LIFT UP LOCAL 025
Written by Pamela Patton
📷 courtesy of Amber Rose Photography
Sweet Success with a Little Kick
You could say that Connor Long's expertise and knowledge of BBQ and BBQ sauce runs in his blood.
Connor’s uncle is the Executive Chef at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, his dad is a weekend BBQ connoisseur, and Connor attended culinary classes at Wilson Talent Center during his junior and senior years at Webberville High School.
In May of 2021, Connor went from studying the culinary arts to putting his learning into practice. “While taking my culinary classes, I also ran the food truck during my senior year at the Wilson Talent Center. Running the food truck gave me hands-on insight into how to manage a business. COVID hit during my senior year, which discontinued all classes and events held at the culinary school, but it allowed me to sit down and explore what was needed to start my own business.”
📷 courtesy of Amber Rose Photography
In May 2021, at the age of 19, Connor opened his own catering business from the ground up. As parties and weddings returned to normal, Connor began catering through his company, Smokeshow BBQ, offering his signature BBQ and other favorites such as mac ‘n cheese. “Business started slowly the first year, built the second year, but the third year, things took off. I catered 35 weddings.”
“Growing up, my dad and I always came up with different sauce recipes for whatever we were cooking. We were grilling chicken wings when we created our favorite and kept making it again and again. And now I’m selling it as Smokeshow Sweet and Sassy BBQ Sauce.””
One of the secrets of Connor’s success is his signature BBQ sauce. “Growing up, my dad and I always came up with different sauce recipes for whatever we were cooking. We were grilling chicken wings when we created our favorite and kept making it again and again. And now I’m selling it as Smokeshow Sweet and Sassy BBQ Sauce.”
Connor’s signature sweet and sassy sauce soon became the centerpiece of his catering business. “I’d set out some bottles, and people would pour them over their BBQ. They also put it on their mac ‘n cheese, corn on the cob and just about everything on their plate.”
Connor knew he was onto something. Although his 16-hour wood-smoked pulled pork and brisket are in high demand, they are also labor-intensive. “I don’t use charcoal or take shortcuts. I stay up all night, feeding cherry, hickory or oak wood into the smoker I brought up from Georgia.”
📷 courtesy of Amber Rose Photography
Connor operates out of the Allen Neighborhood Center Incubator Kitchen Program, which was a boom in getting his business going. “All I needed was a way to keep the food hot while transporting it and basic serving supplies. Having the Incubator Kitchen was helpful in getting my business off the ground. Before I started catering, I considered bottling my sauce because the licensing and start-up costs were lower. But the catering is helping me get the word out about the sauce. In the beginning, I listened to feedback after events to tweak it a bit.”
What is the recipe for Connor’s Sweet and Sassy Smokeshow BBQ Sauce? Of course, he isn’t going to tell. “It’s a sweet sauce with a bit of a kick on the end.”
📷 courtesy of Amber Rose Photography
Connor got some good advice about approaching Capital City Marketplace to sell his sauce. “Marcus Leslie of Mr. Leslie’s Cheesecakes also works in the Incubator Kitchen, and his products are in the Capital City Market. The Capital City Market is only five minutes away from the Allen Neighborhood Center. Marcus gave me the name of someone to approach and some tips. I went over, introduced myself, and left information and some bottles of sauce. And here we are!”
Connor is developing a second sauce flavor. “I’m working on a Carolina peach version. It will be vinegar-based with a peach background. The goal is to make a perfect sauce for pulled pork. It will have that nice peachy flavor but with a little bit of heat.”
📷 courtesy of Amber Rose Photography
Connor has big goals for Smokeshow Catering, too. “My goal is to own a venue, like an event space, and then offer in-house catering and bartending alongside selling my sauces a little further outside of Michigan, maybe hopefully across the US, which would be awesome!”
Capital City Marketplace has been very supportive of Connor’s endeavors. “They’ve held a few tastings and popups after Sunday baseball games. With summer and BBQ season approaching, I’m hoping things will get moving and eventually end up on the shelves in all Meijer stores.”
To learn more about Smokeshow Catering, visit the website here.