After owning Clay's Bait and Tackle for nearly a decade, the retail market got really tough. Big box stores coming to our growing city and the addition of online shopping were a one two punch that really took a toll on bait shop sales. Summer in Mississippi is brutal.  Then winter comes and there was just too much time between selling seasons. I could see the handwriting on the wall. I knew I had one more spring season left in the bait shop before having to close the doors. I had to do something quickly.

     I spent a LOT of time in prayer and in conversations with my wife, Jinnie. I started a BBQ joint with the last money made in the bait shop. I worked the entire spring of 2017 cleaning out a back room of the bait shop and converting it into a kitchen. The plan was to buy a convenience store warmer to put a few BBQ sandwiches in and possibly entice my fishing customers to continue to stop by in the summer heat and the winter. There was no safety net. I knew I had three months until bankruptcy. I was either going to make it or die trying.

     I essentially pushed in all my chips. I swung for the fences! I said, "If I'm going to fail? I'm going to fail SO EPICLY and SO PUBLICLY that they'll write books about that guy in East Tupelo." Because if I fail like that, then I'll be content that I didn't have what it took and go do something else for a living knowing I gave it everything I had. So I showed up at 3:00 am with the attitude that you can't kill me today. You might get me tomorrow, but today isn't the day. My old daddy used to always say, "If you're going to be a bear, be a Grizzly." So there I was, in attack mode. The rest is history in the making.
     My crew and I are going to put out the very best BBQ that we can. We refuse to cut corners. You may have more talent than us, but you won't out work us. We come to work hungry and pushing our boundaries every day. I'm doing this to honor the traditions of the Coleman family, my craft, and my Lord who blessed me with all of this. This thing is God's. I'm just managing the chaos.