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PAUL:
Sometimes, losing your tech job leads you straight to your calling. Just ask the man who turned his weekend hobby into Jackson's hottest food truck. Hey, it's Paul Wolf with a front-row seat to conversations on culture from Jackson, Mississippi. We call our podcast Soul Sessions. It's the people, places and events that make the City With Soul shine. On today's show, my colleague Yolanda Clay-Moore visits with Eddie Wright of Eddie Wright BBQ. Eddie shares how his weekend coping mechanism turned into one of Jackson's premier food trucks, and why he's betting big on West Jackson with his innovative outdoor dining concept.

YOLANDA:
For those listeners who may not be familiar with you, tell us who Eddie Wright is and how Eddie Wright got into Eddie Wright's BBQ.

EDDIE:
Eddie Wright is a small veteran-owned and operated food truck here in Jackson, Mississippi. We got our start during the pandemic what started off as a weekend job to kind of help us cope with, uh, PTSD and getting in the kitchen and just kind of relieving some of life's stresses, turned into a full-on cooking extravaganza once the pandemic hit and we lost our job in technology over that first portion of the pandemic and in June of this year makes five years strong of running one of Jackson's premier food trucks, we've been recognized nationally two times in five years with grants and recognition for what we do with barbecue, and it's been an exciting and fulfilling experience the entire time.

YOLANDA:
I mean, that's quite a pivot from the world of tech into barbecue. Did you have to learn new skills, or was this something that you already kind of had under your belt?

EDDIE:
Well, the need for learning new processes was definitely a large need. A friend of mine who owns Off Beat, DJ Young Venom, told me, when I got into this process, prep is going to be the most important part. And as I went and gained the experience, he was extremely honest about that. That was the most important part. Prep is king, and it is one of the most important things in the process of doing slow-smoke barbecue. If you can prep properly and prep efficiently, it makes everything else easy on dealing with weather patterns and, you know, just the usual stuff of being a food truck and knowing the marketing cues, dudes and don'ts.

YOLANDA:
Was there anything that surprised you as far as the operations of a food truck?

EDDIE:
It was very eye opening, not realizing how far people will travel for a great food experience, and specifically good barbecue. And it was told to me again when we first got started with this, if your food is good and consistent, people will find you. And unlike hamburgers and certain things like that, there's just not one on every corner that you can go to.

YOLANDA:
That's funny, but that is so true. I mean, we will travel for a good, good meal. What is EDDIE: Wright's signature dish.

EDDIE:
One of our most unique dishes is our smoked rotel. It's one of our most popular dishes. And people would generally say, oh, what's the big deal? It's just a rotel dip. Well, we took that same principle and introduced a different type of meat, which we use smoked ground turkey into the process, which is a leaner meat, which doesn't sit on you real heavy and everything's better over a pit, especially when you slow smoke it so being able to take a light protein, smoke it over, use a traditional format and recipe and still Make it your own and create something outstanding and amazing. That's been the beauty of what we've done with smoked rotel. We usually sell at least a pan, a half a pan a day. It's extremely popular on DoorDash. We literally have created secondary items that have that attached to it. It just does what it's supposed to do. It's just one of those things that people enjoy. And when people ask me, Hey, what's one of the things you can never get tired of on the truck is that I could eat it every day. And I know people, literally, who come by it every day.

YOLANDA:
I mean, that sounds delicious. I mean, today is a great day for DoorDash. So I'm thinking that that might be my lunch. That is awesome. Glad to hear that. You know, you talked about preparation a little bit, but, I mean, tell me, what does a typical day look like? For EDDIE: Wright, how early do you have to get up?

EDDIE:
A typical day starts at 6am we light up all of our cookers, and we begin the process of just seasoning the meat and letting it rest. We like to do, not necessarily a dry brine, but we let things just kind of take naturally, let the meat sweat, to bring the flavor in from the rubs, and we start the cooking process. We usually pick our flavor of wood the day before or the week before. That way we can know that it's dry enough and the moisture level is where we need it to be to ensure it's going to get a good smoke and out a bitter smoke on the on the food that we're cooking for the day. And from there, it's just a matter of rock and roll. And ribs go in first. Then we start our world-famous smoke rotel, which we sell every day, and usually sells out every day. And then wings go on last. And usually by 11:30, we're ready to rock a little on location.

YOLANDA:
You have a space called the slab. Yes, tell us a little bit about the slab.

