The Education of Frank Green, Part 3

On the third and final installment, Frank laments on his NFL hopes being dashed, working in his college cafeteria to pursue a career in culinary arts, earning cooking certifications, how a chance catering opportunity led to a coaching gig and ultimately moving back to South Carolina to coach and launch his Dirt Road Grub brand. Lastly, he and Danny sample some of the delicious grilled morsels that Frank served up to put a bow in the enthralling conversation!

Where to find Frank:

instagram.com/dirtroadjerk 

tiktok.com/coachcheffrank 

Intro-Late Night Jam by Infrared Krypto

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

So then after you left Georgetown, what was the next move? So after Georgetown, I chased the NFL as long as I could. I did. Of course, you know, coming out of a smaller school, a NAIE school, uh that the path to the NFL looks a little different.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 0:20

And with all of the transitions that I had as well, because think about it, I actually transferred to four different colleges, or three different colleges, and a six-year window. This is way before the portal. So it was a different, you know, progression. Because back in my time, if you went D1 to D1, you had to sit out of you. You lose a year eligible. Only way in that time, you had if you went down, you could you wouldn't lose the eligibility. So but I I chased the NFL as long as I could. Um I got into a few camps, got in, uh, went into a few workouts. And then I finally landed an opportunity to play professional arena football up in Lexington, Kentucky. Okay. I played for the uh for the Kentucky horsemen. And at that time, uh man, good friend of mine, God bless his soul too, Jarrett Lorenzen. I don't know if you're familiar with that name. Come on, man. The Pillsbury throwboy, the hefty lefty, the round mounted touchdown. Hefty lefty, man. Shout out Jared Lorenzen, man. R.I.P. Jared Lorenzen. R.I.P. Shout out to my South Paul quarterbacks, man. Yes, man. He was one of my favorites. The hefty lefty, man. I was at, we were at the Lexington Horseman in Lexington, Kentucky. And I remember, man, that just brings back so many memories, man. He used to call me up. Jared used to call me, man, and we would go through. We would find a gym in the area. And by the way, they treated him like a god in Lexington, bro. Like he was a big figure there, man. So a big shout out to Jared and his family, man. My heart goes out with uh to you guys on that. But uh he was a good friend of mine. But so I ended up playing professional arena football, and that was an interesting journey as well, because I actually kind of that's kind of where my career with football kind of tapered tapered down because I actually fractured my ankle in training camp with the Lexington with the horseman. And so I never really kind of shook back from that fracture, and that's kind of where the dust settled, really, for my football career, man. But you know, and and this is just just for the young folks that's out there, man, that that that may pick up on this. You know, when I say college is big business, going pro is bigger, bigger business. You know, there's just you know, there's ways, there's always a loophole or there's always an exception to the rule or something like that. There's a gray area there. But uh, you know, one thing about it, man, you gotta have that representation in there. Um, that's just what it is. And so I'm proud to say that, you know, uh as long as I chased the journey, you know, I I worked out my own negotiation playing arena football. I didn't have an agent. So when I even got the contract, excuse me, I when I even got the contract, I I I worked out my own negotiation, man. And so it was a it was an uh extraordinary journey, even, you know, even at the professional level that you know that with that. But after that, when once football was kind of when the when the dust settled, man, I finally used my degree.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

And uh that's uh I I got into I started working for the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice. I was a juvenile probation officer, and this was well after my football career, man. And then kind of started uh messing around with a little bit of culinary stuff here and there. And uh that was that.

