Ep. 030 - Growing a Business and Strengthening a Community with Mike Lewis

In this episode of Bridging the Bayou, Chancellor Kristine Strickland sits down with Mike Lewis, owner of Big Mike's BBQ Smokehouse.

From his early days in the restaurant industry to building one of the Bayou Region's most recognizable restaurant brands, Mike shares the story behind Big Mike's, the lessons he has learned through entrepreneurship, and the challenges he has overcome along the way. The conversation explores leadership, consistency, community involvement, and the vision behind Big Mike's newest restaurant project. Mike also discusses the importance of investing in local communities, supporting regional growth, and creating spaces where people can gather, connect, and feel at home.

Big Mike's BBQ Smokehouse - https://bigmikesbbq.com

Fletcher Technical Community College - https://www.fletcher.edu




Follow Your Inspiration (corporate) - Music by ArtIssizm on Pixabay

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:03

Welcome to Bridging the Bayou, where we will explore what it means to work, live, and play in the Bayou region. Join us as we take a deeper dive into the people and experiences that make our region such a special place to live and work. On each podcast, we will talk to individuals who are making our region grow and go, who are making strides in uplifting our community. This year, Fletcher Technical Community College is celebrating its 75th anniversary, 75 years of changing lives. This is a podcast of Fletcher Technical Community College. Welcome back to Bridging the Bayou, the podcast of Fletcher Technical Community College. I am Chancellor Christine Strickland, and today I am joined by owner, CEO, president, all the things of Big Mike's barbecue in the Bayou region. We are so excited to have Mike Lewis here on the podcast with us. Mike, welcome to the podcast. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. So glad you could join us today. Well, we're gonna start off. We want to get to know you a little bit better before we kind of talk to you a little bit about restaurant business and leadership in the community and all of the things that you are known for. But are you ready?

SPEAKER_00 1:24

I'm ready.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

Okay, let's do this. Your life has a background sound track. What kind of music is playing as we opening credits?

SPEAKER_00 1:33

You already know. It's probably gonna be the Wu-Tang clan, Gang Star, I don't know, Far Side, anything 90s hip hop.

SPEAKER_02 1:42

Excellent.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

All right. I love it. Love it.

SPEAKER_02 1:45

Uh what is something small that will instantly make your day?

SPEAKER_00 1:49

To see like the perfect plate of food go out. I'm all about food. Uh just on my life. So that that makes me happy.

SPEAKER_02 1:57

Can I ask, what does a perfectly plated food plate look like? What does that look like?

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Oh my God. It's when you look at it, you want to eat it. There are plates of food that you look at and you go, eh. And there's plates of food. You may not even like what's on it, you know, but you go, wow, that looks pretty delicious, you know?

SPEAKER_02 2:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:15

It's weird things like that that make me happy.

SPEAKER_02 2:17

No, that's that is a great thing. That is a great thing, especially with the business you're in. It doesn't even have to be my restaurant. Oh, okay. It can be any restaurant. Just like a really nice plated meal, huh? Absolutely. Excellent. Yes. All right. You can master any skill overnight. It can be real, it can be imaginary, it can be anything. What skill are you mastering and why?

SPEAKER_00 2:37

The skill to motivate others. Oh. That's a really good one. That's it's a necessary skill in my line of work.

SPEAKER_02 2:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

We're all about motivating others.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

Yeah. Is that your why?

SPEAKER_00 2:49

Is that why we would want to know how to do that? Absolutely. I think it's an important skill to have. Not everyone possessed that skill. And uh it's one in our industry you have to master.

SPEAKER_02 3:01

Okay. Wonderful. Have you mastered it yet?

SPEAKER_00 3:04

I have not. Okay. I don't think that uh you can necessarily master anything in life. Okay. But great point. You can keep after it, right? And then every year that goes by, you add another hole in your belt and you just get better. Love it.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

All right. What is a place that feels like home to you, even though you don't live there?

SPEAKER_00 3:28

I don't know. I feel like everything I'm gonna say is probably gonna revert back to restaurants, but I just like um being in a very upbeat, cool environment. I love live music. One of my favorite things to do is not necessarily to go to, you know, a theme park or you know, a concert, but someplace where food is the main focus with all of those activities happening.

SPEAKER_02 3:55

That's awesome. And I think that's the kind of environment you try to create at Big Mike's, huh?

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 4:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

And that's that's what we're trying to do every day at the ones we have now, and especially the one that we'll have in the future.

SPEAKER_02 4:08

Great. Yeah, all right. Question number five. We are writing or we're recording a documentary about your life. What's the title? Or what would you like the title to be?

SPEAKER_00 4:19

Um, I'm glad I didn't do that. That's the title of it. I'm glad I didn't do that. You know.

SPEAKER_02 4:29

You got me there. Oh, that's great.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

Yeah, yeah. Well, look, you know, growing up, you know, I didn't grow up in the the best places, but they weren't the worst places either. But um, you know, there were certainly a lot of opportunities for me uh to go the wrong way. And it just, I'm glad I didn't do that. You know, so I mean, here I am as a 49-year-old man, and you know, I could look back at those uh times growing up, and um, there's a lot of things that um I did instead of things I shouldn't have done, like go to work. I've been working since I was 16. Yeah. You know, what's crazy is when I was 16, I got my first job, it was I remember it was wintertime, it was cold, and um I was interviewed. The manager I talked to sometimes uh on Facebook to this day, uh his name's Tony Davis. Uh, and um he asked me as part of one of his interview questions what I wanted to do when I grew up, and I told him I wanted to be an entrepreneur at 16. Wow. I kind of knew what that word meant, but not necessarily. Right. And um, of course, I I became that, but that was my first job. I worked there for three or four years. I missed one day of work. Um I don't think that I was ever late. I always enjoyed working, and um, the only reason why I even missed a day of work is going to the doctor, my mom took me, and they did something to my wrist, and they say, Well, look, you you can't put your hands in water for a day or two or whatever. So I ended up calling in, but that was the only time.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

