← WETSU: a BattleshipNJ Podcast
WETSU: a BattleshipNJ Podcast
The Co-Founder of Mission BBQ's personal connection to the company's mission
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- [00:07]
A
General quarters, all hands, man your battle stations. Foreign.
- [00:37]
B
Welcome to wetsu, a Battleship New Jersey podcast. I'm your host, Marshall Spivak, CEO of the Battleship New Jersey Museum of Memorial. Today's episode is sponsored by ELAC825, the Labor Employer Cooperative of Operating Engineers Local 825, whose highly skilled members were critical in the 2024 dry docking and preservation of Battleship New Jersey. Today's episode of WetU will be a little outside the norm for us, but we're excited for the conversation. Bill Kraus is the co founder of Mission Barbecue, a restaurant brand with a powerful purpose to serve authentic all American barbecue while honoring the men and women who protect and serve our communities and our nation. Inspired by our shared commitment to service and gratitude, Bill and his partner Steve Newton opened the first mission barbecue on September 11th at 2011 as a tribute to the heroes of 9, 11 and all who sacrificed for our freedoms. Bill started working early as a paperboy, a caddy and a bartender. He worked for the National Football League for the athletic clothing brand Champion and was one of the founding employees of Under Armour, helping them grow what was then a $20 million a year business to an over $800 million year business and of course, a global sporting and athletics brand. As I mentioned, in 2011 he opened up Mission Barbecue with Steve Newton, who has spent 20 years in the Restaurant Operations and Management Outback Steakhouse. Since then, Mission Barbecue has grown into a national brand with over 140 restaurants in 23 states. But its mission has never wavered, giving back to veterans, active duty service members, police officers, firefighters and first responders. Mission Barbecue has donated over $20 million to organizations supporting America's heroes through community events, charitable foundations and partnerships. At the Battleship New Jersey, Mission Barbecue has become a great catering partner, aligning perfectly with our shared values of honoring service and sacrifice. Whether it's feeding guests at a Navy birthday celebration or free will in camaraderie at a veterans gathering, Mission Barbecue's presence aboard our ship has become a part of our new living history. Bill's leadership, rooted in service and patriotism, reflects the spirit of the Battleship New Jersey and the legacy of those who served aboard her. That's why we're honored to welcome Bill aboard virtually. Bill Kraus, welcome to the Wet Zoo podcast.
- [02:41]
A
And hey, thanks Marshall.
- [02:43]
B
So let me, let me start where I typically we start this off and I ask somebody why they joined the Navy, but let me just change that up a little bit and sort of ask it in a little bit of a different way. Why did you decide to start a restaurant chain that's focused on service?
- [02:58]
A
Well, I'm the proud grandson of a soldier. My father served during the Korean conflict. But really so much of my inspiration came when our oldest son took decided that he wanted to go make a difference for our country. I truly, I initially was probably embarrassed that I had never considered service. But then I swelled with pride, and the more time I spent around the community, the more inspired and bound and determined I became that I wanted to find my own way to serve. And so, fortunately, I had crossed paths with my partner, Steve Newton. And so this whole idea of opening a restaurant was probably far too much of an undertaking that I never could have accomplished without having a partner like Newt who knew how to run a restaurant. And so those initial, if you want to say, pieces that really fell into plate, here we are now, you know, 14 years later, we're at 152 locations and counting across those 23 states. And our charitable giving now comes close to $30 million. As far as us just kind of continuing to do our part to serve, honor, and thank our American heroes.
- [04:06]
B
Yeah. Well, you said something just then, and I wrote. I wrote something down that you had said in a previous interview that I listened to, and you said I was going to find my own way to serve and to make a difference in a meaningful way. And that, that really stuck for me because as I just told you before we started recording, you know, I'm a civilian. I didn't serve. Many of us on our staff and our crew here are civilians. They didn't necessarily serve. I like to say that this job is sort of my higher calling of service. And in that way, I found what you were saying incredibly meaningful. So can you talk to us a little bit about how, you know, that notion of your own version of higher service influenced and sort of changed your career trajectory?
- [04:46]
A
Well, without question, my experience at Under Armour was life changing on any of a number of levels. But I felt like I wanted to make more of a contribution to society than, quote, selling T shirts. And so this idea of selling pulled pork and promoting patriotism, it inspires us still every day of what we get to do because of what our heroes are willing to do. And what we'd like to believe as well is that there's a component piece that mission barbecue is truly nourishment for the soul, just from the standpoint of hopefully everything that we stand for that people are proud of.
- [05:22]
B
You mentioned Under Armour. Obviously, you spent many years in the early days at Under Armour helping to Grow it into internationally recognized brand. A feat not easy with, you know, juggernauts in this space like the folks out in Oregon and in Germany. And I'm sure when you first got there, it was not a sure thing. I'm just curious, sort of, what lessons did you learn from your, you know, Under Armour's sort of rise to prominence that helped make Mission Barbecue the success that it is.
