It's time for Barbecue Nation with jt.

So fire up your grill, light the charcoal, and get your smoker cooking.

Now from the Turn It Go Burnett studios in Portland, here's jt.

Hey, everybody.

Welcome to the nation, Barbecue Nation.

I'm JT along with my co host for another year.

She signed on.

Oh, my God, I did.

And I did not get a raise.

No.

Well, as soon as I get one, you get one.

Okay.

Deal.

Okay.

Right.

No.

What are you, Howie Mandel?

Deal.

No deal.

What is it?

Anyway, we're coming to you from our respective Turn It, Don't Burn it studios.

As always today, our special guest is Kel Phelps from Barbecue News magazine, but also the proprietor, partly of the proprietor, I know, who does all the work, but she's off camera right now of working the nbbqa.

Yeah, they've got a big event coming up.

We're gonna start off with that.

Anyway, welcome, buddy.

Man, Always, always great way to kick off a new year.

Hanging out with you guys.

I know.

I feel like I haven't seen or talked to you in a while.

It has been a while.

I think we did this at the.

Royal and I didn't see at the Royal, so maybe that's what I'm missing.

Yeah, we did that storm show on.

The way there and then I got there and we flooded and I was swimming around trying to keep everything.

Well, you should be good with water now.

He should be.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Did you.

Speaking of water, not that we don't want to talk about barbecue, but did you see the videos from London yesterday?

No.

Okay.

It's been raining like hell and the rivers come up.

Guess what else come up and come out?

Rats.

They had these rats that were as big as ponies running around there.

And I'm like, why doesn't somebody just stand out there and go, thunk, thunk, thunk, you know, in the rat problem.

But they didn't ask me, so.

Wow.

I'd do it for them.

But anyway.

Okay, you've got your shindig coming up here, the 14th or the 15th through the 18th down at the shed.

So my first question is, are you going to be able to keep Brad in line?

Man, I've been knowing Brad since they were in a.

A 10 by 10 shed with a couple of picnic tables out in front of them.

And when we met, he was dumpster diving, I mean, on a daily basis to start collecting stuff for the shed.

Man, there's no keeping that kid straight.

He and I know he's 45 years old now.

Something like that.

He's.

But no, no, that straight.

No.

Very active.

He's very active.

He's a lot of fun, though.

He's always, always a lot for the party.

No doubt.

Yeah, yeah.

Brooke kind of stands there and goes, huh, what can I do?

You know, he's my brother.

He's my brother.

Brains behind the operation is Brooke, and Brad's just the instigator and hot man.

No doubt.

And I think.

I think Mama Shed, she kind of stands back and she's got these little invisible strings and she goes, pull, pull.

I think it does that.

Yeah, that'll be good, though.

That'll be good to have the convention down there, don't you think, man?

You know, we put a lot of.

A lot of thought and a lot of effort into trying to create something that is a two for one deal almost.

You know, we always.

There's a signature series of events that happen early first of the year, and MEBQA conference has always been early on in the year.

So that number one, we try not to compete with too many other events, but it allows people from way up north, where those guys are closed down a lot for the winter.

It allows them a chance to come and learn and teach and share what they do, which is what me big QA is all about.

So, you know, as the last few years, you know, we've just.

It's been harder and harder to draw a big bunch.

So we just decided, hey, listen, instead of one big event, we're going to do a couple of smaller regional mini conference meetups, whatever you want to call them.

And this is the very first one at doing that.

It allows people who are in the region to come and not travel across the country.

And also, you know, there'll be close to 200 teams there at the Shed, so it allows us to play with those guys and vice versa.

Our bunch gets to come and play down at the Shed at the showdown there as well.

So there's a competition involved as well?

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah, of course.

Always.

The Rhinestone Cowboy Cook off will be there on Friday and then the Shed showdown is a huge deal on Saturday with a double sea, a huge Bloody Mary showcase like none other.

You've never seen all the videos of that.

That's.

That's something to witness there then.

So they also do a turkey category, but all the winners from the different categories at the end of the night as they're announced, they get to go against celebrity chefs who show up on and they all cook on the same grill, pulling out of A pantry, and they have a showdown grand champion there at the end of the night.

So it's very, very cool.

Cool, cool experience, for sure.

So I like it.

I like it a lot.

I noticed that you have different.