Oh, wow. Yeah, that's awesome. And look, that's a great title. You probably should film that documentary. I'm not gonna lie. But the idea that every sort of every choice and every decision in our lives, there are choices. There are there are really two different directions that you could choose to go. And and that might be a really interesting reflection is to think back on your life and think about the decisions that you didn't make, right? And how your your life might have been different.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

Oh, yeah. It right? It certainly would have been different. You know, I took early on, I took interest in skateboarding. And um, so like, you know, like I say, my neighborhood wasn't the best, but it wasn't terrible either. But uh, you know, because we skateboarded, we would just skateboard away from where we live and we would be gone all day and come home later. And you know, that's probably that probably attributed to why I didn't do some things that I could have done. I was not there. Right.

SPEAKER_02 7:02

Absence uh kept you out of trouble then a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

I was absent for sure. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_02 7:07

All right, well, it was great to get to know you a little bit better. Let's talk a little bit about the restaurant, the leadership, all those things. So, so this end of 2025 has brought some big news for Big Mike's barbecue in the region. Uh, why don't you tell us a little bit about what's on the horizon?

SPEAKER_00 7:24

Probably about a year before COVID, we bought um the property on 311 and Polk Street and with the plans of them putting a restaurant there, and for you know, one reason or the other, it didn't materialize. One started with COVID and then just several things with storms and whatnot that happened after that. We kind of been kicking this can down the road for probably about six years at this point, and um we're finally uh in a position where we're gonna build it. This restaurant is gonna be uh just a compilation of ideas that we've had over the years. Probably the restaurant that we wanted to build from the beginning. Oh but we never we couldn't, you know, and a lot of you know times a customer say something to me like, you know, you should have done this over here. But the reality of it is 17 years ago when we started this, even if I had the finances, I don't think I was mentally ready to do something as as large as this. And it's this is a big project, it really is, and people will see once we build it.

SPEAKER_02 8:28

Yeah, I think people are very excited already to see what you're bringing.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

Oh, yeah. All those things I told you we wanted, yep, the music, the atmosphere. We're doing our best to do that right there on that property uh on 311.

SPEAKER_02 8:42

So, in other words, you're building your own home where you wanna, you want it, you want it to be your second home.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

I love that.

SPEAKER_00 8:51

I I want to be that guy that's sitting at the end of the bar, uh, about 70, 80 years old, and they go, you know, that guy owns this place, but I look incoherent, you know, just like you know, just like that's him, you know. You know, at that point, I'm not even running it anymore. You know, I'm just kind of too old. But that that would be uh, you know, something that I aspire to is I have this place for a long time and it'd be a community um thing that everybody knows and and loves. So anyways, that's been the goal since 2007, or and we opened in 2008, and then in 2009, um we well, actually, Gustav came before was the first thing that shut us down. Then we burned down, and then we relocated, then we rebuilt, then we went to Thibodeau, and now here we are with this restaurant.

SPEAKER_02 9:44

Yeah. Well, let me take a minute, let's roll back to to the beginning of Big Mike's barbecue. Um, how did the journey begin? Like, how did you get into barbecue? Why the restaurant, all those things?

SPEAKER_00 9:57

Look, I've been in the restaurant business, as I said, since I was 16 years old. Um, you know, I don't think I knew that this is what I wanted to do, but I did know I wanted a car, and that's why I got a job, right? So that's why I got my first job is for a car. And I was a corporate trainer for Darden restaurants. They are the folks that own Olive Garden, Red Lobster. They have Bahama Breeze, too, don't they? That's where I work.

SPEAKER_02 10:22

I was gonna say that's my mom's favorite restaurant.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

Oh, yeah. But Bahama Breeze, I I think I am who I am because of Bahama Breeze. And back when I worked for them in the late 90s, um, that place was ran like the military. It just really was. I mean, they had all their principles and core values and all those things that they taught very well to the folks that they hired. Um, they had high standards, and uh it left an impression on me that I've tried to duplicate uh in in my restaurant life. And um, you know, that's one of the biggest reasons why you need to be a motivator because not everyone has the same aspirations uh as you do, so you gotta motivate them. And that's really kind of the the only way you can get um to that what I call that Darden level uh you know mindset. Kind of there's a compilation of different things that is the reason why we're in the business that we're in with big mics, but one of the things that happened is in I think it was 99, um we flew into Rochester, New York. We were gonna open a restaurant up there for for Darden.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:34

And um, well, we did open a restaurant, and um, you know, we're corporate trainers, we're all getting to town, and um the head training guy um was gonna take us out to dinner, and he mentioned that he's gonna take us to Dinosaur Barbecue. And I thought to myself, kind of lame restaurant is that? Who names their restaurant Dinosaur Barbecue? And I really felt some kind of way about it because you know, usually they take you to a nice place, you know? Like this is a big deal. We're getting ready to open up a multi-million dollar restaurant, right? And um so we go to Dinosaur Barbecue, and it's in like a 1900s uh train station in Rochester in like 1903 or something. It's an old train station. And um the place is the lighting's just right. You know, it's kind of dark in there. They have a bar, there's live music in the bar. Um, the food is phenomenal, and I'm sitting back absorbing all of these, you know, these senses that I have about this place, and going, man, this place is great. So I think like my ideas uh really spawn from that experience in Rochester, New York. And it's a place that, you know, I I really gave no thought about in it being a great place when I when I was told that it was called Dinosaur Barbecue. But what a great and it's still there today.