SPEAKER_01 3:29

So what got you into the culinary stuff initially? Like what what uh what was the what was the first thing that uh really just like ignited that plane? You know, honestly, I I'd have to say my really first experience with culinary was working at McDonald's here in Monks Thorner, man. Who worked at that McDonald's? Yes, I didn't know that. Yes, man, and uh shout out to Miss Carolyn Smalls, man. Gotta shout out Miss Carolyn Smalls, man. Carolyn Smalls, for those of you who don't know, she owned about three McDonald's around here, like in the what? Probably like late 80s, early 90s, 90s, mid-90s, and all of that. Very influential person, man, because uh Miss Smalls was she was a stickler, you know what I mean? Like she knew everything about McDonald's, uh, and she held had an expectation for us as even just as our simple employees, there was a certain expectation that she had. So that was kind of like my first real introduction, like, you know, in the culinary and kind of you know, being in that world, man. But after I graduated college and I was, and I told you I was uh training for the league and trying to get in camps and different things like that. I actually got a job working in my college cafeteria, uh, working for uh a company called Sedexo. And Sedexo is one of the largest food companies in the world. They're uh they're in a lot of hospitals, they're in a lot of like private colleges, they have the account for Disney, and they have the account for Paris Island, uh, the main base. Yes. Sodexo, man. You ever get a chance, research them, man? You know, great company, great, great opportunity. Uh if you ever want to go and get some cooking experience, be a line cook, a sous chef, or whatever. I suggest go working at a college or a hospital to kind of get that experience. But that's a uh that's a corporate machine. And so that's what uh I think Sodexo is kind of what sealed the deal. Even though, you know, like I grew up around people that can cook. You know, my mom, my mom worked in the culinary field for a long time. My mom worked at Fooline in Monskona for like 30 years. So I and and my mom also helped cater like some of the sports banquets at the high school at Berkeley High School. So I was around it, you know what I mean? I was I was around it my my entire life, but Sodexo on a profession more on a professional and you know level or whatever, Sedexo was the one. And so, you know, shout out to anybody from Sedexo who might be watching this thing, man. Big shout out to them, man, because I I I really did Sodexo really did give me the confidence that I uh on the journey that I'm in now, you know what I'm saying? With the video. So Sodexo was I have to give that that to Sodexo. So you also dipped your toe into coaching too after college. So yes, share with us what that experience was like. So uh right after uh right after COVID, I actually moved back to Kentucky. And the interesting thing is uh the the people that I originally started working with in the cafeteria when I graduated college, they were still at the cafeteria when I went back in 21. Really? Yes, and just in different roles. So the chef that I actually trained under, he had become the general manager of the cafeteria. Okay, and so you know, interesting experience, alumni. I come back, you know, to my college working in the cafeteria, and I actually uh under his umbrella this time uh I was actually certified as an allergen free chef. And so that's actually a very interesting thing because the college adopted they adopted that for the kids who had allergies. And uh so the my general manager, shout out to uh Chef Miguel and and my crew there, bro. It it was, you know, I I didn't have a I didn't know that that's what he was gonna hire me for, was for that, but I had to go through like a special training to be certified to be the chef there. Okay so basically how I look at that station, that allergen-free station, it was a food truck that didn't move because I had my own station, I had my own equipment, my own flat top, my own oven, because it's allergen-free. Yeah, and so you know, and when I say allergen-free, that means I I didn't make any of any of the food that I made, it didn't have any of the nine major allergens in it. So you talk about being having to be very careful about cross-contamination and cleanliness and all of that, and which I think that's a huge thing in food service or whatever. So just that. But just in when I went back there and I was doing that, I actually also worked at a catering company over the summer. And so I met a guy there at the catering company. Uh, and it's interesting, this this particular event, and this is leading how I got into coaching, but this particular event that I was doing with at with this catering company, it was actually for a court TV show like uh Judge Judy. It was actually the same producers, it was called Relic, it was called Relative Justice. And so the guy who was transporting the guests back and forth, we struck up a conversation and it came to find out he was a head coach for a middle school football team. What? Yes, and it just I'm telling you, man, what's the world? Yeah, remember what I told you. What's for you is for you, and you don't, you know, you don't know how it's gonna come. But yeah, we just struck up a conversation, come to find out he's the head coach of the middle school team in Georgetown, where my college is. Wow, Georgetown, yes, the Georgetown