And the picture behind me is when Leanne.

Leanne and I were in Fort Worth with you guys.

That's where that picture is from.

Absolutely.

But you got a.

A good.

You've got Meathead, you've got Harry sue, you've got Carrie Pringle there.

You've got a couple other ones.

I can't think right off top of my head, what.

What can people expect from them?

So just kind of sum it up.

Somebody asked me early on a couple days ago, what is mebqa and what.

What is this conference?

What's it all about?

I said, man, you know, just to sum it up real quick, MBBQA is all about trying to help anybody in the barbecue world, no matter what aspect of the world they're in, whether it's backyard, trying to get better.

A restaurant guy trying to make more money.

Catering guys, sauce and rub guys, competition guys.

We want to try to help build your network with those people who have been there and done that in previously and make it make you have a better experience in your barbecue journey, no matter which route you're taking.

We want to be the ones not only cheerleading, but we want to help you have a better experience and more successful, no matter what avenue you do.

So with these guys, we got planned on Thursday coming, you know, some of it's business oriented.

We've got Kurt Mauser, who is a degree in business, talking about, you know, profit and loss.

Real basic business stuff.

But how do you.

How do you forecast and see, you know, where you need to put goals at?

And then you can go back and tell from P.

Ls where you're losing, where you need to change at, you know.

And then Carrie's doing an event, a class on expanding.

You know, once you get to that point and you want to expand, take another step.

Carrie Bringle, Peg Leg Porkers out of Nashville, Tennessee.

Man, I can't think of anybody more experienced at doing that.

I mean, this guy owns his own Bourbon deal now, Sauce and Rub guy.

He's got some really cool stuff coming up now.

I don't think I'm supposed to talk about it.

Well, I think he's also expanded beyond barbecue with his restaurant expansion, so that's interesting, too.

Yes, I'm sure he'll talk about that.

Yep.

So that's part of the deal.

Meathead is gathering up a whole pleather of people across the country to talk about trends that are happening across the country.

As far as what he's seeing, not only in backyard or whatever, but what restaurants are doing, what caterers are doing, or you see some of these Asian players and you see some of these pop ups that are popping up that just are doing barbecue way different than just the traditional throw it on a smoker, put some rub on it and then sauce it up and then put it on plate.

You know, there's a ton of guys across the country who have opened eyes to the culinary world and doing things a lot different from what we grew up and what we call true, true deal.

Barbecue, for sure.

Well, you've got.

Where I live, I live close to Portland, and even where you see the food carts and they've got little areas for them, they don't.

You don't just pull one up and start it.

You know, you got to do the permit thing and all that jazz.

But in every one of those pods I will call them, there's some form of barbecue.

It could be Korean, it could be Brazilian, it can be Argentinian, it can be whatever they want, whatever they profess to be from or they're skilled in.

It's not just a rack of ribs and a brisket sandwich or something anymore.

I mean, there's, there's all kinds of barbecue styles and they're serving them in, you know, bowls and platters of traditional platters, but bowls with rice and salads and all kinds of things.

So I think the expansion is there.

We're going to talk about this the next segment, Kels, but it's going to be.

Do the traditional barbecue people accept that?

It's just, I think it's a valid question, some of that at the convention this year.

People talking about that, no doubt.

And that's what that class is actually focusing on, is kind of giving some detail behind, you know, what caused them to.

To do something different and what they've seen, you know, other people doing.

Yeah, absolutely.

We're going to take a break.

We're going to be back with Kell Phelps from Barbecue News magazine and nbbqa.

You need a few more letters in there.

Anyway, we're going to be right back.

Don't go away.

Hey, everybody, it's Jeff here.

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Welcome back to the nation on JT along with hall of Famer Leanne Whippen.

And today we're talking with Kel Phelps from Barbecue News magazine and also the nbbqa.

He's got a convention, if you will, a conference coming up in just a few days down in at the shed in Mississippi.

Did I say that right?

Mississippi, Mississippi, Mississippi.

You know, I'm a Yankee, so we, we tend to, we tend to actually use all the vowels in a word.

You know, we don't.

Believe it or not, I've started asking for coffee now.

Coffee?

Yeah.

I spent the, spent the new year up in New York for a few days, so they got me on my coffee now.

Coffee.

And you get a donut too.