SPEAKER_02 12:59

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:00

And there's multiple locations of dinosaur barbecue. I think they might have maybe as as many as 11 uh dinosaur barbecues. Uh and the owner uh of it, uh John Stage, I I think um he started a place, he was a biker, and uh so it had that biker type uh atmosphere. And I really appreciated it. So that's kind of where it spawned. So look, long story short, is driving into Homa to see my dad, and I think it was you know early 90s, or I'm sorry, late 90s. Uh I was still working at Bahama Breeze at the time, and uh after being here for about a week visiting my dad, my wife and I, she was my girlfriend at the time, uh, we were driving home and I was talking about opening up a barbecue place in in Louisiana. And uh I want to say that was 99. We actually moved back in 2007 and opened up the restaurant in 2008.

SPEAKER_02 13:55

Wow. So So did you always know that you could cook? Like, was it were you a barbecue master, or was it really that you saw this concept, this restaurant, and you thought, I'm gonna gravitate towards the barbecue side of things?

SPEAKER_00 14:08

Great question. So here's the thing. I I have a hard time telling people this because I'm not a braggadocious person, but I have to brag about this. What and anybody I've ever worked with will validate this. I was a great line cook. I mean, I I could absorb a lot of volume. Um, and and and Bahama Breeze, you know, that was a place, you know, the average restaurant on any given night, you know, might do, you know, four or five hundred, um, well, might do a hundred, two hundred people, where Darden restaurants would do maybe, I don't know, 700 people, thousand people uh in a night, um, especially being located on the water like uh we were. And um, so I always had like a high capacity. Um and and I loved it. I think I love the adrenaline of cooking in a high volume restaurant more than anything else because it is it's an adrenaline rush, is what it is. And uh, but anyways, I was a grill cook. Okay, so it's not a far stretch to come from grilling to to barbecue, it's the same deal. It's live fire, open fire. And um, I was a phenomenal grill cook. I mean, I I really was. Not to say that I put out the best food, but in terms of in like a lot of volume and handling things, I really enjoyed it. It it was a rush more than anything else, and it kind of spawned off into barbecue. And um, one of my favorite places in Tampa, Florida is Big Johns, Alabama Barbecue. I go every time I go home, I go to Big John's, I have to stop. And that was another inspiration um that that I had, and the reason why we opened Big Mics was really those two places, Dinosaur and Big Johns, out of out of my hometown.

SPEAKER_02 15:51

Awesome. You were talking about your story. Um, you've had some major setbacks, right? You've had some setbacks that that people might have just said, that's it. Pack it in. This this was not meant to be storms, fires, all the things. How did you stay the course? Like, where did you find that inner inner just stamina to say, nope, going back in, going back in.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

I could talk about this all day.

SPEAKER_02 16:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:19

And um, first off, I'm I'm not a person that gets moved by a lot. Um, it's hard to shake me, just as a person. When I was a child, my mom would get mad at me because she's like, Why don't you ever get mad? For what? You know, on things you should be mad about, you know. I just look at it like um, you know, when challenges come, you have to deal with them. And, you know, you you either can deal with them in a way that's constructive or a way that's not. You know, there's really only two choices. There's really not a third. Yeah. Right? And then, you know, not to get too uh mushy about it, but I also realize I've been not alive way longer than I'll ever be alive. If that makes any sense. And the short time that I have, I want to do as much as I can. So whatever um obstacles I encounter, they're they're temporary, right? So, you know, you just gotta get up and and keep moving forward. That's just how I look at everything, no matter. You know, we gotta we gotta make sense of things and and things have to make sense for the long-term goal. Right. But at the end of the day, um, if it's just a matter of putting up with things that get in your way, just get through them and keep going, you know. So always move forward, I guess is my motto.

SPEAKER_02 17:45

Yeah, it's a great motto.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

Right? And and in times that can feel tumultuous or a lot of change happening. I'm sure people who are watching, listening out here have maybe been through some tough times lately. Yeah. Hurricane Ida and COVID and all the things, right? Can't change that. Yep, good great advice, gotta move forward, right? You can't change it, gotta move forward. Yeah. Okay, so then I want to turn my attention to sort of the craft around what you do. Yeah. Because I've tried to barbecue like you, tried to whip up a barbecue sauce like you do. Yeah. And it's epic failure. And and look, anybody who knows me is laughing right now in the audience because they know the highlight of my cooking career is craft macaroni and cheese. So uh you do macaroni and cheese way better than me, too. But um what is it that makes Big Mike so special? And help us understand. Like, I know there's a lot that goes in behind the scenes of how you're cooking the meat. Like, why is it that every time I get your babyback ribs, like they're just literally falling off the bone, they're there are just the right amount of crispy and tender. Like, what goes into that process?

SPEAKER_00 18:49

So I'm a person that, and mainly because of my background, like I say, with Darden, um, we document everything. I spend a large amount of time documenting things. Really? Absolutely. There is not anything in our restaurant that isn't documented in terms of like procedures, right? We start from a place of what I'll call good communication through documentation, right? Okay. Where everyone is working from the same playbook. Um and the only variations in all of this is human beings, right? Right. So, you know, that that's where the motivational piece comes in, that's where hiring the right people come in. But I think the magic in it is trying to uh always work towards um absolute and and uh good communication of our processes so that we do things the same every time. And once you get to that point of you know, making sure everybody understands what the goals are, then you have a better chance of being more consistent, you know. And it as funny as it sounds, somebody told me, I heard this maybe the last couple years, if you do bad, do bad consistently. Right? Do it consistently because it's don't throw everybody off. Don't throw them off. But but what they were saying was be consistent with what you're doing. Because bad may only be bad to this group of people, but good to this good, uh, this group of people, meaning that let's keep everybody in the know about what we're doing, how we're doing it, the same every single time. Got it. You know, and if you can do that, look, let's face it, we all have different preferences on how we like things, right? But you you have to do what you do and do it well and do it consistently. And the folks that uh love what you do will continue to support you, you know.

