October 27, 2009

Pork Barrel BBQ Blog Has Moved to Its New Home - http://www.porkbarrelbbq.com/blog/

The Pork Barrel BBQ Blog Has Moved to Its New Home - please visit us at http://www.porkbarrelbbq.com/blog/

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October 21, 2009

Pork Barrel BBQ Shark Tank Follow-up

Pork Barrel BBQ was featured last night on ABC's Shark Tank - click on the video below to watch the clip!

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October 20, 2009

Welcome Shark Tank Visitors!

Welcome Shark Tank visitors to the Pork Barrel BBQ blog! Looking to buy our award winning Pork Barrel BBQ Sauce and All American Spice Rub? Visit our online store at http://www.PorkBarrelBBQ.com! Be sure sign up for our mailing list or check back often for updates on our Pork Barrel BBQ Restaurant coming Spring 2010! Also, please follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/porkbarrelbbq. Thanks for your support!

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October 13, 2009

Pork Barrel BBQ at a Harris Teeter Near You!

Looking to try some Pork Barrel BBQ? We're coming to a local Harris Teeter near you! Harris Teeter has been a huge supporter of our business and has given us the chance to sample our products in their stores in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. Its an amazing experience to walk into a Harris Teeter and get to see our products on their shelves, and even more fun when we get to sample our products for their customers. We are going to be in four Virginia stores this weekend, and many more to come in coming weeks! Here are some photos from our product demos over the past few weeks - thanks to Harris Teeter for this tremendous opportunity!


Brett, Bill Blackburn and Ali in Alexandria store!

Heath at our first demo in the Tysons Corner store


Heath getting our award winning products cooking!


Always have fun to have friends read our Tweets and come visit us in DC!


Everyone likes to see the cool pig trophy!

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October 11, 2009

The Del Ray BBQ Boys Celebrate Their New Restaurant (and a food writer inadvertently becomes part of the story)

Here's an amazing post by Jordan Wright over at whiskandquill.com!

The Del Ray BBQ Boys Celebrate Their New Restaurant

(and a food writer inadvertently becomes part of the story)

Jordan Wright

Whisk and Quill - http://whiskandquill.com/?p=1039

October 2009
Investor "Mango" Mike and wife Donna with their Pork Barrel BBQ bus - photo by Jordan Wright
I arrived early on Mount Vernon Avenue in Del Ray last week. Brett Thompson and Heath Hall, creators and owners of Pork Barrel BBQ were setting up the tables, pitching the tent and catching up with old friends and supporters in anticipation of the day’s groundbreaking ceremony for their new restaurant venture. In July I wrote about the “Del Ray BBQ Boys”, as I had nicknamed them, for localkicks.com after meeting them and sampling their delicious wares at National Harbor’s Food and Wine Festival. NBC News Washington had picked up my story and it had skyrocketed to tens of thousands more “eyes” on it.

Thompson walked over and said, “This restaurant is all because of you and your story about us. We want to thank you.”

Stunned, I stammered, “What are you talking about?”

“Well, “Mango” Mike read your story on us,” he revealed. (“Mango” Mike, of the eponymous restaurant on Duke Street.) “He googled it up and that’s how he found out about us and offered to back us in this restaurant.”

cut the ribbon with Mayor Bill Euille (center) - Photo Credit Jordan Wright

cut the ribbon with Mayor Bill Euille (center) - Photo Credit Jordan Wright

Of course it was also because back in September they had appeared on ABC’s Shark Tank series and considerably more people had come to know them and their story as former Hill staffers and Virginia-based entrepreneurs.

I looked around at their dream come true. On hand were Alexandria’s Mayor, Bill Euille, Vice Mayor, Kerry Donnelly, Councilman Frank Fannon and Linda and Steve Hubbard, dressed in their UPS chocolate brown and gold uniforms, who own the fulfillment center, where over 1,000 bottles and jars of Pork Barrel BBQ’s fabulous sauce and rub are shipped to eager customers around the country. Everyone came ready to cheer on the boys. Restaurant backers “Mango” Mike and Bill Blackburn, arriving in their massive gold touring bus, were doing the meet-and-greet, while pork smokers wafted waves of heavenly barbecue aroma over the crowd of supporters who milled around with neighborhood business owners and Del Ray’s artsy crowd.

Breaking ground in Del Ray with ABC's Shark Hunt film crew  - photo by Jordan Wright

Breaking ground in Del Ray with ABC's Shark Hunt film crew - photo by Jordan Wright

A couple of local newspaper publishers doing their own event coverage added to the eclectic local crowd along with a “P-O-R-K” fan club made up of four skinny half-naked pig-snouted students from Bishop Ireton High School, all eager to be in on the celebration and tasting. It was the usual set up for a groundbreaking. Golden shovels and giant scissors gleamed in the warm September sun.

But one thing was different…stunningly noticeably different…from any other ribbon cutting in any other town in North America, or the world for that matter.

Because, for this small groundbreaking ceremony for two nice guys in business for less than a year, taking place in a small suburb of Alexandria, Virginia across from the local farmers market held on Saturday mornings in a dentist’s parking lot, Hollywood was on site to cover it. Big time!

ABC’s Shark Tank film crew had shown up full tilt with cameraman, soundman and microphones to record the event for a later show in the boys continuing success saga; and invitees, who knew about the planned coverage in advance, were checking out the action…playing it cool for the cameras.

Pork Barrel BBQ Fan Club chows down - Photo Credit Jordan Wright

Pork Barrel BBQ Fan Club chows down - Photo Credit Jordan Wright

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October 4, 2009

Photos of Pork Barrel BBQ on Fox and Friends!

Things have been a bit busy at Pork Barrel BBQ - but under the better late than never approach, we wanted to share some photos of our adventure to New York with the awesome folks at Fox & Friends!


Here's the Pork Barrel BBQ team (Mango Mike, Bill Blackburn, our incredible distributor Tim Ashman, Brett and Heath) with Fox & Friends Alisyn Camerota, Clayton Morris, Dave Briggs and Rick Reichmuth !

Here we are filming one of our segments - they are trying our award winning Pork Barrel BBQ!


We arrived at midnight the evening before filming to check out Times Square - here's the Pork Barrel BBQ Restaurant group - Brett, Bill, Heath (is that a Pat Green shirt?) and Mango Mike!

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