We recently connected with Roy Lotz and have shared our conversation below.

Roy , appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

My business started to blossomed pretty quickly when I was featured on Seek the World sponsored by Sorenson Video Relay Service on 2017. They had big event going on and I barely had enough room to cook brisket for everyone. Demand for my business started to stack up pretty quick, it surpassed the capacity of my previous smokers, which forced me to look for bigger and better quality smoker. I found a welder who custom make bbq pits in Fort Worth, Texas. Dennis Roach, who owns El Cucaracho Smokers business, was featured on Texas Monthly Magazine as one of top Pit Builders in Texas among with Mill Scale Metalworks and Moberg Smokers. I took the risk by buying 500 Gallon smoker from him, at the moment, It was probably too early to own something this big because I was not sure how soon it would pay for itself. Shortly afterwards I found I could book larger events since I was better able to accommodate such requests. It was the best decision I made, not only because of the capacity, I also had a quality smoker that would ensure I produced my products according to my expectations.

Roy , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I started barbecuing as a hobby. I would have parties and have friends and family over to hangout, and would barbecue for them. I would often receive praise and encouragement from them to start my own business. Then one day I was asked to cater for an event, and from there, I knew t was what I wanted to do for a living.

As I started to set up my business, I decided on Lotz of BBQ because of my last name and because I believe in serving plenty of good quality barbecue. I felt that it sounds so right.

I was lucky because some of the closest people I work with were experienced in the restaurant industry and currently owns a restaurant in Austin as well. Some of them convinced to procure better quality meat and ingredients, which led me to source locally-raised beef, pork, chicken, and turkey. They also helped me with recipes for side dishes, standard kitchen practices and logistics/operations, all of which I would not be where I am without them.

One of my proudest moments came when the COVID arrived Austin and everyone began cancelling events. We had already been scheduled to serve a pop-up at Nate’s Bar in Buda, and since everyone was cancelling, we opted to play it safe and cancel our service as well. The problem is we had already cooked our meat, and the smoker was with a way to sell our food. Facing a drastic loss, we had to come up with a way to sell our food. One of our team member then suggested that we offer delivery and pick up orders. Immediately, I got on social media and advertised package deals. Within 24 hours we had completely sold all our food. Seeing how wildly successful this was, we chose to do this again the next several months!

Catering to Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. is also one of my proudest moments, especially considering that we had to solve numerous and complicated logistical challenge behind serving authentic Texas Barbecue to 600 people 1,500 miles away.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., my alma mater, they were considering having us cater to their staff appreciation day. They had reached out to us inquiring about having us cater to them but this discussion did not lead to an agreement because they were not 100% sure on us yet. Meanwhile, Gallaudet University has an Alumni Association gathering that happens once per year. We had already agreed to cater this Alumni Association event, coordinated by a different point of contact in the University. It turned out that the President of the University was visiting, who then after enjoying our product, was convinced that Gallaudet University should have us cater to the University about 6 weeks out.

In light of this, and considering we would have to travel from Austin to Washington, D.C., we had to figure out how to transport our smoker, in addition to several other items that we would have to bring. Once we solved several logistical obstacles such as transporting our smoker, procuring ingredients from other food distributors, identifying additional equipment needed to handle the extra capacity and the staff needed, we incorporated the cost of these logistics into the contract, thus driving the contract price up more than what a typical local contract would cost. We were afraid that this proposal would be too much for the University. We had to justify the cost to our point of contact while feeling unsure about whether this proposal would be accepted. Lucky for us, Gallaudet University had made it one of their missions to support Deaf-owned business and they gladly accommodated our proposal, despite it being very close to surpassing their budget maximum. It was the biggest contract we landed to date and we successfully served.

In the end, I was really proud of my achievement which was to serve my former University. When I graduated in Gallaudet University in 2011 and never would thought in million years that I would go back and serve barbecue in Washington, D.C. in May 2022! Now I learned that nothing is impossible!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I was asked to cater for the first time at Austin Deaf Club for about 50 People around 2014, I was really nervous because I was so used to cook in the backyard for my friends and family only. After serving barbecue at the club, they were really impressed with the food, from there, my confidence increased and knew it was what I wanted to do for living. I knew my food was no where near to decent barbecue restaurants in Austin at the moment but at least, seeing smile faces was all matters to me. I thrived to improve my quality in food every time, was finding excuses to cook-out and experimented with different ingredients, smoking methods, meat brands, and forth.

Not long after, I was asked to cater for private birthday party which was about the same amount of people but way more meat and side options this time. I succeed that one too, after succeeding multiple small catering, I kept getting bigger requests! My confidence increases as I go with experience and using right equipments. Around 2017, that was when I decided to invest on the 500 Gallon smoker mounted on trailer.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lotzofbbqtx.com
• Instagram: lotzofbbq
• Facebook: @roylotz.bbq
• Youtube: Lotz of BBQ

Image Credits
Tate Tullier Photography (Personal photo)