Bryan Furman BBQ | Pitmaster Spotlight

[00:00:02] What you want, when you want it, where you want it. This is The MESH. Welcome to The Low and Slow Barbecue Show where we're serving up pit master stories from the best in the barbecue business in the Carolinas and beyond.

[00:00:23] Today we're excited to welcome someone who's been called the king of Georgia barbecue by Bon Appetit magazine. He was the first pit master named one of the Food and Wine magazine's best new chefs and he's been nominated for James Beard Awards twice.

[00:00:37] Brian Furman's got deep roots in the Charlotte, North Carolina area, but he's been doing his thing in Atlanta for a long time and now he's charting a course for new barbecue adventures in Georgia.

[00:00:48] First, he steps into the spotlight at The Low and Slow Barbecue Show. Brian, thanks so much for joining us today. Always, always welcome. How you doing man? Man, doing good. Doing a little bit better than you, I think,

[00:01:01] because I'm having an opportunity to talk to one of these great barbecue stars and I know you've going through some trials and tribulations, but let's talk about good things. What is the latest news about Brian Furman Barbecue in your location in the Atlanta Metro?

[00:01:16] So I'm open in Brian Furman Barbecue at 186 Windy Hill Road. It's actually like five miles from my old location. And so we're looking at opening that grand opening around September. We're going to start doing some slight soft openings starting next week.

[00:01:36] Soft opening next week, but then not until September. What's going to be going on between soft openings in the official grand opening? So I'm just trying to get a feel for the area and

[00:01:47] a guy has a restaurant down the road like a half a mile from my location, the Manor House. And so we've been talking about just doing barbecue like Friday, Saturdays and Sundays. Because I'm going to be takeout anyway, and he just want to collab with me.

[00:02:02] So it's something we're going to do until everything is full blast and then take off for September. Yeah, great. So you kind of mentioned you're going to be takeout.

[00:02:12] What can folks expect when they visit your new site there and it's in the Marietta section of the Atlanta Metro? Of course, we're going to have my brisket, ribs, still going to do pork, chicken. Menu is going to drop a lot. We're going to go with

[00:02:29] seven sides, hash and rice, brunswick stew, mom's collard greens and Matt, coleslaw, brisket beans, and then we're going to go with those banana pudding and peach crisps. Wow, sounds like a fantastic menu. You've already got it pretty well figured out of all those things.

[00:02:48] What do you feel like is your number one focus there? My number one focus, honestly, this might sound weird, but I'm going to say customer service. Oh wow, yeah.

[00:03:00] Yeah, you know, Atlanta's been getting a bad rep for its customer service, you know, so I want to make sure I don't give them a bad rep. What does that mean to you, good customer service? Good customer service means a lot to me.

[00:03:12] I will go to a place that has mediocre food and great customer service before I go back to a location that has amazing food and horrible customer service. Sure, sure. That's me. That's my opinion. Yeah, well, I'm sure you're not alone in that respect.

[00:03:27] So, you know, what do you feel like, you know, I know you're all over the place of seeing you in Chicago. Of course, I saw you got to meet you at the Carolina Barbecue Festival in

[00:03:36] Charlotte and I know you're all over the place on the, you know, the Bryan Firm and barbecue touring streak. How will the restaurant affect your road plans? Well, I don't think a lot of people really understand, like I've been doing this since 2015 and

[00:03:50] even in 2015, I was always on the road. And we had four locations. So, um, what I've done is basically slowed down and focused more on the restaurant and that one restaurant and I kind of handpicked what events I do.

[00:04:08] Um, I just basically been on the road so much as to keep the brand out there to let everybody know Bryan Firm is still here. But it's just basically to let you know I haven't quit. I haven't fell off. Um, that's basically That's it.

[00:04:22] Okay, um, tell me a little bit more about school and area. I search you on the internet and I see Bryan popping up and he's teaching people how to cook barbecue through school and area. What's that all about?

