We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Michael De Los Santos a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Michael, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear your thoughts about family businesses.

Family businesses are important. I don’t just say that because I have a family business either. To me a family business means passion, and I want to work with and support businesses that have passion behind them. The families that run these businesses are a vital part of the local community and supporting them, means you are also supporting the community around you more than if you shopped only at large retail locations or use the services of large non local businesses.

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

Mike D’s BBQ is an award-winning line of signature BBQ sauces and all-purpose dry rubs. I discovered my love for BBQ at a young age on a family trip to North Carolina at a small restaurant. I eventually worked on a food truck where BBQ was served and became the preferred cook of customers. Years later, I began writing a blog reviewing different BBQ products and ultimately came to the conclusion what I was looking for did not yet exist. To find what I thought was the perfect combination of sweet, smoky, and a little bite, I would have to create my own!

Our sauces are a twist on the traditional BBQ sauce with some unique seasonings and spice levels inspired by my African American and Latino heritage. Mike D’s BBQ sauces are also a nod to the rich and well-deserved notoriety of BBQ in North Carolina history and culture. They are a hybrid of the two dominant flavor bases that make up the state; tomato based sauces in the west and vinegar based in the east. A core ingredient of our BIG Sauce is our all-purpose dry rub which is great with beef, pork, any bird, or vegetable. Our Sweet and Spicy rub is the heart of our Spicy BBQ Sauce. Whether you are in your kitchen, backyard grilling, or smoking our sauces and rubs are the perfect flavor compliment by not overpowering the natural flavor of the meat or vegetables.

Our business is not only the result of a long process of refinement and innovation. It is also the product of the my love for family and community. I started Mike D’s BBQ to honor the life and memory of my late son, Aaron. In 2020 on Discovery Channel’s “I Quit”, I shared how my work ethic is inspired by his son’s battle with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, in which Aaron “had no choice but to fight.”

In our almost 9 years in business our sauces and rubs have won awards at every level including 4 world championships and best in the state 4 times! In September of 2020, I opened Mike D’s BBQ Supply & General Store in historical east Durham, a community identified as an integral part of the city’s past and future. At 306 South Driver Street, customers can purchase Mike D’s BBQ award-winning sauces and rubs, locally made custom grills, Mike D’s BBQ branded apparel, grill tools, food items favored by Mike D made by NC vendors, high quality charcoal and much more.

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

This will probably be a common answer for anyone in business right now, but the recent pandemic had a big impact on how we did business. Prior to March of 2020, about 65% of our sales came from in person events and festivals between the Triangle and up to Washington, DC. We had an online presence, but only 35% of our sales came from non in person events. We did out last event March 1 of 202o in D.C. and within a week or so everything was shut down and all events cancelled. I was worried about we could survive when 65% of our revenue was taken from us!

The decision was made to make 2 pivots. The first was to put a lot more resources into online marketing to drive traffic to our website and really grow online sales. The second and more risky pivot was to open a brick and mortar store. The business had a lot of local customers from the local markets and festivals and I did not want to lose these customers because they would have to pay for shipping. So the move was made and our BBQ Supply store was opened. Both of these pivots helped us to get through the extra tough parts of the pandemic and have become vital to our future success as well.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

The most effective strategy for growing our customer base is still word of mouth. I know that is considered by some to be outdated, but it still works. A few years ago, I wanted to reach a goal of having a customer in all 50 states and there was no way I would reach that without help. I had no marketing budget and so I needed to find a way to get it done. I started a word of mouth campaign using email and social media asking people to help me. I colored in a map of all the states we had customer and asked for help filling in the rest. Current customers started sharing this around and asking friends and family in the blank states to place an order so that state could be filled in. It was pretty amazing to watch the word spread every time I updated the map. It didn’t take long after that to hit our goal of a customer in all 50 states. While I am not running that campaign anymore, current customers spreading the word to others either directly or through social media is still our most effective strategy for growing customers.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mikedsbbq.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikedsbbq/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mikedsbbq
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/MikeDsBBQ
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@mikedsbbq

Image Credits
STACEY SPRENZ PHOTOGRAPHY Leslie Huffman AJ Forest (NC Travel Eats)