
Fast forward to 2018 and I had run the gauntlet through the restaurant industry in Houston, I had graduated from the Art Institute here in Houston in late 2017, I was worn out working for someone else. So an opportunity presented itself in the way of a chef instructor position at a high school and after a conversation with my wife Vicky, I took it. Teaching high school did two things for me one it made me appreciate the cooking process and two its made me miss customer interaction just shooting the breeze with people eating their meal. So I decided to pull the trigger on a bbq business from scratch and Boxcar BBQ was born.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The path is never an easy one but for the most part it was great cook great bbq and met great people. It is all worth it in the end!
Boxcar BBQ – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Boxcar BBQ sells bar-b-cue made the way it should be brisket just gets salt, pepper and smoke nothing crazy no special rubs we just let the meat speak it just has a smoky raspiness to it just the way we like it. I am not sure how we differ from others in bbq biz but we take our brisket 12 hours about 275 degrees and pull them when they are done. That to me is the hard part about perfect bbq you have four ingredients brisket, salt, pepper, and smoke if you get one of those out of balance then it really shows and can make for a bad experience. We smoke whole chickens, most places prefer turkey rolls because the chicken can dry out. We ran into a lot of resistance at first no one would try it, finally I was tired of it. I gave away four whole chickens over the course of a lunch just so people tried it and wouldn’t you know chicken is one of more popular menu items it sells out faster than the ribs.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
When people throw out words like that, I like to think about everyone’s background and where they came from. Take someone who lived in poverty most of their life and in a one bedroom apartment with eight people, success to them might be just to own an apartment or house. I think that success is relative if you asked me this question ten years ago, I would have a completely different answer than I do now. So to answer your question success is being happy, at peace in your life and being happy in your own skin and most important being able to spend time with friends and family. It turns out that my family, friends and community like bbq so I get to make a living while spending time with them.
Pricing:
- Sliced brisket or chop beef sandwich – $7.95
- $19.95 lbs for brisket (Prime is all we use)
- Green chile mac n cheese $1.95 (sm)
- Chipotle bacon potato salad $1.95 (sm)
- Pork spareribs -$14.95 lbs
- Pulled pork – $10.95 lbs
- Whole chicken $16.95
- Jalpeno cheddar sausage/ regular sausage – $9.95 lbs
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bxcarbbq.net
- Email: info@bxcarbbq.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boxcarbbq/
- Facebook: Boxcar BBQ – https://www.facebook.com/pg/bxcarbbq/about/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/BbqBoxcar
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