[00:04:34] School and area Richard Bias. He reached out to me a year ago. Actually, it's the first international American barbecue school. And I went to Barcelona last year and take that which was amazing. And it came out March. Just another outlet, you know that I've ran into and

[00:04:58] became a part of. You know, I'm all about partnerships. So that's the partnership I decided to go along with school. Yeah, fantastic. So you've recorded one thing. Do you anticipate there'll be other opportunities in the future with that?

[00:05:13] Well, we did all the meats. So it was basically American barbecue. Okay. So I basically did brisket, pork, ribs, chicken and then I did my sides. So, um, I don't know which one they showing yet.

[00:05:28] They showing all of them or they're spacing them out. Um, but I did all the meats. Okay, so we'll look for that more to be released there on school and area. It's school and area.com school like SCOOLINAY

[00:05:45] But going back to the restaurant, take me a little bit through the process of opening up a barbecue restaurant. Now I know you've had bees crackling in Savannah and Atlanta and you've been doing this for a while

[00:05:55] but you know, what's the first step in opening a barbecue restaurant? A brick-and-mortar spot? Well, there's a difference. Um, there's the turnkey and then there's the buildup. All my life I've always did turnkeys. Something I can go in Put your business license in contact the health department

[00:06:16] fire department Find out what you're doing takeout. Are you doing dine-in alcohol license? All those things you want to get up in the front This was the first time I actually went through building buying a piece of land and then building but in 2021 when I bought the property

[00:06:35] the construction price has changed So I Went through a couple different GC's and the last GC I talked to you said 2.5 Um, I opened my first restaurant with 15 grand my first takeout spot opening 15 so, um

[00:06:58] It took me some time to find the place. Thank you Doug Shaw for finding me that location the old Herb's rib chat, but um, I Was looking for a spot towards Hapeville and Doug called me and said I'm being selfish Herb's rib shacks no longer there. I

[00:07:16] want you close to us in Marietta and um, I Went talk to the owner and then I talked to my real estate agent and I put my old property up for sale Because I really didn't want to sell it until I found this spot

[00:07:30] And this is a straight turnkey. So I've already went down No alcohol so I'm not doing alcohol it's gonna be takeout only so that's why I'm looking at September is my main focus and then still hitting these these tours and

[00:07:46] Getting paid on the road. Yeah. Well, so how do you plan the menu for for your restaurants? You know Do you just throw it all out there everything you do or do you have to take some time and plan and figure out

[00:07:56] You know which things you do and which things you leave out man I got in my journal and in my book bag got on me right now

[00:08:02] But um in this in this book bag it has from 2021 how I wrote out my menu and I always knew coming back I wasn't gonna be 32 employees. My first restaurant had six maybe five So already know keep it small keep it take out

[00:08:20] Keep it simple don't have 30 some items have 12 Um Simplify it down barbecue is simple To the menu and not confusing people too much. So just easy. It's like a no-brainer to me So that's how I came over my menu so quick Okay

[00:08:39] Well, so now how do you know when you're gonna be ready to open the doors and you've kind of got the soft opening In the September plan, but but how do you know? Okay, I'm ready and we're ready to go full scale and have the world

[00:08:51] Once did I see my team to handle the soft openings? It's only gonna be thirsty through Sunday. I'm gonna be cooking the meats I'm basically looking for people that get the food out. I'm looking for those plates and get them out the window

[00:09:05] I'm gonna be the guy in the back cooking Thursday Saturday. We're only gonna be four days a week Thursday through Sunday And so prepping on Monday prepping on Wednesdays and Tuesdays mom dudes coming down making sides So

[00:09:22] That's that's that's how he that's when I know it's time and I see that they can pump the food out the window with No problem, and I know it's time to open. You know, I don't want to go grand opening and then everybody's

