From Biker Buddies to BBQ-ing Hogs
MEAT & GREET: Castro Valley resident Kevin Fosdick, "pitmaster" Chris Jackson, and Bon Ramos (left to right) serve up smoked ribs and chicken at the Sacred Pig BBQ on weekends in the Fairview neighborhood. They hope to open a restaurant this year.
What started out as a friendship based on motorcycles for one Castro Valley resident has evolved into a mobile barbecue and catering career.
Kevin Fosdick of Castro Valley met Chris Jackson some 15 years ago when they were riding Harley Davidson cycles. Now Fosdick helps Jackson with his popular "Sacred Pig BBQ" business, which caters for events, and is planning a restaurant in the Fairview area.
"We met riding bikes, and now we're barbecuers," says Fosdick.
Jackson has had quite a career change in the last several years. Working in pharmacy at UC San Francisco Oncology department since 2005, he says, "Pharmacy burned me out. I was working 70 hours a week making chemo. It was rewarding, but I've always been an open thinker and wanted to run my own business doing something I love."
Jackson started barbecuing on the side about five years ago, inviting Fosdick and their friend Bon Ramos to assist. (All are in their 30s and had full-time jobs at that point.) Word spread about their high-quality food, which became something of a family enterprise. Jackson's mother, Lorna is from Texas, and his dad Larry is from Louisiana. Their recipes became part of the fare offered by Sacred Pig. Lorna's potato salad is a customer favorite. The meat is purchased wholesale, usually at Costco.
Jackson says Sacred Pig is a fully certified and licensed LLC commissary kitchen. "Anybody can do catering, but everything we do is legit. We make everything fresh daily, and we use no-nonsense seasoning," he adds.
As the popularity of Sacred Pig BBQ grew, so did the equipment necessary to support it. Jackson started with a Traeger smoker, eventually adding two more. These were pulled to weddings, parties, popups, and other events around the Bay Area. Sacred Pig has catered events for Facebook headquarters and Wells Fargo Bank and did a 600-person, two-day event at the Port of Oakland.
The business wasn't impacted much by COVID because events that include barbecues are mostly held outdoors. In fact, there was enough demand that Jackson was able to quit his pharmacy job last year to become the "pitmaster" full-time.
Now Sacred Pig has upgraded to a special-order 500-gallon Lang reverse-flow smoker, delivered from Georgia. Another will be arriving this year.
"When you watch barbecue competitions on TV, the Langs are the Cadillac of smokers," says Jackson. "The smoke goes through the bottom, around and out the top, maintaining a steady temperature."
"There's nothing better than natural wood logs on the Lang smoker," says Fosdick. "Chris taught me everything I know about the business and the food, from the recipes and preparation to the cooking process. I owe it all to him. I still have my day job but can't wait for the weekends."
On most Saturdays and Sundays, Sacred Pig BBQ sells ribs, chicken, and traditional side dishes (including "Mom's Potato Salad") at Bay Hills Food and Liquor, 2637 East Avenue, Hayward. The company is waiting on permits to convert the back of this building into a Sacred Pig BBQ restaurant. The catering menu features ribs, chicken, beef hot links, tri-tip, brisket, and sides.
"People often ask why we named the business Sacred Pig," says Jackson. "We wanted to change the ideology of how people view the pig, which is sometimes seen as a lowly animal. But in barbecue, it's the most sacred animal. We're flipping the perspective around."
To see the full menu and to order online, see sacredpigbarbecue.com.