We were lucky to catch up with Darise May recently and have shared our conversation below.

Darise, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Hello, my name is Darise May I am currently the owner of a new restaurant called D’s Barbecue in toledo Ohio point place I started as a food truck in 2021 with a dream to provide a great BBQ experience to the locals with my unorthodox style of cooking BBQ. I use to work for a local restaurant that’s no longer in business named Don Pablo’s and this is where I fell in love with tex-mex Barbecue. The way they seasoned the ribs was like something I’d never had so I started practicing at home on my own version of this amazing BBQ style of cooking and it took years of trying numerous combinations of things to find that right combination of seasonings that really catches your attention when you bit into it. So when you eat my BBQ you get a taste of Texas in every bit with my own little twist

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’ve always loved to cook for people since a kid and so I felt it was only right to go into the cooking field later in life. They way I see it is the people that have the passion to serve should be the one’s doing it that’s how you get great service when a person. Lives to serve it come natural to them and really make customers feel welcome. I’m extremely proud of the fact that I was able to not only pursue my dream but now I have the opportunity to live it out in real time is such a blessing. It wasn’t easy by far I had a lot of obstacles to overcome to get here and I’m still overcoming some but nothing is better than waking up knowing your working for yourself and your own dreams and goals.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

For me it’s been advertising on Facebook and Instagram as well as word of mouth has gotten me to this point,as well as passing out business cards at local grocery stores and barbershops

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I remember when I started my food truck back in 2021 before I had a restaurant I had the hardest time with controlling food waste because of me cooking so much thinking it would sell and I had to quickly learn to pace myself and choose my spots very carefully. For example I booked a what was supposed to be a 3 month long contract with. Local business to feed employees for lunch and I was told it would be hundreds of people and so I cooked for such and brought it to the site and it was a epic failure for me day after day with me ending up wasting up to 2,500 worth of product. At that point I knew going forward I had to ask more questions and do my own do diligence to insure I had enough sufficient info for jobs In The future

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @D’s Barbecue
• Facebook: @D’s Barbecue
• Other: D’s Barbecue on Google