SPEAKER_02 20:55

So that that's that's really good advice because I think a lot of times, especially whether it's entrepreneurship or uh really anything, a lot of times we chase after wanting everybody to like us. And when you do that, that does you cannot be consistent. You cannot be everything to everyone. So find the people who love you and stick with them.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

Absolutely. I mean, uh any given day somebody could say, oh, baked beans should be thick, oh, baked beans should be thin, baked beans should have this. Look, this is what we do. Right. And now, granted, you know, you have to meet a social acceptable norm on everything you do at a at a baseline, right? Right. And then you can expand on that. And here's the important part you have to be happy with what you're doing. Right? I'm I'm so I can't go into my restaurant and say, well, you know, everybody else is happy with the macaroni and cheese except for me. That makes no sense. Right? So how am I gonna go do a line check and taste and go, this is horrible macaroni, but they love it.

SPEAKER_02 21:59

It it makes Strickland woman, she keeps buying it.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

Right, she keeps buying it. That's absolutely it makes no sense, right? So you you have to start with what you like first, and then from there have consistency, and then that way uh you are at least offering the same thing to the people that are coming to support you all the time, and hopefully you can gain new customers over time by staying consistent because they know what to expect, you know. So we try to keep the needle, you know, where it needs to be all the time, and you know, uh we're not gambling, but as they say, let the chips fall where they may. Yeah, we can't worry about everything, you know. We can't be everything to everyone, you know. We have to do what we do.

SPEAKER_02 22:46

Yeah, makes a lot of sense. So is there a secret ingredient to the Big Mike's barbecue sauce?

SPEAKER_00 22:52

Well, yeah. Are you gonna tell me? Yeah, it's it's it might even be written on the bottom.

SPEAKER_02 22:58

Oh, okay. But um it's the measurements of it, right?

SPEAKER_00 23:02

Yeah, I mean, these legal things they make us do. But uh there's barged root beer in it, you know.

SPEAKER_02 23:08

Really?

SPEAKER_00 23:09

Yeah, yes, it's barged root beer.

SPEAKER_02 23:11

Oh, be darn. That makes so much sense.

SPEAKER_00 23:14

Yeah, but in my view, the in anytime you have any sort of recipe, whether it's barbecue sauce, you know, whatever it is, um, where you have ingredients in it, um, no ingredient should be so identifiable that that dish becomes that. You know, like uh of course macaroni and cheese got to taste cheesy.

SPEAKER_02 23:36

Right. Yeah. Very important to me.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

Right, exactly. But you should not be able to say, oh, that's cumin, or that not that you were putting it in there, right? But but you get the idea, you know. Um, so I think any well-balanced barbecue sauce should have um a great taste, but nothing's so identifiable, you know, that uh it overpowers the sauce.

SPEAKER_02 24:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:03

Well, let's talk about the community out there who absolutely loves you and adores you. Um how how much does the community and um sort of your place and stature in the community play a role into the decisions that you make for Big Mike's barbecue? Oh, a lot.

SPEAKER_00 24:21

Yeah, a lot. Um I absolutely love where I live. I I really do. And I believe, which is one of the reasons why we are building this restaurant, is because we need to keep growing our community. One of the things that I said was that this was bigger than us. And it is. And it's not that we're this big thing, it's the action of doing something new that is a place of uh people uh gathering and that pro you know pays taxes and all all of these things are important uh in any community. Um so it you know that community connection, especially in our small town, is certainly uh uh woven into how we operate the business. Uh because uh especially in our area, um we're a tight-knit community. And if if you know we're not gonna invest in our own community, then we we can't really count on others to do so, right? So uh we we have to build it. And like they say, I think others will come. I I really believe in this area, I really do. And I think that um, you know, and I see all kind of projects going on over town right now where people are are building um uh different businesses currently. And um, you know, we're proud to be one more asset in the community that one provides quality of life. Because, you know, that's you know, restaurants are quality of life sort of business. Absolutely, you know. You know, one of the things that we talk about from my own hometown is how you could go to a different restaurant every day of your life and you you'd still have more to go to, you know, because there's so many there. You know, and uh, you know, we see Homa uh as a vibrant community, and uh every uh business decision that we make is to make sure that we uh add to that. So uh it's important that that uh that we uh do things in the community um and that you know we give back in the way where we're building and um helping this area to prosper, you know.

SPEAKER_02 26:46

Yeah. And and that is one of the things that I admire about you is that uh this isn't just about owning a restaurant and making lots of money and retiring at the end on the bar stool and and watching all of it around you, is that you really are committed to the community and and you see that in action, both in in the restaurants themselves, um especially with the local acts that you bring in, um, you know, performance, music performances, this new restaurant, but also outside of the business. You give of your time and your talent. I know you have served in multiple leadership roles, as has your wife. Um I've had the opportunity to serve with her on the chamber. I know you've been on a number of boards. I think Tita, I don't know if you're still on Tita, which is a Terrebone Economic Development Agency. Yes. You're also on our Fletcher Foundation board. So thank you first off for your service on our foundation board. But but why is that important to you? And to your family, obviously.

SPEAKER_00 27:44

It's important because you know, one of the things that I learned about, you know, from from my perspective of being on boards, sometimes it's the piece you you may say one thing in a board meeting that spawn an idea. You don't have to be the smartest person in a room, you don't have to be, you know, the most educated, you don't even have to have the most life experience in the room, but as long as you're contributing to the conversation, there could be one thing that spawned something so huge that you say. And the difference was that you were there, right? So, you know, I I like um as much as I can to be a part of different organizations because especially here uh at Fletcher and other institutions where I mean really uh a lot of times our population even is driven by the education in the area. You know, how how good are the hospitals in the area? You know, whatever it is, we're kind of like the the leaders of the I would even say the lost leaders of why people kind of like move to a certain area, even, you know. And I figure, you know, for myself, you know, like I said with big mics, it's bigger than us. These institutions are bigger than us. They're they're the reason why people make decisions where they're gonna be geographically located all the time. So I I love giving my time and attention to things like this.