I saw you with the Krispy Kremes, man.

We come out of the hotel, morning, we were getting ready to go and I was like, oh my gosh.

You know, and it was amazing how many people did not even know what a Krispy Kreme doughnut was in that place.

And I was like, it's worth the wait.

Hang on.

Yeah, if they're coming off the line and they're warm, you can just keep eating.

Yes.

You know, pretty soon you go into a coma.

But that's a different deal there.

So let's go back to your conference.

We were talking about Meathead bringing people.

In fact, when he was on the Christmas show, he was telling us a little bit about it there, these different trends and things.

And then you've got your competitions that we talked about in the first segment.

But is there something that you're going to do that in the, in the whole spectrum of the convention that you haven't tried before?

Not that, not necessarily that we've never tried before.

I mean, we'll have the meet the master deal where we bring in some of the top notch guys and sit them down.

It gives everybody an opportunity to come have some one on one time and ask anything they want to of these guys.

So we'll have, you know, a dozen of those sit down.

We'll do that for about an hour, hour and a half.

So that alone is worth the price of admission.

Sure, yeah.

But you know, as far as anything brand new, I think the overall concept of us partnering with another event or having a smaller condensed conference, you know, like a one day or two day deal versus a four day extravaganza or whatever on our own, that's the whole concept is something different, but it's all made up of stuff that we've done previously that's been successful and that we've got positive feedback from, for sure.

So you ever see you guys doing this in like, you know, I'm clear out here.

I'm 2,000 plus miles away.

And you don't think of the Pacific Northwest as barbecue central, Although I see popping up out here a lot more competitions and stuff.

I just got a couple of emails from some people that asked me if I would come, you know, take a look at them and stuff.

Do you ever see yourself doing one of these in kind of satellite areas or breaking the country up into regions and doing them?

Absolutely.

And that was kind of the.

That's kind of the concept of what we're talking about.

You know, I don't know how many we'll do per year, but it gives us an opportunity to put together a compact.

A compact program, so it's not so labor intensive.

The overhead for us is cut in half when we partner up with another event or whatever.

So it also brings an added value to that event that we're partnering with.

We hope.

But, yeah, I see us can do this anywhere.

Hopefully.

Um, we'll see.

I mean, we're.

We're, like I say, we're cutting our teeth with it.

And I can't be.

I cannot think Brad and Brooke, those guys with the shed, enough for allowing us to.

To partner up with them or.

Sure.

What do you want?

Whatever you want to call it, but I think it's a great place to start.

They've been huge supporters of MBQA over the years.

I couldn't think of any other event or place that if it failed there, I think.

I think it would probably not go well anywhere else.

But so far I think the sky's the limit and I see a lot of potential in doing this.

Other places throughout the country, for sure.

Are there places to stay there in Ocean Springs?

Oh, yeah.

I mean, we.

Brooke hooked us up and there is a.

It's called I'm cheating now.

That's okay.

Rain travel collection.

There's actually a collection of hotels downtown in Ocean Springs.

The one we're staying at is actually, I think, 99 bucks a night.

But it's right downtown Ocean Springs and supposed to be a beautiful place right there.

So that group of hotels is offered pretty good discount for salt to jump in there over the weekend.

So if.

If you were to meet somebody that was.

And you do all the time, but kind of new to barbecue Kel, and they looked at you and they said, why should I come to this?

You know, maybe they're not into it far enough to know who Carrie is or Meathead or Harry or, you know, those folks.

But what would you say to the.

Because we've got a lot of listeners that are weekend warriors.

Yeah, but what would be the benefit of them traipsing down to Mississippi for this?

Mississippi, sorry, Mississippi.

I'll get it.

Right.

But, you know, why would you encourage them to come?

Well, no matter what, like I said, no matter what aspect of the barbecue world they're in, and if they're backyard warriors or whatever, I'm sure they're looking to do something a little different, get a little better or learn something.

So I can just about guarantee you if they come in that two day process of what we're doing and then in conjunction with the shed, what they've got going on with 200 plus teams down there competing in a double steak cook off, a rib cook off turkey ancillary, a bloody Mary ancillary.

If they didn't learn something before they left with that crowd, I would probably say they need to get over their shyness or whatever.

But if anybody come up to me and ask, what am, you know, what am I doing here?

What, what am I going to learn?