- [05:48]
A
The Under Armour experience, really, it was the people that were a part of that team, and we believed that we had great product. We thought that we serviced our customers at an exceptionally high level. And then we thought there was a real story. The real positioning of Under Armor was about attitude, that if you put that brand on and you looked in the mirror, you felt like you were a superhero. Contrary, Mission Barbecue is more about emotion and who's not touched or inspired or. Or proud of service. As Martin Luther King said way back in the day, everyone can make a difference because we can all serve. And I think we just prove there's a lot of different ways you can serve and make a difference and contribute to your community and in the process, make our country a better place. So we're.
- [06:35]
B
We're filming this on September 2nd. Yesterday was Labor Day, and I wanted to note something that's very unique in your business. And, you know, instead of catering big backyard barbecue days on holidays like July 4th, like Memorial Day, Mission Barbecue is actually closed. Can you sort of explain that and talk about why that is and why you decided to do that?
- [06:56]
A
Yeah. What was important to Newt and I was we truly want to run this like a family business with our work family. And we really reflected upon the days that we probably wouldn't want to be working. So. So why should we expect our teammates to be working on those days? Which is why we close seven days a year. It's why we close early, leading into holidays, so that hopefully our teammates can truly catch their breath a little bit, as well as make sure that they're not losing sight of the fact that their job still fits into their life. Their life doesn't fit into their job in that regard.
- [07:32]
B
Absolutely. You also do something special every day at noon. I think that sort of fits into what you were just talking about. And can you talk to us about that and sort of, as you said, why these traditions are so important? I've sort of set the standard for Mission Barbecue.
- [07:48]
A
It is what has become a time honored tradition at Mission Barbecue that we've been doing since our first day in business, where every day at 12 noon, we shut our Kitchens down, everything comes to a halt. We make an announcement, we play the national anthem, and we do that because we can. And to a large degree, if it bothers you that much, you can come at 12:02. It's over. And yet I think you'd have better perspective of American values if you got in there at 11:55 and you saw others maybe singing the song or maybe even a few tears being shed. It literally is the best two minutes every day at every Mission Barbecue because we are free, and we don't take that for granted.
- [08:30]
B
Absolutely. One of your previous answers, you said something that stood out with me. When you talk about your employees, you don't call them employees. You call them teammates. And I think that sort of goes to your overall ethos. And when we're here at the Battleship, we. We have a similar attack. You know, everyone's a crew member and a member of the team. I noticed your mission barbecue is four pillars. I think very much resonate with us here on the battleship. Your teammates, your customers, your community, and your country. And I think that sort of aligns very well with us here, here at the Battleship as well. But how do you sort of take those pillars and, you know, turn that into, you know, a great business like you have?
- [09:07]
A
Everything starts with our teammates in terms of how we recruit, how we train, how we retain so that we can have these wonderful representatives to our customers out in our communities and for our country. And we couldn't be any more proud of our teammates and the work that they do on the front lines every single day. Every time somebody walks through the door of Mission Barbecue, we want them to feel like we appreciate their business. We're thankful for the business and the opportunity to serve them. And the fact that for so many of our teammates, they have such a servant's heart on how they go about things. It makes Newt and I very proud.
- [09:45]
B
Sure it does. You have, as you said now, over 150 locations in 23 states. That includes four locations here in the great state of New Jersey. And I know of at least two more that is opening. One in Cherry Hill, which is my town, and another one in Brick out in Ocean County. I'm just curious, you know, what are some of the decision factors that go into deciding for someone who might not live in our area but is living somewhere else? What goes into sort of deciding where you choose where your locations are going to be?
- [10:14]
A
Well, first of all, the state of New Jersey has been wonderful to us in terms of how they've embraced Mission Barbecue. It all Starts with our teammate. We want to make sure we can have the right leadership to represent us. Be it in Cherry Hill, be it in Brick, be it in our existing locations. And then beyond that, we want to make sure that it's the right community that indeed fits what we think are the values of Mission Barbecue. And the great news is I think we're just getting started in terms of more communities that we can hopefully serve here in the future. In the state of New Jersey, operating.
- [10:47]
C
Engineers are the men and women that move mountains. And the engineers Labor Employer cooperative ELEC puts them to work. They create opportunities for the men, women, and union signatory contractors of Local 825, repaving our roads, keeping our homes bright and warm, and even building our favorite team stadium. We understand infrastructure. That's why ELAC and Local 825 are ready to get to work.
- [11:16]
B
Growing from one restaurant to over 150 restaurants. You said it starts with the people, but you're growing from a small business into a rather large business. How do you ensure that you sort of keep your mission and your values consistent from New Jersey to any of the other 23 states?