[00:09:35] By that time my POS system online We have all that trained online sales and everything to be put together So that gives enough time to have all that Yeah, alright now, you know, I I know you're I know where your location is currently

[00:09:49] I hear a little bit of the background noise I want to talk to you about what the hardest part about getting started is but I think you just tell everybody about

[00:09:56] Where are you at right now? And and what's been going on with you on this particular day Brian? So This is a new upcoming fit master. His name is Derek. He's out of opening a location in Garfield, Georgia

[00:10:12] We're on our way to Gastonia to pick up a lane smoke of one, right? and I Think it's my transmission. I think we're 30 minutes away from the location and we hear something on the interstate and

[00:10:30] We pull over to the welcome Center. I guess it was welcoming or coming out with me back home Pull over and call the tow truck. So I'm at a u-haul place right now kind of sitting in the background

[00:10:41] You still we still want to pick the smoker though. So there is getting a u-haul Then we're going back to Atlanta Yeah, so trials and tribulations Or what has been the hardest part about this whole process to get this new restaurant open for you?

[00:11:02] Honestly the hardest part is before I didn't have to do it all by myself This time doing a lot of it by myself running a lot The knowledge of some of the things I never know what's and I just thought was so easy it's not easy

[00:11:19] Walking in going to those going those meetings and going to our office and they tell you oh you got to go on this Obviously get this and then you got to find out Find if you go put a coming soon sign up gotta go pay $25 for a permit

[00:11:30] You can't just put the sign out so I thought about on the property. I could put anything on you gotta go back So it's just a lot of headache back and forth And a lot of that I've got done so that's why I can

[00:11:45] Look at September or even if I do all this It's not gonna take that much time for me because I got a lot done so far Already got the groundwork laid just ready to start hitting it running right? So, yeah, you know

[00:12:01] Tell me a little bit about your barbecue roots. Where are you from and how did you get into this barbecue world? So I was born in Columbia, South Carolina Camden, Kershaw County But um the My grandparents from Kershaw County Cassette and my grandparents had a hall farm

[00:12:24] So, you know, I grew up around pigs. I grew up around whole hog barbecue I grow up eating Campbell's out of Rembrandt. That's still my favorite of all times is Campbell's in Rembrandt, South Carolina Mr. Ruth and Miss Francis

[00:12:41] You know their barbecue from and then you got Rodney Ronnie's not far from there Scott's barbecue. So I grew up on that kind of barbecue So when I eat other people's whole hog, I have a reason to be kind of petition You know

[00:12:59] But um, I grew up around that Wasn't brisket country. I got into brisket later But hash and rice stuck out. No other states was doing that now is in Texas. I see but um We'll talk about that later

[00:13:15] Other than that, I mean, I just I just see it as It was an outlet it was a passion my dad did it all the time this told me how to do fires

[00:13:26] Tell me how to make ribs taught me how to be chicken and I kind of you know The brisket and the whole hog was self-taught This episode of the low and slow barbecue show is sponsored by the southern barbecue network

[00:13:37] Since 2010 the southern barbecue network has sanctioned barbecue tournaments to further their goal of preserving a southern tradition For providing well-trained judges to contests that are raising money for charitable causes in the Carolinas

[00:13:51] In addition to supporting charitable barbecue competitions the southern barbecue network also donates annually to numerous local community organizations hospitals and nonprofits To find out more about the southern barbecue network competition program and barbecue judge training classes Please visit sbbqn.com for more information again. That is sbbqn.com

[00:14:15] Yeah, and you kind of mentioned obviously you got some roots there on the hog farm and land and you know Tell me about why it continues to be important for you to try to source that local

[00:14:28] That local hog those heritage breed hogs and and try to source and provide local products through your restaurant uh Because it's better I don't know any other way to put it. It's simple. It's just better. Um

[00:14:44] And you know finding out different outlets. I was at a friend's restaurant yesterday and he was talking about the csa and Their veggies and different sorts of those things. I didn't even know nothing about that