I'm going to say, you look me up and tell me what you want to learn.

And there's the sky would be the limit from there because I would probably take and hook them up with 3, 4, 5 guys who are actively cooking and let them just hang out and partner with them through the weekend.

So there you go.

We're going to take another break.

We're going to be back with Kel Phelps.

He's got a big event coming up, and if you can make it, you should go down at the shed in Mississippi.

Leanne and I will be back right after this.

Don't go away.

Hey, everybody, it's JT And I have eaten.

If you've ever looked at me, you know that.

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Welcome back to The Nation.

I'm J.T.

along with Mrs.

Leanne Whippen, hall of famer, television celebrity, my co host on the grilling at the green television show and the proprietor of pig powder, Leanne take it from here.

So pig batter sales were crazy over Christmas and we're in the process of restocking.

I have a little bit left till the next palette arrives, but there'll be two pallets this time, one with the new spicy pig powder.

So there will be an announcement on www.pigpowder.com and it will be available as soon as I can get it out there.

Will you have any room in your house?

I don't know.

Well, actually, I'm to the point now where I'm into air conditioned storage units.

Okay.

But the good news is, you know, when I go through it this fast, the.

The product is always fresh, so the turnover is quick.

Yeah.

So.

And.

And also there's new label designs as well.

There you go.

I see you got your buccaneers flag out there.

I do.

Go Bucks.

How are those Falcons doing?

Falcons.

He's a Georgia boy.

Oh, sorry.

I give up on professional football a long time ago, but I do like the Eagle.

I like the Georgia.

We call them the Georgia Eagle Dogs.

They're out of Philadelphia.

You know, they.

They drafted about eight of these guys.

Well, that's good.

But, yeah, I'm just a college football guy.

I'm a huge Georgia fan.

I hate that.

I hate.

We didn't show up.

Our offensive line kind of hurt us the other night pretty good.

But under the circumstances and we all understand, you know, Kirby Smart's dad passed away.

Right, right, right there and was already in the hospital having issues right there before the day before the game.

So, yeah, I sure hate that.

But, man, now it's.

College football is about turning into the pros.

With all the transfer portal and trading and deals that go on.

It's.

It's kind of crazy in that.

Yes.

Yeah, show me the money.

That's what it's all about anymore.

So, Kel, you've really got your pulse on this stuff.

We've had some rough years here the last few years, economically for people.

A lot of restaurants in our area went down and are not coming back.

Some of them are coming back, so not all of them, but a lot of them that were, I think, mostly not the midsection ones.

The ones where I'm from, they were either the low end ones or the very top ones.

The top ones couldn't make enough after Covid to keep the doors open and pay all the people.

They had a big staff in the.

And the.

The lesser ones at the bottom that were some of them were just getting started.

They had a tough time because, you know, Covid hit them and then inflation jacked up on them and, and they couldn't, you know, when you own your own business, as all of us know, you know, you put in a lot of hours.

And if you own a restaurant, especially as Leanne knows, you put in a hell of a lot of hours.

Yeah.

And a lot of times the person that owns it is not, you know, if they're making 11 cents an hour, they think they're doing good when you're, when you're starting.

So what, what do you see?

And especially, you know, obviously focus towards the barbecue industry of where we're coming out of now and put on your prognostication hat and, you know, don't sugarcoat it.

Just tell us what you think.

I'll be honest with you, man.

I don't think it's going to get better quick.

I don't think it's going to be a light switch.

But I do think two years from now, I don't, I don't know the next 12 months, but I'm saying 18, 24 months, I think our economic situation is going to look a lot different from what it does now.

I think you're going to, just like last time when Trump was in office, you're going to see gas prices go back down eventually.

You know, I, a lot of people hadn't talked about it, but I know that the, our reserves, our fuel reserves, oil reserves that we've had are down to about 10%.

Right.

You know, because we've been tapping into those reserves to keep gas prices down since we're not drilling as much as we were.

So, you know, and the deal with the inflation with food prices, it is, it is unreal the impact that, that inflation has had on small business.

And when I say small business, you know, one, two locations at the most, you know, especially the restaurant world, I mean, it is, it has really flipped it upside down when you, when you go to get cheap food and you pull out a $20 bill and just for yourself and then you got to go grab some change to pay for the tax and everything else on it for just a burger, fries and Coke.

