We're here at B&K Smoke House and we're here with James Howe, the owner of B&K Smoke House, and we are just so happy and pleased that you allowed us to come today and talk about the establishment.

Thank you.

I'm curious if you remember when we first met, I needed somebody to cater my son's graduation party from high school, and you brought the food out, you brought some food out to the house that we didn't know you were coming.

Because I forgot to green.

You remember that, I looked up and I was in the yard and I said, he's here, he brought the green beans, that stayed with me.

And that's that whole customer service piece.

If you miss something, you have to go back and correct it.

Right, right, right.

I remember saying, you don't have to worry about it, it's okay, you have plant food, but you just want to make it right.

Yeah, I wanted to make sure, you know, you guys was happy.

Oh yeah.

Because one thing that I think that would kill a business quicker than anything is those mistakes.

I think this business has allowed me to build these relationships with people based on the food that we serve.

Yeah.

One thing I try to iterate to a lot of young people is your network is not the biggest thing you got.

It's the network that you create.

The people that you have these relationships with over the food, and then they're going to always remember.

James, how did you get into this business?

I know that you didn't start out doing this.

So how did, how do you transition into this and what'd you do before you started doing this?

Before I started doing this, I was working at a university.

I ain't gonna say the name.

Okay, okay.

I was ex-military, came home.

So not feeling the value, feeling valued by my employer.

Okay.

I said, you know, it's time for me to get out because I'm not gonna go anywhere.

And I said hey, being in the military, you know we used to do these big cookouts, you know.

Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas time, somebody was always doing these big dinners or something.

And the soldiers that didn't go home for the holiday, they would come over into the housing area.

So it was natural to do this thing.

I picked up a passion for cooking, actually smoking meat.

I got down to Virginia and I hooked up with some guys, you know, some country guys, and they taught me about, you know smoking meat And the first thing I ever smoked was a turkey.

And I smoked it in a little Weber.

And it took me all night.

And it kind of like, you know, I was like, Oh, I don't think I want to do this.

You got to watch a piece of meat all night!

Right.

Yeah.

But that turkey was so good, smoked.

So I just, you know, I started this thing and 30 days later I left my job.

Okay, okay.

It didn't take long.

Yeah.

And it was me wanting to create my own value so that I could create value for others.

Yeah.

You know, I had my grandchildren working here.

Yeah.

And I think it did them a lot of good.

I'm sure, I'm, sure.

How'd you pick this location?

There was a lady, Miss Niecy, that was here, and there was a restaurant on the other side already there.

Okay.

And they were closing it out, and she said, well, you know, if you want the building, you know we had had discussion.

And she said if you wanted the building I'd call the owner and let him know that you wanted, and we'd get you in there.

And I was like, you now what, do it.

You know, couple thousand dollars and a whole.

Yeah, yeah.

Hope that it works out!

So everything was just kind of falling into place.

Yeah, it fell into place and I always say that the universe, if you think about it, the universe of God will put people in place, in your path, so that you can get where you're supposed to be.

Kind of knows where you're going before you do.

Before you know yeah, yeah, okay exactly.

Yeah Now, are you from Columbus originally?

Yes, sir.

What, what side of town are you from?

South end.

Okay.

Okay, okay.

So, you know, right here at Maine and champion, you're on the cusp of downtown competition wise, other place, this, this Columbus.

So we're not known as the real capital of the world, but you are in competition with other places.

I think it's that everybody that comes through that door is giving the utmost respect.

I don't care what you look like.

I don't care how much money you got.

I just want to let you know that you're welcome here.

We're going to give you a good meal.

When you get a meal at B&K Smoke House, you know the average person can't finish the whole meal.

Right.

Right.

It's two meals.

The old ladies, they come in and they say, oh James, you know, I eat on that for two days.

Yeah.

So, you know, I think that our price point was where it needed to be at, at the times.

You know, when we started, I thought we were $12 for a rib dinner, and you know 13 years later we're still only $18 for a half a slab, six bones, two sides, eight ounces, and some bread.

Okay.

People have a tendency to think that they're winning.

When you leave out here, you don't know what, I got the better deal.

Yeah.

Yeah Well, it's in the community right here.

You're serving the community.

And I'm sure a lot of people appreciate this establishment.

What's your relationship with the community in terms of its leadership and the people who come in?

I know that there's a deeper root to this place than just Good barbecue.

We have a really good relationship with Old Town East.

I would tell everybody, if it wasn't for this neighborhood supporting this business, I wouldn't have been here as long as I was.

Okay.

And when I say us, it took us a long time to realize that this was the place that you wanna come to.

Everybody else already knew it.

The neighborhood knew it, there was a customer in Virginia that was in the foreign service.

And every year, he has a child or somebody over in Chicago.

So him and his wife is going through and they will stop here.

And what's shocking is I can't tell you the guy's name, but I can always remember where he's from and what he did.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So that gives him another sense that, hey, this guy really remembered who I was.

We have a very diverse group of people that come in.

And you know, you talking about doctors, lawyers, you know politicians, all of them stopped by occasionally.

So sometimes word of mouth is better than a big media campaign to advertise.

Exactly.

We did no advertising.

It's all word of mouth and, you know, people coming in and things like this, interviews being done or stories in print.

So people come in sometimes and say they come in and they want something to eat from the community.

Don't have quite enough money.

How do you handle that?

Because I had been here in those situations, seen a couple of people and how you kind of handle that situation.

I don't like to do it often, but I will, and sometimes it's based on the fact that, hey, this person at one time was a customer.

What I don't like is I don't like people coming in off of the street and asking my customers to do something for them.

Ask me.

And then I tell you, just hold on, I'm gonna get you something to eat, and then we can move past that.

We do do a lot of charity work.

There is a boxing tournament that happens, the Columbus Legends, that happens every year.

The young man that does that, we grew up together.

So when he started that, he was like, hey, I need somebody to do food.

So I do about 250 meals for his VIP tables.

That way he can get him something to eat.

People can taste my food.

I support the Rickenbacker Woods Foundation a couple times a year, send food over for the kids.

There's a warming station and a cooling station right around the corner.

We're gonna start sending food over this winter to them, but we're gonna do like soup.

I do soup, I think soup is a little more nourishment.

Another young lady, I just picked up her event.

She does a cancer survivor event.

We support the kids down at the Blackburn Recreation Center if they're having something.

What is your hope for B and K?

How are you going to do that?

Who's going to take it to the next level?

When you look at the kids, give them the ability to understand what financial responsibility looks like.

And you know, in this world, I think that everything is task-oriented.

If I give you a task, I don't wanna tell you how to do it unless you ask me how I wanna do it.

I give it to you, let you get to the end.

I'm gonna get you started, let's you get to the ends, so I wanna see if you can complete a task.

So that's the thing that I... I preached to them in that understanding, but if you don't have it and they look at your life, you know, well, you did all right, but nobody knows what that struggle looked like.

Sure sure.

James I want to thank you for having us and letting us give us a little bit of your time.

As you transition to another phase, I hope B&K keeps going and keeps serving the community, but I do want to Thank you.

Well, I appreciate you coming down.

And we're gonna try to do our best to be here for many, many years, but it might not be me.

Okay.

Okay, Mama's building's here and the food is good.

That's all we can ask for.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, sir.