[00:14:53] And I was like, oh that's something I need to look into for my seasonal veggies at my restaurant that I could do so Um, it's just like I say Never know at all, but I just learn more as I go and talk with people

[00:15:06] Yeah, so I also know you've got some ties to charlotte in that region and It looks like according to what I read here on the interwebs. You had a career as a welder And then you kind of transformed and shifted into the barbecue world

[00:15:21] You know, how did that work as a welder factor into your barbecue aspirations and and I mean honestly Would you ever come back to charlotte and do your thing? Yeah, i'm always i'll always come back to charlotte, you know, it's

[00:15:35] You're on the lookout, but yeah, I definitely I want to be back in charlotte. Um, that's where i'm from. That's home You know, i'm in threese middle and high school. So i'm home and I think if that happened, you know I will be the only guy

[00:15:48] In charlotte that's from charlotte with a barbecue restaurant, that's from charlotte. Yeah, um looking at it that way um, but um Man, you just made me forget trigger. I was saying something Um, yeah, so you were a welder and then The real hot and fire and fire involved

[00:16:09] I didn't want to go to college. I didn't want to be a veterinarian Um, which which I wanted to be But when I found out how long you had to go to school and the credentials you needed I just that was a logo for me

[00:16:20] So my dad always said i'm on the trades And my dad's electrical engineer. So I decided to learn how to weld since I like to draw and artwork And so that's how I became a welder And I traveled around

[00:16:35] All kinds of metal uh thickness of the metal I did Um, but I never thought about making my own smokers too much time too much work I'd rather just pay for it and keep it moving um But I do know a lot about the flow the heat flow

[00:16:48] um in the temps and stuff like that That's things that I teach at harvard like when I go up there to teach thermal dynamics of barbecue Is about the flow and the oxygen of the wood the diffusion and all that so

[00:16:59] I ain't gonna break it down and be like, uh Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde over here, but i'm just saying that's where I learned a lot of that Yeah, okay Well, so I want to kind of get into some some secret times some of your family jewels there

[00:17:13] You know and and this is some other stuff that i've kind of you know Probed and researched a little bit about your background in in barbecue world You know, where do you feel like the recognition for for american barbecue and barbecue heritage belongs?

[00:17:27] You know you shared your dad gets credit in your life But who gets credit for barbecue in the us and in the south? Um, it's funny me and derek was talking about that today and um matter of fact me and matt horn was talking about this yesterday

[00:17:43] and um He was talking about people respecting, you know black barbecue um, and I just said as long as we respected ourselves like Don't worry about what other people think about you

[00:17:57] Just as long as we respect what we're doing in our craft ourselves. I try never to get caught up in that That situation um Because it's kind of like all right i'm gonna sit here and argue about

[00:18:10] Who owned barbecue? I can't talk about that because we all played a part in it All cultures played a part in barbecue. Okay, well nobody's saying all cultures played a part So all all cultures should get their recognition for it

[00:18:22] But that's not that's not going to happen. So there is no point even trying to make it happen Um my point and my outlook on it Um

[00:18:31] I just noticed like in the south a lot of things from the east coast has moved over to other countries other other states Just like you see brisket moving over here um And how I take that outlook is like brisket when I bought brisket on to my menu

[00:18:48] Was to give recognition to miss brenda. My brisket was actually called brenda's brisket People thought brenda was my mom, but brenda was actually a property manager That trained my ex-wife and she was from austin and when I would cook my hogs

[00:19:01] She would ask me to cook her a brisket. I'm like, I don't cook that. You know, that's not an east coast thing And I would throw her one on and then when I open my rep when I quit my job and open my restaurant

[00:19:12] She was there every weekend buying food for the staff That um the company she worked for she passed away three months later and Like to honor her I put brisket on my menu So, you know, that's where brenda's brisket come from

[00:19:29] So people used to always say oh, that's your mom Or you went to texas and learn how to cook brisket. No, I learned how to cook brisket in my backyard

[00:19:37] You know like a lot and I just kept on until I got it right, you know, so that's where it comes from Yeah, well, so how do you feel like i kind of went around the question because I know how to stay out of certain

[00:19:48] You know, I don't want to get caught up. I know how to stick out of certain things, but you know Yeah, well that's okay, but how do you feel like miss brenda would rate your your brisket today?