SPEAKER_02 29:23

Yeah, and we appreciate it so much. I I don't know if a lot of people know this story, but uh you and I met uh right after I came to Fletcher. Yes. Uh we were heading into our strategic planning session, and you reached out and you said, I don't really know much about Fletcher or or what this strategic planning stuff is all about, but would it be all right if I came? And I was like, Yeah, let's and and for me, it was so wonderful as a new person in the community, a new person to the college to have another person who was relatively new to our institution who who said, I'm just taking an interest and I want to know more, I think is what you said. Like it was just sort of like, I want to learn more about this college.

SPEAKER_01 30:03

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 30:04

And you showed up, you showed up to all of the gatherings, you gave your input, you were in the room, and look at where we are. Yes, right? Look at where we are 10 years later, and it was because of people like you who were in the room and gave their feedback and offered their support and their their opinions and and just um again their time and their expertise to make this institution a better place. And and that really, I think says not only a lot about you, but but says a lot about our community.

SPEAKER_00 30:33

Yes. I I agree with that. And of course, you are you being here has just been like phenomenal. And I tell you that all the time. So we appreciate you here in this community. We know that that that Fletcher is moving forward and you're in the back pushing it.

SPEAKER_02 30:52

So that's it. I am yeah sometimes it feels like uphill.

unknown 30:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:57

Both directions, right? I get it. Look, as business people, you know, we we understand that, but you know, we're the ones that go home at night and you know, we don't we don't turn it off. Yep, you know, it just it's always trying to make things better. Yeah, you know, um, I get that, you know, and anybody who's passionate about anything it does the same thing, you know.

SPEAKER_02 31:18

Yeah. So let's talk about that. What do you see on the horizon for our community and our region? What makes you hopeful about the future?

SPEAKER_00 31:26

So I I tell you, one of the things that makes me hopeful, and I talk about this recently, seems like a lot, is the expansion of like what you're doing here, right? Uh Terrabone General, the the idea of a of a wellness center, you know. Um I I there's a car dealership being built right now. Uh, we just did an animal clinic. Um there there's probably three or four projects. I don't know exactly what they are, but I I see coming up on the way here. I saw a massive uh look like form, like they're getting ready to put a huge building up uh uh you know, further down on 311. And I thought, I looked at, I don't know how most people when when they see stuff like that, what's going through their mind, but what's going through my mind is we're getting something else.

SPEAKER_02 32:15

Something news on the way.

SPEAKER_00 32:17

Well, because I know it translates, you know, to like community building, right? Anyways, that's what really motivates me is you know, just seeing that everybody is continuing to move the ball forward. And um you you just cannot beat um, you know, one of the things uh move I've been here now 17, 18 years, and every time I go home back to Tampa, I get so overwhelmed by how big it is and you know how disconnected everything is, and then I cannot wait to get back here. You know, I was like, we gotta go back home, you know. So this is my home. And just so you know, and I may have told you this story before, I didn't spin the globe and go home of Louisiana, yeah. You know, kind of like uh coming to America when they went to Queens, right? Yeah I I didn't do that. My dad was born in this town in 1931.

SPEAKER_01 33:12

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 33:12

And um, you know, he lived here um until he was about 16 or 17. He moved to New York. Um he ended up in the military, and when he got in the military, him and my grandfather ran um the Apollo Theater in New York. Really? Absolutely. Well, my grandfather ran it, he worked for my grandfather.

SPEAKER_02 33:34

Ah, we died.

SPEAKER_00 33:36

And somewhere in the 60s or 70s, he moved to Tampa, and then here's Mike Lewis in Tampa, and I've been coming to Homa because he moved back here in 19, I want to say 80, uh, 81. And I've been coming since I was five years old. And uh my dad had a mechanic shop in Deweyville, and um I don't even know the real name of that area, but we called it Deweyville, and um he had a mechanic shop there for years, and as a child, I would go there, I would help him work on cars and clean his tools, and whenever he was ready to go on break, since he was his own boss, he'd put a note in the door, gone, and you know, we'd go to Tasty Donuts and eat a donut, and he'd drink coffee, and I'd play Pac-Man, you know. So I've been coming here forever. So this isn't um, I'm not a transplant, and I certainly have a family connection here, you know. Um, you know, one of my family members is Frank Lewis, who played in the NFL, you know, and uh he still lives here. Yeah, not in Homa, but I think he lives in Prescal. But, anyways, that's who I am, and that's why I love this place. Yeah, deep, deep roots. Oh, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 34:49

And so another sort of funny side story came down, and first time I met Frank, he said his name was Frank Lewis, and I was like, Frank Lewis. And then he said something about playing football. Well, I grew up in Cleveland. Okay, he played for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

SPEAKER_00 35:05

He did.

SPEAKER_02 35:06

And so I knew like I was like, I'm with Frank Lewis. I called all my brothers back home. I'm like, you're never gonna guess who I met, who I know. So yeah. So um now I can't say as Browns fans we were particularly excited that he played for Pittsburgh for the Steelers.

SPEAKER_00 35:22

And then he played for Buffalo, I believe. That's true. Played for Buffalo for a little step. I walked into his office one day, and um, to this day I still have it, and I he laughed too. I walked into his office and I had a football playing card with him on it and a big old afra. And uh that's pretty close. I remember exactly. And uh I walked into his office, I said, Hey, I need you to sign this. And he laughed, and he signed it.

SPEAKER_02 35:49

Oh, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 35:51

I still have it.

