The launch comes at a perfect time because it’s summertime and we love barbecues. What about barbecue do you guys feel is such a staple in our community?

AA: Barbecues are the perfect medium because it’s like a family reunion every time you get together. Without it being a family reunion every few years and traveling someplace, it’s a communal thing. It’s a family thing. You get to talk trash, play dominoes, cook some good food, talk, do some travel, see friends and family that you haven’t seen in a while. And just have some libation and have fun. It’s a whole community thing.

CE: I really think the key thing for us is that we saw this as a way to build community and share our culture. The idea of grilling and cooking food goes way back in slavery and beyond. For us, as a culture, it is the way that we were. We had to get these things, as they say, from the roota to the toota, and all this stuff where we had to use everything. And so from there, we built community. But also, it’s a bit of a potluck. So this is this opportunity where if I got the meat for the grill, you got to bring the potato salad, you bring the green beans and some drinks. And so that gets everybody involved. We love the idea of that. We thought that that really represents our community. 

And also, we didn’t really see somebody with a national brand in that space. That was something that Anthony brought up very early on. It was just really interesting that it was no national barbecue face. So it’s about promoting our brand, AC for sure, but we’re showing so much love to all these wonderful pitmasters and grillmasters out there, and people with other brands. We really become the ambassadors to this world of barbecue by promoting AC barbecue. 

AA: My thing is, if you type in Pitbull into the search bar right now, you’re going to get the musician. You’re not going to get a pitbull terrier. When you type in barbecue for me, I want AC Barbecue to pop up and be that to this space, to this community. It’s not just about our product, but the community of barbecue and what it means. That’s our mission.