Buffaloes, man. Shout out Georgetown Buffaloes. Yes, I that's how it happened, man. He's working there for a part-time job, I'm working there for a part-time job, and he needed a wide receiver coach. And there I was, there you were, yeah. And so, you know, I'm at the cafeteria in the daytime and the evening. I'm putting now I've now my coaching career starts. I'm coaching seventh and eighth grade receivers, and that's how it started then. That's crazy, yeah, man. Crazy story. Yeah, yeah. So then eventually you ended up moving back down to South Carolina. Yes, came back to South Carolina after like about two and a half years in Kentucky again, and then I got back here and uh I started taking a look at education, and so I started substitute teaching here in the area, and I also started coaching here in the area, and uh, and I brought some of those culinary skills back down with me, and then I began to start my journey on my business, man. And so, you know, I I couldn't bring you here in in the yard, man, with without without letting Coach Chef Frank step out, man. You know what I'm saying? And uh giving you an opportunity to uh you're getting the first shot, first, first look at uh my new menu that I'm going to come out, uh bringing out on my dirt under my dirt roll grub umbrella. It's called uh Dirt Road Franks and Tings. You know, I just recently did another did a uh another podcast, uh Snacking and Yakin'. Shout out to them. Yes, that was a great episode. Shout out to my boy Big Ben and uh uh his people over there at Snackin and Yakking. And uh and if you get a chance, go check out that episode as well. Uh, and it kind of kind of will explain some of what we're gonna get ready to talk about now, man. But uh, you know, uh Dirt Roll Grub is uh my umbrella on all social media Facebook, Instagram, TikTok. Uh I'm Coach Coach Chef Frank on uh on TikTok, Coach Chef Frank on uh on Facebook. But you will get an understanding of the whole Dirt Road Grub umbrella. And so now I'm I'm actually getting ready to push out my uh my Dirt Road Franks and Tangs menu. And Tings is a whole country slang. Yes, sir. I wanted to keep that, and it just goes well with the whole dirt road theme, but uh I'm getting ready to push that menu out, man. And uh I actually I have a an interesting partnership with the uh with a hot dog company uh based out of Charlotte called Gleasy Dogs. Gleasy, shout out to my people over at Gleasy up in uh Charlotte, North Carolina, which uh they feature a beef, double smoked beef brisket hot dog, man. And uh and so I'm adding that to the dirt roll grub umbrella, and uh it's gonna be under the dirt roll Franks and Tangs menu, and that's getting ready to drop here soon, man. So follow all my social medias, man, and uh you'll be able to catch up with that. But I couldn't bring you out here, bro, without without giving you an opportunity. You get first dips. And listen, whenever I was watching the episode of us when you were stacking and yak, and you were preparing it on the uh on the flat top, I was like, Well, that looks good. And then when I saw Big Fizz reaction, I'm like, okay, I'm in for a treat. Yeah, so without further ado, yes, sir, we're going to uh uncover the plate here, yes, sir. And just to uh if you're watching on YouTube, just to give y'all a uh little bird's eye view of what you what I'm about to experience, so share with them what is so what's on the plate is this is just uh a kind of a sample of some of the things that you will be able to get on my dirt road Franks and Tang's menu. Of course, we're going with the Gleasley dog, and that's done the Gleasy Way, the uh the Gleasy Way, double uh smoked uh beef brisket with cheddar cheese, onions, and the gleasy sauce. You got that in there. Shout out, like I said, shout out Gleasy. And also coming from my dirt roll grub in Tang's part, we have uh I'm interested, you have my dirt roll jerk chicken here with our handcrafted jerk sauce on there. Yes, sir. And then you also have uh something new that I'm bringing out, and that is the jerk neck bones. So, y'all, we come up off the dirt roads, and this is just what it is, man. Everything that you're gonna kind of see will have a dirt roll twist to it or whatever, and I'm just putting my coach Chef Frank the dirt roll way. I'm just I'm just flipping it that way, man. Okay, man. All right, no more talking. I'm boom. Boom. So that's that that's that jerk chicken right there. That's that jerk chicken. Got a real good smokiness to it, too. Yes, uh boy. And so, you know, just just my my variation of uh Caribbean jerk chicken. I call it dirt road jerk chicken. My own uh marinades, my own seasonings, my own sauce, my own special wood that I smoke it with. Uh, and then like I said, we got the uh and we got the the uh the dirt road jerk neck bones. That's gonna be a new thing that we feature. So jerk chicken is jerking, Jack. I appreciate that, man. I appreciate that. Ma'am, I cannot wait. Dirt Road Franks and Tang, man. My menu getting ready to drop, man. Y'all make sure y'all follow that, man. Please follow that on all social medias. Frank Green, uh, Coach Chef Frank on Facebook, Coach Chef Frank on TikTok, and Dirt Road Jerk on Instagram, man. Y'all make sure y'all on Instagram. All right, this is the jerk neckbone. Hold on jerk neckbone. Yes, I'm if y'all could experience what I'm experiencing right now, just the tenderness. It's like the intersection of tender, smoky man. Hey, hey, if