SPEAKER_02 35:51

So, do you know how to work on cars? Did you retain any of that knowledge?

SPEAKER_00 35:55

My dad gave me a good sense of mechanic work. I'll say that, but could I work on a car? One of the reasons why my dad got out of business when he did one, he was older, but also the technology had changed so much that, you know, now everything's a sensor and this, that, and the other. But I I will tell you, um, you know, it's a funny story. What I did do was clean his tools a lot and organize them. Of course, he just threw them back in there and they all get disorganized. But I was doing that one day and I started a fire somehow, and I panicked. I didn't want my dad to know that I'd started a fire. So I I saw these piles of jackets and clothes in the inside of his uh mechanic shop. So I went in there and I threw them all on this fire and then it didn't go out, so I got more. I don't know why there was so much clothes in this in the shop. I burned up all his jackets. Burned them all up. Trying to put this fire out, and uh he's pretty mad at me, but uh yeah, I don't know. I was cleaning with gasoline or something, cleaning tools. Somehow started a fire. But yeah, uh I did, I helped him work on cars, and you know, I might have passed him a ranch or, you know, he showed me how to fix lawnmowers as kind of like I guess an entry-level mechanics. And one of the things that he taught me, he goes, you know, most people throw out lawnmowers and they're not really, there's nothing really wrong with them. He's just like, there's a shear pin and inside underneath, and normally what happens is the the blade will dislodge because it hits something heavy. And all you gotta do is put a new shear pin in it and lawnmower starts right up, and no problem. And that was the truth. I I as a kid, I think I fixed two or three lawnmowers because somebody threw them in the go. Oh wait, you know, I'll take that and go go see it.

SPEAKER_02 37:42

So that's one of the things I learned from them. There you go. I'm getting you heard it here first. Before you throw the lawnmower on the side of the street, and Mike has to come and pick it up. Yes, the sheer phone. Uh YouTube that. I'm sure it's out there somewhere. Exactly. Before we wrap up, uh I have just a couple other questions, but I do want to ask you, I'd be remiss if I let you out of here without talking about workforce. Yes. Um, we know that we have shortages of workforce. And what are some of the essential skills that folks need to work with you at Big Mike's?

SPEAKER_00 38:09

We're a different kind of industry. I'll I'll start by saying that. And I didn't say this. Anthony Bornone said it. Ah we're just writing a book about him. Right? It's super interesting. We're an industry full of misfits.

SPEAKER_01 38:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:24

Okay, and that is what he's saying by saying that is that we're a place where people get their first start, where where people we're we're a place where people their skills speak louder than their education. And for those who don't have it, we're a place that they can start, right? So for us in our industry, and we have a specialized industry, you know, um, when it comes to education and things like that, is you have to have passion, um, you have to have uh the ability to work well under pressure, but these are not things you can be taught. You kind of have to have it naturally, right? But you know, there is a certain level of uh organizational skills that you you also must naturally have um to be in our business. But I think uh mostly if you have the passion, the ability, and the want, um our industry uh is fairly easy to get into. We're also an industry of you know uh just people who have the physical ability to work long hours um because we're on our feet all day. So we're we're a specialized uh type of hire. And one of the things that I look for um when I hire people in our industry, because I didn't I didn't start this conversation on saying that, oh, we just hire anybody. No, you have to have all of these attributes in some way, and I gotta be able to identify them at the table. And one of the things that I like to see uh from people is that they're passionate about hospitality. Um, you know, and the analogy I use, I don't know if that quite matches up, but if we're playing basketball and I'm gonna pick a center, I am not gonna pick somebody who's five feet tall. Oh. Why would I? I don't know. Not as a center. You gotta guard the hoop, right? You you can't knocked out. Yeah, you you're not gonna get picked. I can tell you now, you're not gonna get picked. So we have to pick the right people for the right job. Uh yeah, I don't think there's any five foot centers in the NBA. I'm pretty sure there's not. Yeah. So, you know, you you have to pick the right people. But I think first and foremost, though, across any industry, though, you have to present yourself as a serious person, you know, and uh you have to show up with the right attitude. Uh, you have to show up dressed like you came there for that position, whatever it is. And you know, I look at myself as as a as a young kid. Um, I wanted to be a manager for the the actually my second job was Steak and L. I never missed a day of work when I worked there. I worked there for four, four and a half years. Now one day of work I haven't missed. But it's so funny, like I was always particular about how I came to work because I wanted people to see me in the position that I wanted, right?

SPEAKER_01 41:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:44

And um, you know, of course I'd get picked on and teased by the other cooks or whatever. You know, why you got dress shoes on? You're grilling, you know. Well, they're slip resistant, but they're they're weak tests. Right. You know, and uh because I want to be viewed this way. You know, the job you want, right? Absolutely. You you have to do that. Uh people have to see what it is you want in the way you present yourself, you know, and if they can't see those things, then uh it's gonna be a lot harder for you, you know. And uh so you have to represent what you what it is you're trying to go after. And uh, you know, that's the advice that I give to people.

SPEAKER_02 42:21

That's a great, great advice. A long time ago, I had someone say something similar, and it was, um, what do you want you think of, you know, we we're we're all about brands, right? So what is your brand? What do you want your brand to be?

SPEAKER_01 42:32

Right.

SPEAKER_02 42:32

Right? When when Big Mike shows up, what do you want people to to think, to associate, you know, and and you've talked a lot about it consistency and quality and community and all of those things, right? So so for those of you who are listening and watching, you know, I would challenge you the same question, you know, what what is your brand? Um, and how do you show up to the office, to your job, um, in your personal life, right? Um that is consistent, how you want to present your brand to the community.

