"Pork Barrel' goes from politics to grill

Former JC man, friend parlay pork, panache into barbecue empire

Heath Hall and Brett Thompson film a segment for the television show "The Shark Tank."
Heath Hall and Brett Thompson film a segment for the television show "The Shark Tank."

Patriotism and politics go hand in hand, so why not patriotism and pulled pork?

A 1992 Jefferson City High School graduate traded in his career in politics for just that: a career in "Que. Barbecue, that is.

It started as a fledgling barbecue company struggling for a single sale. Now, it's taken off like a Fourth of July rocket.

Heath Hall's story started in 2006, when he was bogged down in an extended late-night debate in the U.S. Senate over earmarks, also known as "pork barrel spending." He and friend Brett Thompson were aides to Jim Talent, who represented Missouri in the U.S. Senate at the time.

As they ordered from a nearby pizza place, they lamented that there was no good barbecue in Washington, D.C. Not like in Missouri, anyway, where Hall's family frequented Kansas City, often eating at Gates BBQ or Oklahoma Joe's. At home in Jefferson City, Hall's dad grilled and smoked meats all year round.

Why wasn't there a top-notch barbecue joint like that in Washington, they wondered. They even thought up a name for their imaginary restaurant: Pork Barrel BBQ.

After Talent lost his re-election bid later that year, Hall and Thompson parted ways.

"In the spring of 2008, we decided it was time to dust off our idea and introduce Washington, D.C., to the kind of barbecue we loved growing up in Missouri," they wrote on their website.

They formed a tasting panel (they dubbed it their "Kitchen Cabinet," in keeping with their political theme) to judge six different dry rubs they had created. They used the input to create their first product, a single all-purpose rub they named "Pork Barrel BBQ All-American Spice Rub."

They were ready to take the world by storm. Only it didn't work out that way.

Despite wading through piles of paperwork needed to set up a business and finding a manufacturer for their rub, they couldn't get it into stores.

"Our fast start didn't last long as we spent the next six months getting retail doors shut in our face as we ran Pork Barrel BBQ out of the basements of our homes, selling rub one tin at a time," they recalled on their website.

But they didn't let up. They kept calling stores, entering barbecue competitions, and perhaps most importantly, taking to social media. In 2009, they made a big push to market Pork Barrel BBQ through Twitter, which was exploding in popularity.

Soon, they had 5,000 Twitter followers, more than any other barbecue company. Sauce companies like Sweet Baby Rays and Kraft hadn't even hit 1,000 at the time.

That got the attention of Mark Burnett Productions - known for producing the "Survivor" reality TV show - which asked the pair to apply to be on a new show, "Shark Tank." The show was to feature a panel of "sharks" looking to invest money in the Next Big Thing.

Inventors and entrepreneurs pitched their ideas on the show in hopes of getting start-up funding.

As part of the application process, they were asked to create a video with very specific - and very boring - parameters that required them to answer 10-20 questions about their business.

"We totally didn't follow the instructions," Hall said in an interview, echoing the company's unofficial slogan: "Reward lives in the house of risk."

Instead, they called in favors from some of their friends, including Talent and other senators, a friend with a production company, and Tucker Carlson, a correspondent/commentator on the Fox News Channel.

They created a tongue-in-cheek "news report," questioning whether Pork Barrel BBQ was a new business or a political scandal.

Six weeks later, they were filming their segment on "Shark Tank." On the show, New York real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran became the company's first outside investor. But it was the publicity from the show that really propelled the company.

"It was really like someone turned on a light switch," Hall said. "Within 24 hours, people were calling us who before weren't taking our calls."

Soon, they were striking deals with national chains like Costco.

Before the show, they had created Pork Barrel Original BBQ Sauce, which won them second place in a competition.

They continued entering - and placing in - barbecue competitions.

Since that first appearance on "Shark Tank" - they also had a follow-up appearance - they've created three more sauces and started a barbecue restaurant, a sushi bar and a burger joint.

Their rub and sauces now are in more than 4,000 stores. (They're working on two deals that could bring that number to 7,000 by the end of the year.)

Oh, and they also have a cologne called Que - "An intoxicating bouquet of spices, smoke, meat & sweet summer sweat."

Since 2009, they've done nearly 1,000 interviews, appeared on national television shows, and rang the closing bell at NASDAQ.

They successfully compete in more than a dozen barbecue competitions a year, and Cooks Illustrated named their original barbecue sauce as the world's "supreme" barbecue sauce.

On top of all that, they're looking to expand into Europe.

"We're trying to grow at a good clip, but not overextend ourselves," Hall said.

No telling what's next for the pair of entrepreneurs, but they pledge to stay true to their mission "to unite the nation through the great tradition of BBQ, and bring bipartisan flavor to your next meal."

On the web: porkbarrelbbq.com