That's, that's pretty sad.

I mean, it's, I don't know this sad, but it's sure crazy.

But I know that things that cost three times the amount that it used to is, it's pretty tough when you're trying to make ends meet on a day to day basis.

So people, they have to make A choice.

And I don't, I don't see that going away instantly in the next six, eight months.

But I think 12, 18 months, 24 months down the road.

That's going to be hindsight.

I'm hoping and I hope things somehow, some way get under control with that.

You know, I've had 8, 10 different people reach out to me in the last year and said, hey man, you know, I am trying everything that I can to survive.

What, what am I missing?

You know, thinking that there was some trick to get away from the ten dollar a pound hamburger meat or you know, just the raw items inflation.

And I just, this is the problem.

I mean I got out of the restaurant business and I'm not getting back in.

And the reason is it is the large chains and they have the buying power and they're able to negotiate their prices.

The mom and pops cannot.

And you know, when you look at your food costs, you know, mathematically it's got to be, you know, 30% or under and then you have your payroll and then you fix cost.

Rents have not gone down for retail, for, you know, to rent space for a restaurant.

So there's been no give and take.

It's all gone up.

The fuel prices is, it's not just about gas, it affects plastics, you know, all your to go items.

There is in my opinion, no light at the end of the tunnel anytime soon for the mom and pops.

I feel like, you know, the big boys are just pushing everybody out.

And yeah, you can be a restaurant genius but it's still not going to help the price of your meats and the price of your labor and it's just not.

And when you do the math, it is virtually impossible for you to make a decent amount a living if you are going to have partners because then you have to split that up.

So there is a multitude of reasons that I just don't see any change in the near future.

I don't.

Well, if you guys watch that show Landman.

Oh yeah.

Watch the whole entire.

Yeah.

And it's still going on.

It's great show.

Oh my God.

Billy Bob Thornton.

Yes.

When he come out and he was telling the lawyer, you know, about all the, you know, the, what oil business is about.

Right, right.

You know, and it, how big it was.

It's part of everything we do it.

Absolutely.

I was like dumbfounded.

I was like really?

And then you know, you fact it.

But that's the truth.

He told the truth.

So.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean I hate to be grim and so, you know, I Don't know and not optimistic about it, but it's the facts.

That's what I say and I agree with you 100%.

The big guys, the big restaurant conglomerates or whatever, you know, now they're actually partnering up with ton of providers now trying to get in, buy up family farms and then they're wheeling and dealing.

And they have the money to do it, right?

Yep.

Money talks and everything else.

And you know, Kerry Bringle's a perfect example of a success story.

But his timing was perfect.

If he did what he did, tried what he did before and tried to do it now, it's virtually impossible because what it boils down to is real estate too.

And leasing is money out the window.

So you try to know, buy the property.

I've, I tried to do it a couple of times and you know, I think that's what Carrie did and that's how he snowballed into success.

But I, I guarantee if I ask him today, can you do this all over again today, he's going to say no, right?

Yeah.

Yeah, I agree.

Well, Leanne, we've had Will Homer on here, my buddy from Painted Hills Natural Beef, a number of times and to give you one example where they were, they were paying 95 cents to a buck 15, 100 weight live steer, for example, you know, now they're upwards of $3.

Okay?

And it's, it's not just one factor that's caused that.

It's not just the fuel.

The fuel does add a lot to it, but it's the grain costs, it's the labor cost, it's the taxes, plus it's the, you know, all those guys, all the commodities deal in the futures market.

So they're trying to predict in September what they're going to need in June, for example.

And they have, so they, they sell a contract for, and I'm simplifying this, folks, so don't yell at me.

If you deal in futures, but if they're selling, you know, steers hanging weight at that time for $2 and all of a sudden now it's the cost to get them there is 395, they've lost almost $2, that 100 weight per head.

That's a lot of money.

That's 100%.

Yeah.

And, and, and you ask, you ask them, well, what do you think the future market's going to be?

Do you think the prices are going to come down?

It's not optimistic.

They can't predict.

But it is not a smiley conversation.

No, it's not.

We're going to take a break.

We're going to come back and wrap up the show.

That would be Barbecue Nation with Mr.

Phelps from Not Mitch.

I'll tell you, I'm kind of upset I'm not going to be at the convention.