SPEAKER_00 43:00

I certainly believe that. And I I'll tell you, um, you know, there's a there's a lot of, you know, we have social media these days, there's a lot of chatter online about working versus not working. I own versus not own. Everybody's not an owner, everyone's not a worker. You have to decide um what you want to be and be that. But most importantly, I think, and I can only speak for myself, I've never worked at a place that I did not own. That's a true statement.

SPEAKER_02 43:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:26

You know, um, if if I worked for you, I own that place. And um, you know, I did everything that I could to display that I was trying to do my job to the best of my ability. And then where I fell short, I was always looking to get better. That's a true statement. So I I say you should own where you work.

SPEAKER_02 43:48

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 43:49

I love that.

SPEAKER_02 43:50

Absolutely love that. All right, so let's wrap it up with just a couple more questions. I am wondering are there any menu items or anything on the menu that has a personal Story behind, or that you're like, I don't care if nobody ever orders this again. It's staying on the menu because I love it and I want it there.

SPEAKER_00 44:08

I won't say there's nothing to that effect in that way, but I I can tell you, I mentioned earlier that our barbecue sauce has uh barks root beer in it. Yeah. And so my dad and I um we went round and round. I would come home from work every day and he'd have all these sauces and different bowls set up on it. He goes, taste this, taste that, taste this. And there was one, it's kind of the recipe we have today, but we took a lot out of it and added some things. But um, I was like, Dad, why is this pale looking? He said, I put flour in it, flour in a barbecue sauce, right? Like, but he was trying all kinds of stuff. Right, he was he was up to no good, not mischief. Trying all kinds of stuff, and you know, I mean, but ultimately uh the sauce we have today is because of my dad. And um it's it's been on uh the menu from day one, it has not changed. That's only really story behind a product, but as far as like something on our menu, I I'll tell you this. So you're talking about being consistent, you also gotta listen to the people when they're telling you things, right? Because they're paying you, right? They they want what you have. And if you don't have what they want, then they don't come. So when we first opened Big Mike's uh on Barrel Street, the first Barrel Street location, um we had uh what we bottom round we would smoke. It's a cut of beef. And um the only reason why I used it because in Florida we don't use brisket. I don't think I've well at least when I live there, I don't think there's a barbecue restaurant that sold brisket, you know? That's a more a Texas thing. But they they would sell top round and they'd smoke it and they'd chop it up and make it chopped beef sandwich. And uh, but everybody that came into the restaurant, remember, we're close to Texas. Right. So they're like, oh, you got brisket? No, we we have chopped beef. Okay, and they leave. So it's just like okay, I'm out. So like, what is this brisket thing? Yeah, because I I know to be honest, like brisket, you know, that's not the region I'm from, so I don't know much about it, right? I imagine I call my distributor pretty quickly and I say, hey, look, whatever this brisket thing is, uh we need to get we need to get some of that. And um, you know, we learn how to cook it, and um, we've been doing it ever since. But that was, it didn't take too many people to walk out before I say, well, I probably better get this brisket in in here because nobody wants chopped beef, you know. I love chopped beef.

SPEAKER_02 46:46

I would have enjoyed that. Me too.

SPEAKER_00 46:48

Like, I mean, I like it as much, or if not better, especially if there's enough salt and pepper on it. But, you know, nobody wanted it. And it, you know, it goes for the barbecue too. Now I'm gonna tell you, barbecue was a tough sale in the beginning. We're not the first, right? Right. There was you know, Luther's at some point in the 80s. I think it's where Big Al was located now. Um, I want to say uh, you know, Smokin' Joe was where Brooks Snow Whirl is at off the bayou. And um, and those are the only two places that I can recall uh offhand. But when we opened up the barbecue restaurant, it was a fried chicken place before I opened up the barbecue. So we kind of transitioned from my ownership of the business from the person that was there with the fried chicken kind of overnight. And every customer that will come in to the restaurant wanted fried chicken, right? But I didn't have fried chicken. And now this is before the brisket issue, right? And they would turn around and walk out. So guess what we started doing? Frying chicken. Really? Oh, absolutely. We fried chicken probably, I don't know, a year. We fried chicken.

SPEAKER_02 48:03

I did not know that.

SPEAKER_00 48:04

But look, sometimes you you gotta steady the ship first. And it took putting chicken in there to kind of get people to then ask about the barbecue. Something else, yeah. Right? Say, you know, so yeah, we fried chicken, and at the end of the day, I would look at the sales and go, oh man, I probably should have kept my job. You know, you know, so it might have been a good idea to be able to pay rent, you know. It was one of those things that uh I felt like at the time we had to do to at least get it going. And we certainly fried chicken for about a year, and and then of course, people start gravitating to the barbecue, and then the whole brisket situation, and you know, that's just kind of like a funny story. But to this day, I'm telling you, every now and then, somebody will say, When are you gonna start frying chicken again? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow. We're past those days. Yeah, you're past those days. No more fried chicken.

SPEAKER_02 49:03

Look, don't be afraid to change when you need to, right? Or pivot a little bit. Boy, that is a great story. Oh, yeah. So you walk into Big Mike's barbecue, what are you ordering? I gotta ask.

SPEAKER_00 49:12

Oh, okay. So what you go to? I'm all over the board. Like, and I'm only like this with my restaurant because like any other place, I'm just like you. I'm a creature or like everybody. Yeah, creature habit, right? Where wherever your restaurant is, favorite restaurant you go to, you you never scour the menu. It's like, let me get this, right? Yep. My restaurant's the only restaurant, I go to them all over the board. And I think subconsciously I'm like that because I want to know what we're putting out of the kitchen, right? But here's the short answer, right? I am going to be a rib, a spare rib guy. Okay. I'm gonna be, I'm a traditionalist. So I'll do spare ribs, I might do a sausage, and then I'll do the brisket because it's reminiscent to me of chopped beef. Yeah, you know, it's close. But uh, it's close, it's close. And so I might do those three, and then I'm a traditionalist with the baked beans and potato salad. That's a real you know, barbecue plate. Because now barbecue restaurants are more progressive than what they used to be on their menus. You would go to Texas and which is you know said to be the barbecue capital, and they would just have barbecue meat and these two sides. Chefs have taken over these barbecue places, and you'd be surprised what you'd find on these menus today. And somehow they're tying them back into barbecue. Like, you know, you might get a barbecue taco somehow, or you know, some type of gyro with brisket on it, you know, or just whatever. And um, so we have a diversified menu, but um, for the most part, I'm I'm a traditionalist with those items. But other than that, uh, you know, I'll get something outside of the menu like a burger, or outside of a barbecue menu like a burger, or you know, a fried chicken sandwich, or you know, we we have all kind of stuff there. You know, so okay.

