Today we’d like to introduce you to Todd David.
Todd, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started making bbq as a teenager and then it was a weekend thing after college when I moved to Dallas. For 30+ years I rescued businesses damaged by Fire, Water, and Smoke in the restoration business while bbq stayed a hobby. When my wife Misty and I decided to retire from that business, we wanted to keep our hobby going as a part-time business and cater bbq. We soon decided catering was not for us, but interacting with customers and serving them bbq was for us but with limited amounts of our time committed. So now we use Fire, Moisture, and Smoke to make these meats the folks just love.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It was been a very smooth road with the only obstacle of being very quick to adjust to the fast growth. While not having any experience in the food business, the love for barbeque and the history of starting and running businesses, we have been lucky to only deal with typical day to day challenges.
Cattleack Barbeque – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We are most known for our meats we smoke including our regular items which are good old traditional barbeque – Brisket, Homemade Sausage, pork and Beef ribs, pulled pork, and turkey breast. Another aspect of our food that fans love is our innovation. Sometimes we are trying something new and traditional like smoking a whole hog, and sometimes its new today items like our PBR (pork belly ribs), or pastrami or our Que- T-Pies (brisket meat pie).
We don’t try to set ourselves apart from others in the barbeque. Yes our hours are different, but that was out of choice. As big fans of barbeque before we entered this business, we are more trying to carry on tradition than we are trying to be different.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The smiles we get from fans daily and the comments of how our meal makes their day so good, is something we are proud of each day.
Without a doubt, our biggest achievement was just after 4 years open to the public, that Texas Monthly would recognize us as the 3rd best bbq in the State of Texas and everyone knows Texas is the best overall for barbeque. In addition to that proud moment, this year we had D Magazine of Dallas call us out as the Best Barbeque in Dallas. Very proud of my team that makes all of this happen.