I made an earlier commitment, not realizing that the dates were happening.

But I think it's rather exciting what you're doing, partnering with the Shed, and I think you're going to end up having a lot of new barbecue addicts coming along, because when they see this competition and.

And.

And they get in there, I think you're going to find a lot more positive results from this event than in the past.

And I think a lot of excitement.

I mean, I'm excited, but I'm kind of bummed that I'm not going to be there.

But I really think it.

I think it was a smart thing to do.

And if you can, you know, move this around the country, albeit it's tough to go out by Jeff in the Pacific Northwest because, you know, you got to have people that are going to attend, and you're not going to have the attendance out there.

But if you could certainly move it.

You know, the Northeast has grown a lot, I think, with barbecue, but, you know, work your way up a little bit, up, you know, the Eastern seaboard into the Midwest.

I think it could be very successful.

So I'm excited to hear how it goes.

And, yes, I wish you a lot.

Of luck with it, but we got to take a break, so we will be back.

Okay.

Hey, everybody, it's J.T.

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Hey, everybody, J.T.

Here.

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Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.

I'm JT along with Leanne Whippen, my co conspirator in this project and hall of Fame member celebrity Chef.

Winner of countless awards.

I feel very old.

That's all you did was maybe feel old.

I'm sorry.

This bouncing, bubbly blonde that's on the other end.

I don't feel old, but you just made me feel old.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

And then we got Kel Phelps, who is older than hell anyway.

Geez, man.

You know, I have been told I was the.

The youngest, oldest guys people know.

So.

Did you ever have somebody walk up to you and go, you've got an old soul.

I've had people tell me that you've got an old soul on my shoes or what?

You know?

Come on.

Daddy used to tell me I had the patience of Job, and then I took me a while to realize that.

That was an understatement.

A huge understatement.

The older I get.

That is definitely not true.

But definitely.

I think you're a patient person.

I do.

I think you're very patient.

Yeah.

I think that you are calming, and I think you experience so much stress from everything that you do, because you do a lot, and it's amazing that you have the demeanor that you have with all the stress that's on your shoulders.

That's because Ms.

Janet is behind him with a baseball bat, keeping him in line.

No, she's in masseuse.

She's giving back room.

There you go.

Yeah.

No, she's the one handling that.

She's like a firefighter.

Her.

She's got this big hose, so she sees these fires out in front of us, so she's putting them out before we walk into it.

Well, good for her.

And you.

And you're eating Krispy Kremes, right?

Krispy Kremes, y'all.

And we went to the Cats in New York, and let me tell you something.

Yeah.

I have Eat a ton of brisket in my life.

I've never eaten pastrami like that.

But isn't that place incredible?

I know.

It was, like, 28 degrees, wind blowing 30 miles an hour.

An hour.

We waited.

Oh, that's actually not bad.

Yeah.

We were like, if this is not good, I'm gonna kill somebody.

We got.

Oh, my gosh.

Yeah.

I'm telling you, that was.

I'm glad you did that.

That's a great experience.

Worth the wait.

My daughter went to New York to.

To work for a while, and I told her, I said, you got to go to Katz's.

Right?

You just.

It's a thing.

It's.

It's kind of like going to Ethan's out on Coney Island.

You know, you gotta.

Couple of things you gotta do.

You gotta go up in the.

You know, I'm.

I'm blanking out on the building in New York, the Empire State Building.

Yeah.

And you gotta do that.

So she goes to Katz's and she calls me and she goes, dad, this is a really good.

One of the best corned beef sandwiches I've ever had.

Maybe she had pastrami.

I don't know.

She goes, I'm not sure it's worth $37, though.

I said, what the hell did you order?

She goes, well, I had to have the.

The pastrami and, you know, on rye, like you said, and Swiss and mustard, mayo and this.

And I had to have a side of potato salad.

And I had.

I said, well, you know, cost of living in New York is substantially higher than it is out here in good old Woodburn, Oregon.

So, you know.

Or Douglas, Georgia.

Let me ask you, do you remember how much a sandwich was?

I bet you a sandwich was $27.

I think it was 28 bucks.

But we got it with nothing on it.

We got sauerkraut and all that stuff on the side.

Right.

To try the real.

Just the pastrami by itself or whatever.

But, I mean, it's really like the price of brisket.