[00:19:58] I mean she was from austin texas. She was asking me to cook it every week for nothing, you know And then it's funny because a lot of people were like even in atlanta they're like, oh, you're known for your brisket

[00:20:09] I'm like I wasn't known for brisket. I was known for like whole hog and ribs, but okay um You know my brisket Don't sleep on the brisket. I always tell people that don't sleep on the brisket But you know, it's um, it's always good to have

[00:20:24] Um other people out there and I talked to derrick about this today Just trying to be better Like trying to get better like like consistency wise like it's like wine wine gets better as it ages

[00:20:37] Like you know, I think in barbecue some people get relaxed or they get comfortable and they feel like okay This is it and no that's not it

[00:20:44] It couldn't do nothing but get better and I had a lady tell me this at one of my events three years ago She was like your ribs taste better than they taste at the restaurant and I was like, thank you

[00:20:54] Like I appreciate her telling me that because it's like well, they should be tasting better like You know i've been doing this for a minute Yeah, so yeah, no Okay

[00:21:06] So you mentioned miss brenda there and and i've read before that you said you wanted to bring more female pitmasters into the fold Do you feel like the barbecue world is evolving to include more women and more diverse voices?

[00:21:18] I think I think the barbecue world is enough room for everybody Um, I just think some voices don't get spoken louder than others you know, um Or the right people are not speaking up for them. But uh,

[00:21:32] I feel like that's something that should have been going on a long time ago Like my mom taught me how to make sides, you know, my mom had me in the kitchen at an early age But she said I might run into somebody that couldn't cook Ready? Okay

[00:21:48] Nice meeting you guys And bronson is changing locations. He's not hanging up on us, but I know Hey man, I got derrick's hot spot here. I got his hot spot. So i'm good. I'm good But you can't see me walking in the u-haul area

[00:22:05] This is this is not only our first podcast recorded in the u-haul. It's also our first podcast recorded on the move On the move to pick up a smoker

[00:22:14] Yeah, well, I mean that's perfect for a guy like brian brian firman who's always on the way on the road to pick up a smoker My man derrick was like brian. I found this smoker

[00:22:24] I gotta go pick it up. I'm like i'll take you i'll take you we're going to pick it up He was like we was riding today. He's like man. I can't believe brian firman is taking me

[00:22:32] To pick up a smoker. I'm like, hey bro, like somebody got to do it And now it's u-haul that's got to do it the good thing about it is I ain't got to drive now Yeah, well, hey that is a good thing

[00:22:46] So we're talking a little bit about about female voices and and getting all voices in room for that in the barbecue world You know I also know that judges have a voice in the world and you know

[00:22:57] I've heard you say before that, you know, you don't cook for judges. You cook for people, you know, what does that mean? um, yeah, uh and I don't cook for judges. I cook I don't cook for judges. I cook for the people means like

[00:23:11] Back in the day people would come in the restaurant Shut that down people. Can you hear me? Yep People will come in the restaurant and they will be like um Oh my goodness, you need to cook this a little bit um Like the meat need to be tougher

[00:23:30] or Um the sauce and I can I automatically know they're a judge Automatically tell the apartment. I just look at I'll be like are you a judge? And they'll be like yeah how i'm like I can tell already I was like But how comes you don't let

[00:23:45] mustard sauce in competitions Like if this is a barbecue competition, why is only bluegrass sauce allowed? Yeah, you talk about how good my peach mustard sauce is But if I was to put it on a plate to turn in you would disqualify before even tasting