- [11:33]
A
Yeah, I mean, Marshall, we're always just very focused on great people, great food, great service, and great results. And as long as we continue to focus and lean on those pillars, we feel like we'll be able to attract the right teammates to serve our customers in every community, hopefully across the entire country that we're proud to be a part of.
- [11:53]
B
I heard you say in a previous interview that your catering operation is about 20% of Mission Barbecue's business. Of course, at the battleship, that's how we know Mission Barbecue best. And of course, I want to give a shout out to our friend Amy from your Deptford store, who works with us in such a great professional manner. And Mission Barbecue does work here on the battleship. Everything from promotion ceremonies. I know you've done weddings on board, cater our annual volunteer luncheon. I think you guys recently catered an Air Force Academy event that we had for prospective high schoolers a little bit back. But I know that when I call someone from Mission Barbecue and I said, hey, this was just last year, I'll give you an example. We're hosting the crew of a new ship, new Navy ship. In this case, it was the John Bassel. And I happened to be on the commissioning committee, the newest Arleigh Burke class destroyer in the U.S. navy fleet. We got 100 sailors coming. You know, it's not really a budget. Is Mission willing to, you know, come in and cater this really special event for our men and women in uniform. And without hesitation, the answer was yes. And you know, that was just incredibly meaningful to us on the ship and just showed sort of what a, what a great partner you are with the community. And so I'm just curious, like, what does it mean to you, to your, to your company, to your folks, to support celebration ceremonies, to work on a ship like ours, museum now, but a decorated battleship. What does it mean for, for you all to stay, you know, in the community and to be a well respected member of the community who continues to give back? Obviously you said $30 million in donations, but you do more than that because you're also providing food and support to special events and just curious to sort of your. Your perspective on those things.
- [13:35]
A
Yeah, it's who we are and it's what we do, especially if we can be there in a time of need. We don't need each other in life when it's easy as much as maybe when it's a little bit more difficult or challenging. And the fact that food brings comfort as well as it brings people together, we're proud to be the ones that are doing that, especially in celebratory times. But at the same time too, maybe when somebody really needs you the most and it's just a little bit of a boost in morale, is it the least we can do as a good neighbor?
- [14:06]
B
Yeah, absolutely. I noted in your biography that in 2021, you joined the board of directors the Global War on Terrorism Memorial foundation, the congressionally designated nonprofit that is tasked with planning, funding and coordinating efforts to build the Gwab Memorial on the national mall in Washington D.C. and I'm just curious about how you came to be on the memorials board and if you could tell us a little bit about, you know, that effort to build the memorial in Washington and where sort of it stands at the moment.
- [14:36]
A
Well, when I think about the preceding generations, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, those that proudly served during those conflicts, they had to wait many years before there was something on the National Mall that really spoke to their service, their sacrifice. A place that hopefully they could find comfort and healing. And so it's personal for my wife and I. Now our oldest son is almost 18 years into his military career. Our younger son is serving, our son in law is serving, our daughter in law is serving. And so we just really reflected upon the fact that someday when they take the uniform off and maybe they just put the hat on, that they could go to Washington D.C. in and amongst their friends and Find this place that speaks to their generation, the conflict that they were a part of. We've made great progress in terms of the foundation. It was signed into law. There's actually a site that's now been selected. It's in the midst of design phase and hopefully maybe even as soon as by the end of this administration that memorial will exist on the national mall in Washington D.C. forever.
- [15:46]
B
That's great to hear especially I grew up in the time grew up as a civilian but around a lot of active duty military, especially in being so close to Fort Dix and the joint base here in New Jersey where is everyone had to go through to ship out overseas and come back before they went home to their loved ones. And I really look forward to to seeing that effort come to fruition. And we will. We'll post a link in the description of this podcast episode as well along with the links to Mission Barbecue for information about the the G WAT Memorial. Because I know that's incredibly meaningful to an entire generation of men and women in uniform who fought the good fight in those efforts. So appreciate your effort.
- [16:30]
A
It's an honor.
- [16:31]
B
You mentioned Mission Barbecue has donated over $30 million to charitable organizations, military organizations, veterans, first responder organizations. Do you have any causes that are sort of the closest to your heart out of the 30 million that you've you've donated?
- [16:46]
A
Marshall so it's, it's both community and country in that respect and not only what we do locally, but also what we do nationally. Our involvement with the G Watt Memorial, our involvement with the Honor Flight Network, our involvement with Reece Across America. But then at the same time too, whenever we enter a new community and we introduce ourselves to those that are serving that community as first responders, we want to make sure that we're aligned with the things that are important to them. And so from that standpoint, it's usually the charities that they choose for us to support takes on additional meaning because of the fact that they were there before we were. And these are the things that they've defined as being important within that community of Brick or Cherry Hill or Depford or Hamilton Township or Marlton. And so it's just us trying to make sure that we understand that here's our opportunity to stand alongside them and contribute like we should.
