Traveling BBQ Euipment

Barbecue catering business reaches out to Tiffin
By Jefferson Wolfe, jwolfe@advertiser-tribune.com

Two Seneca County natives are trying to bring their barbecue catering business back home. Diane and Bill Thomas own Grandma's Backyard BBQ. They live and run the business out of Port Clinton, but are doing more and more events in the Tiffin and Fostoria areas, where they grew up.

Diana is originally from Tiffin, and Bill is from Fostoria. They both have relatives in the area.

They had been in a partnership, but in January 2004, they set out on their own serving chicken, ribs, pork chops and brats, among other things.

"We do all sorts of events," Diane said. Including wedding receptions, graduations, fund raisers and company parties. They did three tailgate parties for Port Clinton High School.

Most recently, they did a fund raiser at the Tiffin Salvation Army Friday. They have traveled all over northwest Ohio to cook meals.

"Anything you can dream up, we do," she said.

The food is from home recipes and years of practice, Diane said. The food is cooked over charcoal.

The equipment is a 13-foot-long, stainless steel rotisserie grill. The grill is 5 feet wide and 5 feet tall, Bill said. They have cooked for as many as 2,000 people, but prefer groups of 200-300, Diane said. A recent large meal was prepared for an anniversary party at Brush-Wellman.

It takes about an hour and half to set up and do the first batch of food, which typically is about 120 meals, she said. After that, it takes about a half-hour to do each subsequent batch of 120 meals.

They offer a wide variety of side dishes, but will prepare meat only if the customer wants, she said.

"We just want to satisfy the customer," Diane said.

So far, Grandma's has generated business by word of mouth. From their work at one event, the Thomases got requests for eight more, Bill said.

They started into the catering business because Diane felt burned out from working in the trucking industry.

"If I'm going to work seven days a week, I'd rather be in business for myself," she said.

The rest of the family helps, too. They chose the name "Grandma's" because of their grandchildren, Courtnie, 3, and Aubree, 6, who help out sometimes. They go with Bill to pick up coolers on Mondays.

."We want to make a nice little business grow," Diane said.

On the Web: http://www.grandmasbackyardbbq.com