[00:24:02] So how are you going to call this a competition? So I would go do events and they will have these um They will have these these little um Well, I cooked a hog and I explained to the group like these classes And as i'm doing the class

[00:24:19] As i'm doing the class They would basically uh ask questions and then one guy asked me one time. He was like do you do competitions? I say no, that's not real barbecue. I was like most of those guys I send those classes go to a four-hour class

[00:24:33] Four-hour class they can't even light a fire, you know like so no i'm not i'm not gonna go to that I'm not gonna listen to them And I remember one day a lady she was sitting in the front row after I made that statement

[00:24:45] I was walking through the hotel And she was like, I don't like what you said about the judges Like I was going to this four-hour class and i'm like where's the truth like Most of y'all can't even light a fire

[00:24:57] I'm supposed to judge you let you judge me. So that's where Like I don't cook for judges. I cook for the people and the people meaning everybody you know like You could pull up at b's

[00:25:09] And you'll have a billionaire sitting at the bar right next to your millionaire. Everybody's out there like yeah And that's what barbecues do for it to me Where I don't want to be judged and when I feel like i'm in a situation where i'm judged about a situation

[00:25:21] I don't want you want to be in it So, um, that's where that I went and got their trademark too. So if anybody out there go trust me It's llc and it has a stamp on it You know, so Yeah

[00:25:36] That's your thing right now. I know you're getting on the move. So we're going to wrap this up pretty quick here You know, let me just tell you ask you

[00:25:42] You know at last what do you enjoy most about being a pit master and operating a barbecue business and living in this barbecue life? Um, what I enjoy the most is my passion. Um like

[00:25:56] I can get up and do that every day with no problem. Like I love what I do so and i've been in i've been in Mental states like going through this for the past couple years mental like depression phases, right and

[00:26:11] Stressed about the situation or getting this guy. I gotta get this done. I gotta get this done And then I have an event and one of my friends cortez. He came up to me one day I was cooking a hog and he was like

[00:26:22] He was like you're in your element and I looked at him and he was like what you mean He was like you're in your element He was like, you know how we talk because I talked like that to my friends and he was like

[00:26:33] You're a total different person today And he was like you doing what you like to do. So I think like with barbecue It takes me keep my mind busy But it also puts me in my element of what I like to do

[00:26:45] And that's why most people see me on the road all the time and see me traveling because I enjoy doing it So and that my friends is the lowdown from brine firman brine firman barbecue brine Thanks so much for joining the low and slow barbecue show

[00:27:00] Hey, and don't forget about garfield georgia this year at jacklin southern porch This pit master derrick this pit master here derrick. He's going to be on the show next uh chigga

[00:27:12] When he opens his location down in garfield, this is gonna be the guy you remember as the u-haul the u-haul U-haul barbecue that's what we need to name it Fantastic you've been listening to the low and slow barbecue show on the mesh tv network a podcast

[00:27:30] Be sure to visit us online at low slow bbq show.com That's where you'll find the blog and you can hear other podcast episodes If you like what you hear in the low and slow barbecue show Please give us a five star rating in your favorite podcast network

[00:27:44] Helps other people find our podcast and remember visit low slow bbq show.com to subscribe to the lowdown newsletter We'll send you the latest podcasts blogs recipes barbecue events and more all right to your email inbox every tuesday morning

[00:27:59] Special thanks for our guest brian firman. Thanks as well to our producer andrew moose and the whole team at the mesh tv network A podcast most especially thank you for listening to the low and slow barbecue show

[00:28:10] Remember for the best barbecue and the best barbecue podcast make it low and slow You've been listening to the mesh an online media network of shows and programs ranging from business to arts sports to entertainment music to community

[00:28:38] All programs are available on the website as well as through itunes and youtube Check us out online at the mesh tv Discover other network shows and give us feedback on what you just heard