- [17:47]
B
But that's great, you know, as I'm curious as a business leader again we've Talked about from one location to 150 locations plus what have you learned from building a company with such a value driven mission? I know here at the Battleship. We're a nonprofit company, but it's all value driven, and we strive to learn new things almost every day, which is one of the great things I love about working here at the Battleship. You're obviously doing on a much larger scale. And I'm curious. You've been involved, and obviously we talked about a lot of global companies, but what have you learned from your time at Mission that you think has made it. Helped make it a success?
- [18:29]
A
We're still literally, each and every day, just trying to do it one tray at a time and making sure that that tray is exactly what the consumer hoped it would be. Whether it's the first time they've ever dined with us or if they're regulars with us, we want them to feel that we value them as a customer and always will. We're thankful for their business in that regard, and we're proud to be representing and serving their community that they work and live in.
- [18:56]
B
I'd like to do a little lightning round of questions with guests. I'm going to ask you a couple questions, and if you could just sort of tell me the first thing that comes to the top of your head. What is your favorite item on the Mission barbecue menu?
- [19:07]
A
A moist brisket with a little bit of Alabama white sauce on it.
- [19:11]
B
I like that. Okay. Do you happen to have a favorite barbecue city or region in the U.S.
- [19:16]
A
We'Ve got such incredible respect for Austin, Texas, and the storied history down there, which is why we'll probably never open down there.
- [19:25]
B
I've been to Austin. I've had some good barbecue down there as well. So that's a great answer. Do you have a favorite American hero or role model?
- [19:33]
A
Gosh, I'm not sure I can just pick one, because I really feel like here over these last 14 years, we've literally had a front seat to American history in that regard. But I will say I'm incredibly proud of our children that have decided to serve and go make a difference because they continue to inspire this old man every day.
- [19:54]
B
Great answer. If you could host one dream guest for Mission Barbecue meal aboard the Battleship New Jersey, who would it be?
- [20:01]
A
Gosh, how do I pick just one? One of my dear friends is Alejandro Villanueva. Alejandro was raised in Spain, came to the United States, attended West Point, was serving his country, and yet had the opportunity to then go serve in a different capacity and play in the NFL. And what he brought in terms of perspective to a locker room about the true definition of a battlefield, he understood better than anyone else there. And yet he's the most humble person I'd probably ever come across, and I just love everything that he stands for.
- [20:37]
B
That's great. And last one on this is, if you weren't running Mission Barbecue, what do you think you'd be doing now?
- [20:43]
A
Maybe going back to being a caddy or a bartender. But it is one of those things I, I want to believe. I've never forgotten where I came from, of what made me, of the people that helped me. And now I'm just trying to help others as well.
- [20:57]
B
Finally, Bill, this is the Wetsuit podcast. The PG version of that stands for we eat this stuff up, which really is meaning doing grueling work with a smile on your face. We eat this up. Throw some more at us. Give us some more. It was the rallying cry and the motto of our last commanding officer and our last crew. Here it's emblazoned on our battle flag replica, which is behind me. And I'm just curious of anything that sort of comes to mind from your career, from your time at Mission that sort of really speaks to. To that motto.
- [21:28]
A
It's just about everybody that I meet that serves that they're the spirit of them, knowing that they all volunteered in that regard is where we want to just do our part in serving them.
- [21:40]
B
Well, Bill, thank you very much for joining us today for sharing your story, the story of Mission Barbecue, your commitment. Mission Barbecue's commitment to honoring service and giving back to our heroes obviously resonates deeply with us here at the Battleship New Jersey and certainly with everyone who steps aboard our deck. To our listeners, if you've been to a ceremony or celebration on the battleship, there's a good chance you've tasted Mission Barbecues great food. Now you know the story behind it, and we hope that you will come visit us and of course, visit over their 150 locations over 23 states. Bill, we're grateful to you and to your team for being such strong partners in preserving the spirit of service, which is really what we're about here at the battleship. So that's it for this episode of wetsu, a Battleship New Jersey podcast. Be sure to subscribe, Share. Join us for the next episode as we continue to bring you great stories of leadership, of service and to the people who make history come alive. Thank you for joining us.
- [22:43]
A
Thank you.
- [22:43]
C
Marshall Operating Engineers are the men and women that move mountains. And the engineers Labor Employer Cooperative ELEC puts them to work. They create opportunities for the men, women and union signatory contractors of Local 825 repaving our roads, keeping our homes bright and warm, and even building our favorite team stadium. We understand infrastructure. That's why ELAC and Local 825 are ready to get to work.