I could inject this in my veins, I would. I appreciate it, bro. Bro, bro, I appreciate this. And listen, man, and I'll tell you, I think any real chef or real cook will tell you, you know, having someone to appreciate what you cook or what you make, it is just as valuable as any dollar that you will ever make on this man. 1000%. I promise, man. So I when I when I and you know, like I said, I come from my mom was a cook for many, many years, and she'll tell you that, you know, it's all about seeing people enjoy your food, man. That's what it's about, man. You gotta put a little, you put a little bit of time in your food and a whole lot of love in it. A whole lot of love. Love is the key ingredient. You gotta put the love into it, man. You got to. You got to, ma'am. You got to. Oh my god. So man, I I I I I'm glad you're enjoying that, man. But yeah, man, we we coming, man. We coming. Coach Chef Frank, we coming. Only thing I didn't like is that it's not, it's no more neck bone. I ate it all. But yeah. It's it right there. But now we get into that greasy. What's up? We're gonna get into this greasy dog. So now, now mind you, this is like I said, this is the greasy way. We got the onions, we got the onions on it, we got the cheddar cheese and the greasy sauce, and it's toasted on a uh on a uh Martin's potato bun, man. Oh, potato see potato bun. See, yes. That's how you know was is handcrafted with love and intention. Yes, let's get into it. No more talking, ma'am. Oh my god. And listen, pretty good. I'll be the first to make I'm not even an onions guy, but it works with this one like crazy. This sauce, bro. What is this sauce? So that's oh man, man. I don't even I don't let the sauce. Man, my bad. But that sauce, that is a kangy Carolina sauce that they make by Gleasy. And I'll get it. You can get it. All this and you get this stuff, a lot of this stuff is it's available. Harris Teeter. And and Gleasy's on the rise, man. If you haven't read, when you get a chance, research this company, they're on the rise, man. They're they're making big moves, uh, a lot of golf tournaments, a lot of sporting events, a lot of uh a lot of cool events, man. They even got a beer that they just dropped called Atta Boys. But yeah, check check them out, man. G-L-E-E-Z-Y. Check them out, man. They're uh they're they're making a lot of noise, man. These dogs, I I don't even know if they knew what they were getting themselves into with these dogs. Maybe they did, but I can tell you what. This is not your average hot dog at all. This is as they say in New York, this is official tissue right here. Like, I never would have thought of putting brisket as your as one of the main contents of your hot dog, but it works. It just it makes so much sense. But the potato bun. Yeah, the potato bun slaps with it. The potato bun is so underrated because you just get a regular bun, you bite into it, and it just makes all the ingredients just slap everywhere. This one here, it just holds everything in place in a very flavorful way. And I'm extremely appreciative of them being so detail-oriented with these hot dogs. And Frank, I'm appreciative of you, bro, because dog, like you said, it's a lot of love in this food, and you can taste it. It's like on the past episode. I actually posted a clip of it earlier this week. I said, I made the worst shrimp and grits of my life, and I made it out of haste, and the love wasn't there when I made it, and when I tasted the first bite, it tasted like there was no love in the shrimp and grits. So if your heart ain't in it, just don't pursue it. Yeah, and you know, and I'm gonna piggyback off that a little bit, man, because talk to him. You know, uh, of course, we know now with with the way social media has evolved, uh, it it's allowed everybody to be able to share what they do, especially in the food game. The food world is is is becoming very faddish, it's becoming very niche. And I and I get it, man. But I'll I'll tell you this in my experience of working uh for a company like Sedexo, working in corporate and understanding, you know, you gotta stop and think. At a college cafeteria, that's a lot of food being moved out on a daily basis. So I got an opportunity to really see how food moves and how people react to food. A college cafeteria, people all around the world, everybody's there. I'll say, and because you made a good point, man. I'll say this, dude. At the minimum, if you're thinking about going into business in the food business, at least go get some line cook experience. At least at the bare minimum. Because when you get in there, then you will understand how food moves out at high volume, how you know, how to uh how to keep food, how to make sure everything is fresh, temperatures, all these different things. You gotta kind of you gotta get that kind of stuff under your belt. And honestly, you know, for the people who've been following me, you'll know that I I've been slow walking this thing with the food. Because even in my prime when I was in there, I still didn't think that I was ready to bring it out to the general public because there was a lot of things, excuse me, that I was uneducated about. And so, you know, and here recently we've had some food reviewers come to this area uh that kind of gave a lot of restaurants around here some bad reviews, man. You know, and you know, I listen, everybody gets an A for effort from me. But when it comes to food, bro, people are picky about their food, man. Yeah, because most people will spend their lives on their food. So, like you said, if you're not gonna put that love into it, then it might not be something that you need to pursue, man. Just keeping it real because it could be it could be one and done for you. You know, you really can. If you, you know, and making sure that if you know how to handle food, making sure that you're sanitary, all of those things, those are all things that I take that I that that are in the forefront before, because everybody always sees the finished product. