Small business is fired up about teaching grilling
An idea to teach the best way to barbecue becomes a growing small business called BrisketU
Two Houston ad agency friends come up with the idea of BrisketU after wondering why no one has tried to capitalize on the craze for barbecue competitions.
T HE founding pitmasters of BrisketU teach a class where a dog actually might eat the homework.
The brainchild of local ad agency cohorts Mike Albrecht, 56, and Jon Kane, 35, the threehour class offers tips and tricks from a barbecue pro.
“A lot of people assume after they’ve cooked a brisket for six hours, it must be done,” said Scott Valdiviez, 45, a class instructor and 25-year veteran of barbecue competitions and backyard barbecues. “We show them why it takes at least 10 to 12 hours to cook a brisket right.”
The classes take place on weekend mornings at local breweries.
“There are a lot of times when breweries are very busy, but 10 o’clock on a Saturday or Sunday morning isn’t one of them,” Kane said. “So it’s ‘found’ income for a brewery, and we bring hungry, thirsty males to their doors.”
Albrecht and Kane cooked up the idea for BrisketU summer before last. They wondered why no one had tried to capitalize on the craze for barbecue competitions. From the beginning, they said, their goal was to make barbecuing fun again.
“So many people take the barbecue culture too seriously,” Kane said. “We wanted this to be the antithesis of that. BrisketU is about backyard cooking, no pressure. … This is how someone would cook a brisket if they had 15 people
coming over to their house for the Fourth of July.”
The classes, which cost $69 per session, take place at six local breweries around Houston. BrisketU is offered at the Spindletap, 11 Below, Town in City, Back Pew, No Label and Southern Star breweries.
Among the topics students are schooled in: selecting firewood, choosing a rub, trimming a brisket and controlling the temperature during cooking. Valdiviez uses a raw brisket at the start of class, and he finishes up with carving lessons on a brisket cooked the night before.
Classes are capped at 30 students. Kane began to approach local breweries about hosting the classes early last year and Town in City was the first to say yes.
“We’re a craft brewery, and they teach people the craft side of brisket making,” Town in City coowner Justin Engle said. “Plus, it just makes sense that brisket and beer go together.”
Last year, 1,600 people participated in BrisketU in Houston. Now another pit-master offers BrisketU classes in Austin and Bryan-College Station.
The program grossed some $87,000 last year, Albrecht said. In addition to weekend classes, BrisketU now teaches at private parties and corporate events.
Some of the companies that have hired BrisketU include Spirit Airlines, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, and NASA. “Which is pretty funny,” Albrecht said, “because we were literally teaching the finer points of cooking a brisket to rocket scientists.”
Next up for BrisketU is to franchise the concept. The founders recently approached local brothers and business partners Judd and Gordon Miller about developing BrisketU into a national franchise.
Judd Miller helped companies like Amazing Lash Studio and Money Mailer grow in the past. “We’re almost ready to start selling franchises and take this nationwide,” he said.
“We thought it’d be successful, but we never expected people would be calling us and begging to be added to one of our classes,” Albrecht said.