You go into a barbecue place and you're gonna pay, you know, a lot.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I think it was 40.

I think you can order it at home.

It's like 40 bucks a pound or something like that.

Shipped.

Wow.

But it's all good.

I bet you it doesn't cost that at the shed.

No, no, I don't think you get pastrami at the.

Probably not.

It'd be pork all the way.

Yeah, yeah, it's all good.

So we got a couple minutes here, Kel, since you took over the NBBQA rsvp.

That's my joke.

I caught that.

Yeah, you got that.

What have you learned?

Oh, my gosh.

I've learned business is still hard no matter what business you're in, no matter how much you want to help people.

It's a hustle.

You know, the last couple of years, and.

And I don't say that in a bad way.

A hustle.

Trying to hustle people or whatever, but just making sure that people get their bang for their buck, no matter what it is.

Right.

Has become harder and harder than ever before.

And that part of our job doesn't seem to be getting any easier.

Of course, you know, we do the magazine, and that thing has changed totally.

Since we started 1990, you know, the print side is hanging on by thread.

You know, it's getting more and more expensive to print it every month.

But we've got those Die Hards now.

I think a print subscription is 50 bucks a year.

People want it, the Die Hards that print.

And I said, you know, as long as they want to pay for it and we don't lose money on it, we'll do it.

But we've, we've kind of changed.

We've learned just like we did with the, with the print magazine, we went to the digital side of things, and now the Digital.

We're about 50,000amonth now as far as readers.

And we've, we've kept that on a flat line.

And I've always, I've always been told in business, when you run a flat line, that's not real good.

You know, you either got to be going up and when you start flatlining, you got to be careful.

And we, we've able to keep that flat line for a while now, but same way with mbbqa, we've kind of changed our game plan on what we're doing.

We've got into the live fire experience where we did it last year, Smoke Slam, where we're actually doing live demos and we're bringing folks, we're trying gotta get Leanne involved in this deal where we're doing live demos and we're working for different companies.

We're showcasing live fire cooking with like, Al Fregoni, BNB Charcoal.

You know, they have a huge team that does live fire stuff.

And that's a.

It creates an experience when people come to a barbecue event versus being able to walk around and leave ticked off because all they did was smell and see.

This gives them opportunity to not only taste, but to see and learn, you know, whatever the pitmasters were cooking and learn the recipes and some of the tips.

Well, now the live fire equipment's more readily available too, so they can actually do it at home.

So that makes it nice.

Yes, absolutely.

And speaking of coming, just a few minutes, but you gotta have me back here in the next few weeks.

We're gonna be announcing at the Shed.

I told you, I was in New York over the new year.

We had a series of meetings with some folks there, and we are like this close to closing the deal there.

That is going to be pretty epic.

We will, we will enjoy that.

You're going to break the news on our show?

Yeah, you better.

Yeah.

Well, we're actually going to break it at the Shed.

That's where we'll actually.

Okay, fair enough.

We're breaking it there live.

Those guys are coming.

Hopefully coming down to hang out with us, and we'll get to introduce them to some of our members and friends and.

But it'll be.

It'll be pretty big news.

We're excited about it.

Something we've been working on for about two years now.

So.

See, it come to life will be pretty cool.

Good for you.

We got to get out of here.

Kel Phelps, don't forget the NBBQA.

Cutting it off there.

Starts the 15th through the 18th at the shed down.

February of.

No, January.

January, Sorry.

January.

I'm ahead of myself.

Yes, you are.

That's okay.

We still love you.

I wish it was February.

Give us a little more time to prep for it.

But, yeah, there you go.

But go to the NBBQA website, and there's lots of information there, and you can still get in.

You can still go down, taste some food, listen to some great speakers, and meet Ms.

Janet, who takes care of this yahoo here.

Anyway, Kel, thank you very much, buddy.

Thank you, guys.

Thank you guys so much.

And here's to a huge and prosperous 2025 for you guys as well.

Well, we hope so.

We hope so.

We're gonna get out of here, Chef.

Steph's gonna be with us next week if she's feeling better.

And we've got Michelle Wallace coming up in a couple of weeks, and we've got a few other surprises.

So for Leanne and Kel, I want to say adios, have fun, go out, be kind, and remember our motto.

Turn it, don't burn it.

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