We recently connected with Frank Sobczynski and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Frank thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I came up with the idea for Frank’s BBQ when I was in my early 20’s. Much like a lot of backyard BBQ folks, I started cooking meat over an open flame, grilling steaks, sausages, and chicken for friends and family. I was already working in a kitchen at that point in my life, so I thought to myself that one day I may own a restaurant. It was a concept that was always intriguing.

With the idea of cooking barbecue full-time still in the back of my mind, I started taking business classes at UC Berkeley in 2016 and I started the business in 2019. Everything I did in Business school revolved around Frank’s BBQ. Starting out as a backyard barbecue enthusiast, this hobby quickly became a passion and the passion eventually became a lifestyle. I’m now full-time with Frank’s BBQ here in Baltimore, MD.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I started cooking in commercial kitchens when I was 18, so being in a kitchen and being creative is natural for me. When cooking, I always gravitated towards hearty southern recipes and grilling meat. I grew up with grilling, not barbecuing, so cooking hot and fast was all I knew at first. I turned towards a more low and slow approach when I moved to California in 2013. That’s where I really started to understand the art and skillset of barbecue.

What our business currently provides is BBQ sandwiches, smoked sausages, and made fresh daily sides. We keep our menu simple, and our main sellers are our Pulled Pork and Pulled Chicken sandwiches. Since we mainly do pop-ups at breweries, wineries, fire halls, and small markets, our sandwiches have become popular in the past few years. What sets us apart, besides offering high quality barbecue, is our community work. Along with the Baltimore BBQ Initiative, we helped cooked and deliver 150 barbecue meals to frontlines workers at Mercy hospital in downtown Baltimore in February. The Baltimore BBQ Initiative also raised $1,200 for the Maryland chapter of the TEARS foundation in May and Frank’s BBQ helped our good friend Dave Spence of ‘Shave Dave’ raise close to $13,000 for Odesa, Ukraine in June. I have major plans for our main charity event, Franksgiving, in November. It’s our annual coat drive around the Thanksgiving holiday to benefit Paul’s Place and Rouse of Ruth. BBQ around here doesn’t have a particular cooking style, sauce, or cut of meat. Baltimore barbecue is how you make a positive impact on your community.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I started Frank’s BBQ in 2019 while still living in the Bay Area of California. We did corporate catering and weekend pop-ups at bars in San Francisco and Oakland. A year later, Covid-19 happened and all of our work in California dried up. With the restrictions that were placed on the food industry at the time, I repositioned Frank’s BBQ to Baltimore, MD.

It was a difficult decision to make, but in order to survive long-term, making a pivot 3,000 miles across America made sense. It’s where my friends and family are, so naturally I wanted to move back home. There was a lot of change in 2020, both in business and in life, but the Covid pandemic forced me to rethink my career and what I wanted out of life.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

Eventually it did. Frank’s BBQ began as a weekend side hustle for me trying to understand my product and what type of numbers the business pulled. I also figured out all of the processes involved with cooking barbecue. Once I had a good grasp on the business, I had to figure out how to scale to become more profitable. I bought our commercial smoker as soon as I returned to Baltimore, picked up a few good mentors, and I eventually found a few good breweries and other markets where we could sell barbecue regularly. I used those platforms to consistently reach as many customers as possible. I made the decision after 4 years of Frank’s BBQ being a side hustle to eventually go full time.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://franksmdbbq.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/franks_mdbbq/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/franksmarylandbbq/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/franksobczynski/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/franks-bbq-baltimore

Image Credits
Douglas Crowther and Ted Levine.