SPEAKER_02 51:04

So you just made me think about one other question, and it's just I have to know. White bread.

SPEAKER_00 51:10

Good question.

SPEAKER_02 51:11

Where does that come from? And what's like why the significance? Why do we do it?

SPEAKER_00 51:15

So I'm so glad you asked that. Now's my opportunity to get it right. For everybody, listen up out there. Fast forward to this minute on the video. Um wow. So white bread is a traditional bread served with the side or with a side of a barbecue, or vice versa. Anything other than that would not be traditional, such as cornbread, you know, muffins. It I would imagine that, you know, before, because you remember, barbecue is an old art form, right? And you know, the world didn't become, you know, chefy till well after that art form was an art form. And then white bunny bread is what it was originally served with, which is why you will find 95% of all barbecue restaurants serving white bunny bread is because it was a traditional item. My hometown barbecue restaurant, Big John, white bread. Not gonna find cornbread or any any of these things with it. Not to say it's a bad idea to do, but it's just not traditional. And um at one point, even in our restaurant, we switched it to garlic bread.

SPEAKER_01 52:37

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_00 52:38

And my in my mind, it was gonna do better, but we would see almost as much garlic bread go back to the kitchen as we would white bread. You know, so it was you know, one of those things like we started, like do what you do, and you know, and just leave it, right? Um, and that's not to say that we would never uh you know do something different, but we feel like we want to offer it in the traditional way, which is just with the white slice bread. Yeah, it's a traditional thing.

SPEAKER_02 53:08

Okay, good to know, good to know. I always just use it because it soaks up the rest of my barbecue sauce and then I eat it. It's delicious.

SPEAKER_00 53:15

There's a guy that every time uh he uh or I see him, he'll say, Yeah, I like making me a bendover with that. What's a bendover? I take that meat and I bend that bread right over it, you know. So bend over, you know. So he don't want cornbread, you know.

SPEAKER_02 53:31

Last question for you. Um, and this is kind of back to the personal side of things. Well, first of all, what we found out is that you'll tell anybody your good stories. There are there are very few secrets out there about big mics. So if y'all come up with one, you email me. Uh but from what I hear, huge Saints fan, cannot stand the Bucks, like love it when we play each other.

SPEAKER_00 53:58

Well, let me say this. Since I was a child, as far as I remember, the Saints and the Bucks have played each other twice a year. Yes. Right? Once kind of at the beginning, once somewhere close, closer to the middle end, middle to the end of the season. And um, I am a fan of whoever needs my uh vote or my fanship at the time. Ah, okay. Right? So in the beginning, it's probably no one. Right. Right? But by that next game, one of them needs me more than the other, right? It was very politically correct. So that's politicians speak right there. Gotcha. Gotcha. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:42

Now look, truth be told, y'all. Uh when I asked, somebody just said, huge Bucks fan.

SPEAKER_00 54:47

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 54:48

Which makes sense. You're from the you're from the area. You grew up with them. Uh fun fact.

SPEAKER_00 54:53

Yeah. Go ahead. I was in Tampa when they won the Super Bowl. I lived here when the Saints won the Super Bowl. So you are the lucky charm. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 55:01

I was Well, I need you to get to the domes.

SPEAKER_00 55:04

Uh so it and it's great being in the city where the Super Bowl is won because I'm telling you watching the game that whole night, and then all of us, and we know because we experienced it here, and all of a sudden the streets get loud. Yeah. You know, like your whole town is just going bananas, you know. Yeah. So I experienced that in two places.

SPEAKER_02 55:22

Boy, that's lucky. Yeah. That is lucky. Yeah. Yeah. And for those of you who are listening and maybe not watching, when I asked that question, I got a side eye that I was almost afraid he was going to kick me under the table. So, but uh, but we appreciate you coming on the show today. Look, folks are interested in learning more about Big Mike's, um, especially the menu, maybe ordering up some good food. You got a website for us?

SPEAKER_00 55:47

Oh, yeah, you can find us at Big Mike's Barbecue, which is the uh abbreviation BBQ, sh as insmokehouse.com. Um, that's where you can um uh find us.

SPEAKER_02 56:00

Um I know you're always ready to serve our community in whatever way you can.

SPEAKER_01 56:04

Yes, ma'am.

SPEAKER_02 56:05

And uh look, we'll put the website and all the information from this podcast today on uh in our show notes. And so I want to thank Big Mike for being here again with us. Thank you not only for the delicious food that you put into our bellies every day, um, but for your service to our community and for your service most importantly to us at Fletcher Technical Community College. We really appreciate you.

SPEAKER_00 56:27

Thank you. It was great being here.

SPEAKER_02 56:28

Absolutely. And look, if uh you are out there and you have not liked or followed us yet on your uh YouTube or your podcast station of choice, please go out and do that. Um, and be sure to maybe share us with friends who you think might enjoy Bridging the Bayou, the podcast of Fletcher Technical Community College. Thank you for listening to Bridging the Bayou, the podcast of Fletcher Technical Community College. Be sure to like and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.