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? But it's what's happening to that food before the finished product. You feel me? Yeah, that's what's going on. Because if you get somebody sick because you didn't you didn't store the meat properly or you didn't keep this at temperature, you had something sitting out too long, those are things that you know that that could easily get you out of business that fast, man. So that's just a little bit, a little nugget that I learned along on my journey on this food thing, man. And you know, it's been a long time coming. You know, I've been slow walking it, taking my time with it, or whatever. And, you know, I'm I'm at the point now where we're on the cusp of a soft grand opening. So be on the lookout for that. And and I think, and I've and and as if I recollect correctly, I believe my my first grand opening is gonna be right here in Monks Corner, man. So keep your eyes open for that. And you most definitely we'll put those dates out there and the location out there. But dirt roll grub, dirt roll, my dirt roll Franks and Tang's menu is getting ready to drop. I would love for all of you to come out and check it out, man. Bro, listen, I'm gonna tell you this, man. Anytime you're in town or anytime you're around, bro, your meal is on me. You ain't even gotta worry about that. And that's and that's and that and that's that's that's a fact. Your meal is on me, bro. It's too hard to be making me cry in here, bro. I appreciate you, man. I appreciate you, bro. Man, this was appreciated. This exceeded my expectations, bro. Great food, great combo, and like you said, slow and steady wins the race. People don't forget the tortoise won the race. Yes, sir. The tortoise beat the hair. They had took out of here like you saying, Bo, but it didn't cross the finish line before before the tortoise did. So yeah, yeah. Yes, man, that's I think that's gonna do for this episode, man. That's it, uh listen, man. If it gets any better, I'm just gonna, I don't know, I'm just gonna spontaneously combust. But chef, chef, coach, Frank, man, this is just the honor was all mine. Bro, I I man, listen, man. I I really appreciate you, man, even taking the time out to even him out from the beginning. Because if you remember, we were talking about this one day uh working out, and I said I was gonna reach out to you, man. And then I I went and followed your stuff, man, and looked at it. I was like, yo, I gotta get with him, man. So I I appreciate your time and your energy, man. Uh, keep up the keep this going, man. Because I I hopefully this interview will inspire somebody else to come on, man, and share their story and share and drop some gems, man. But what you got going on, man, this is good stuff right here. I appreciate it. Anytime I see somebody that has a vision, and if there's anything I could do to help with that vision, I'm I'm I'm here for it. So yes, I'm glad that we got the link up, man. And this has just this has been such an enriching conversation, man. So again, man, appreciate you. Yes, sir, man. Yes, sir. And I appreciate y'all listeners. Make sure you like, download, or subscribe to since you last spoke with Danny Foxworth. Subscribe to my YouTube channel. You can find me at Danny Foxworth843. There you can find videos of every episode of this podcast, as well as my baseball podcast at the plate with Danny Foxworth, Growing Up Little Country with Liz and Danny, and uh my candle podcast, The Wicked Good Time with Danny Foxworth. Make sure you subscribe with all of Frank's things that he mentioned as well. Matter of fact, tell them where they can find you again. So, man, y'all can find me on Facebook at Frank Green. Uh, I think under in the parentheses there is Coach Chef Frank on Facebook. On uh TikTok, I'm coach at at Coach Chef Frank. And on Instagram, it's at Dirt Road Jerk on Instagram, man. And so, you know, guys, I'm gonna tell y'all now. I've been stuck on Facebook for a while. My Instagram, I you know, it's not enough time in the day. I need to, I wish I could hire somebody, man, to help me out with all these social medias, man. But that's where you can find me at, man. Tap in with me, shoot me a message. You know, I'm very good at responding if you want to know what's going on. Also, you know, I offer uh personal catering, there's personal catering opportunities with me as well. I'll come to your cookout, I'll cook out in the backyard for you, grill for you, whatever you need, man. Just reach out to me, shoot me a message, and uh I'll I'll be I'll be glad to get back in touch with you, man. But I I appreciate you guys. Hey man, this has been this has been an experience, man. And I appreciate you again. Hey, listen, I've been my life has been enriched for this the for this short amount of time we've been here. But this has been another episode of since we last spoke. And until next time, y'all be good. We out.