I’ve had little trouble indulging meaty cravings in my lifetime, and these days, if I were to even have a passing thought about becoming a vegetarian, I’m sure my memories of my friend Perry’s most recent backyard barbecue would immediately and thoroughly squash it.

Last Sunday, Dave and I had the great pleasure of being invited to the barbecuing maestro’s home in Vallejo, where upon arriving we were greeted with wine and crab-stuffed mushroom appetizers. Good things are sure to come, I thought eagerly and approvingly, picking up on the savory smoke wafting in from Perry’s backyard.

Heaps of slow-cooked chicken, baby back ribs and pulled pork soon materialized, to be enjoyed with two kinds of Perry’s home-brewed and handcrafted Kickstart BBQ Sauce (one a perfect blend of sweet and spicy, another with an exciting tangy bite). And our chef pulled it all off with a knowing ease and grace–this guy knows how to wow a crowd without breaking a sweat!

Perry says he honed his bulk-cooking management skills over years of cooking in restaurants and working as a fireman/paramedic (“cooking at the fire station is a must”). He had been interested in cooking since he was 8 years old and at one point had even considered going to culinary school. However, it wasn’t until he started experimenting with store-bought barbecue sauce to feed droves of charity event volunteers at his former company that he revisited his culinary yearnings in earnest and began developing Kickstart. He had been getting compliments on his “doctoring” of pre-made sauce but “felt bad because it wasn’t [his] own.” So Perry plugged away at his original recipe over the next two years in order to “take what [he] had envisioned in [his] head into this bottle we have today.”

And what we have today, my friends, are sauces that I think are great not only for grilled ribs and steaks but for “everyday cooking” dishes as well, whether it’s roasted chicken or pan-seared pork chops. I’m even thinking of adding Kickstart to my Pinoy spaghetti sauce recipe, which relies on that same balance of sweet and spicy. Perry agrees about the “put it on everything” quality of his sauces: “I put in on my over easy eggs every morning. People have put it in their soup, salads, oysters, Bloody Mary’s, french fries. There is no limit to what you can put it on.”

Turning a Passion into a Business

I was curious to know more about how Perry turned his passion and skill into an independent business, and he was kind enough to share his journey, from streamlining his process to meeting industry standards and juggling it all with a full-time job as a safety manager and operating a non-profit.

I asked him about getting his product to market and any obstacles he might have encountered. Perry replied:

“Right now I am making it at home and it’s a chore. Each batch of 13 gallons takes almost 24 hours between mixing, getting to a hard boiling point then soft boil for five hours, the cooling process, bottling then canning (sealing the bottle tight then submerging in boiling water for 30 minutes to force the air out and get a tight seal), then putting the label on.

Research of the label was easy; there is a company in New York that tests your product for a small fee per FDA standards and guidelines to make sure your PH level is good and you’re not going to make anyone sick (which I am well below the level). They figure out the nutrition facts and calorie content [and] the bar code is done online.”

Perry also spoke about the difficulties of getting commitments from potential buyers or distributors: “I have talked to people from different stores and BBQ places and all seem excited about the sauce and getting it out there, but getting them to follow through is a different story.”

Despite the tough path of building a business, Perry is always inspired by the “constant positive feedback from people from all walks of life, from the backyard BBQ guy to the guy that has his own business.” He also relishes stories where initially sauce-iffy people are converted into avid fans: “I have met people who hate BBQ sauce and they try mine and they actually want more,” Perry recounts. “There is a guy from Russia and his girlfriend asked him if he wanted to try it and said no, hates BBQ sauce. She talked him into trying it and an hour later she gets a phone call from him telling her that they need more because he drank it. Either he thought it was Vodka or he really liked it. I’m hoping for the latter.”

Make it good, then do some good

While I’m already sold on Kickstart BBQ Sauce myself, here’s yet another reason to support Perry and his business. 5% of all sales are donated to two charities, the Sgt. Eric (Doc) Williams Scholarship Foundation and the Lone Survivor Foundation. On the choice of these organizations, Perry says:

“The Sgt. Eric (Doc) Williams Scholarship Foundation is named after my friend that was killed in Afghanistan on July 23, 2012–the day he was to come home. Eric was my EMT when I was a paramadic and was one of the few that really got it as to why we were there, and that was to treat a person in time of need, no matter who or what they were like we would want someone to treat someone we cared for. Everyone got treated the same.

He also kept a blog during his time in service that was very insightful up until his last entry before he was killed. So we hand out $2000 a year in scholarships to the EMT program that he went to at MT San Jacinto College in Riverside, which mainly go to vets trying to start a second life. The other scholarship we hand out to the photojournalism program at the high school he went to.

The Lone Survivor Foundation I give to because being a vet who served and then got out, I know how hard it is to adjust to civilian life, let alone going through what the vets nowadays are facing with the war and trying to adapt to civilian life. Its not as easy as putting on a new set of clothes and going about your way, theres a lot of adjustment and frustration, not just for the soldier, but for his/her family as well. The Lone Survivor Foundation helps with that transition.”

Secrets of a Grilling Master

Now, while the recipes behind Kickstart are closely guarded secrets, Perry is more than happy to share his tried-and-tested techniques for grilling up some amazing pork ribs:

“The night before you cook [the pork ribs], marinate them in Coke, and…make sure that all of the ribs are covered…[then] marinate for at least 8 hours. Before you do that tear off the tendon in the back of the ribs so it absorbs through better. After you marinate them, take them out and dry them off and cook them with a rub that consists of brown sugar, black pepper, some crushed red peppers and seasoning salt. Cook low and slow [at 225 F] and enjoy, basting it the last 15 minutes with a BBQ sauce of your choice, preferably Kickstart BBQ Sauce. :-) ”

At Perry’s home barbecue party, I also noticed that he was working with some good-sized smokers that could accommodate a dozen racks of ribs. Here’s a smoker I found in that style. You gotta get your hands on this and a lot more Kickstart BBQ Sauce—Chef Carolina totally approves!