EDDIE:
The slab is the most unique eating experience in West Jackson. We are the first open-air patio space in West Jackson that specializes in barbecue. Two years ago, we bought a piece of property that was burned down and dilapidated, and we chose that space to select. We chose that space to pretty much start phase two of what we've created over the past four and a half years. So we took that property, we cleaned it up over the past year and a half. We're retrofitting shipping containers to create storage, and again, a unique covered outdoor patio style situation unlike any other in West Jackson, right there in the beautiful corridor of historic Highway 80, where you can come have a seat, enjoy a great meal, watch a movie, have a beer, listen to some great tunes, all right here, and it's just it's been one of our favorite things to create. It's been a little stressful, but it's part of business. It's kept us busy. It's shined a light on a lot of things that we're doing, and show people that you can build in Jackson and be successful.

YOLANDA:
Any future plans of that space maybe becoming a brick and mortar?

EDDIE:
Actually, yes, we consider it already brick and mortar. But currently, the plan is, yes, currently it is in phase one of three of being ready to go. So phase one, again, as we said, is the outdoor experience. Phase two, we're putting a 40 by 40 building on the front half of the concrete slab that is there. And phase three will essentially just be buying the property next door and just extending what we have already. So we have some very ambitious plans for what we want to do within that area. We are vested in Jackson. We're invested in our business more than anything, and we can't wait to show the world that, as you support great business, great business will return that support by thriving and showing up and continuing to build.

YOLANDA:
You do have your own spice, correct?

EDDIE:
Yes, we do.

YOLANDA:
Okay. Now, how did that come to fruition?

EDDIE:
We were very ambitious. Within the first few years of doing this, we had big dreams of willing to be who we wanted to be, and wanted to just have a product that was genuine to what we do. So we created Sweet Charlene as a way of primary celebrating legacy. First and foremost, it's named after my mom, who's now a 14-year brain aneurysm survivor and a three-year stage three cancer survivor, and she's the best cook I know. So we took her love for cooking, put it in a bottle, lower the sodium, doubled the flavor, and we created sweet Charlene. And we used it on everything that we do, on the trailer, on our food truck, so it gives a unique flavor to everything that we do, and we can dial it up or down, given what we're using it all. And that's the beauty behind it. We're probably one of the only creators of barbecue that's using a low-sodium seasoning as a base. Some people like it. Some people don't, but the beauty behind that is you could never take away too much seasoning, but you can always add to it. And that's one of the beautiful things about what Sweet Charlene is. It's complimentary to everything you put it on, and if you even want to add a little bit more after it's cooked, it's never going to over-salt your food or hurt it. It's just going to increase the flavor.

YOLANDA:
Oh, how inspiring to hear your mother's story and that you've bottled this for the world to experience. You're a part of a unique community, the barbecue community. Have you experienced a lot of camaraderie in the barbecue community? Considering, you know, the some of the staples that we have, like an E&L, The Pig & Pint, how do you all jail?

EDDIE:
It's a very unique brotherhood. I'll say it that way. No one hates each other. Everyone knows that the art of what we do is simply that the art is the art, and at the end of the day, it's about servicing the art and making the customer happy. And because we're all in different areas, on different sides of town, and even for some that are in close to where I am, every everyone has their customer base, so we don't have to necessarily worry about crossing lines or doing anything like that. And in some cases, I even tell guys when they have any issues at their spot, hey, my home is your home if you need to not have a zero day on your day. Hey, let's figure something out. My place is always open. As long as the sun is shining, we're ready to cook and serve you over at the slab. It's gonna be barbecue 365 it's been barbecue 365 days going on five years. So it's nothing new to us. But more than anything, for me, personally, being what I still consider to be a newbie in this area. It's nothing like opening that door to someone who may be experiencing a hardship, saying, Hey, man, if you need something, I'm here, come on over. Let's partner up. Let's make a great day an even better day, and show people that, hey, man, this is not something that you think it's, it is. It's a brotherhood. It's a great brotherhood. And everybody just truly wants to see each other succeed, because we understand how hard this is.

YOLANDA:
I think that really captures the spirit of our city, our culture. And you know why we call ourselves the City With Soul. People wonder why the City With Soul, but that, what you just explained, really speaks to that. It's just heartwarming to hear. You know, this is the second year for the JXN Food and Wine Festival, and your second year participating. Tell the people what they can expect from EDDIE: Wright's BBQ this year, and if they never attended, why should they come?

EDDIE:
Well, JXN Food & Wine is a fabulous experience, so you can pretty much expect the same as last year, a very wide array of food, people, sounds and sights and just a catalog of amazing food from amazing chefs and creators from across the nation that will be coming to what I like to call the center of the world, Jackson, Mississippi. So keep an empty belly all week. Prepare to come on the weekend and enjoy as much as you can, as fast as you can, because some of us will run out. So when you see us, get in line, get your sample and keep the party going.

YOLANDA:
Now, what was your dish last year?

EDDIE:
We did a taco bar, essentially. So we had an option of beef or pork. We did brisket tacos and we did pulled pork tacos with our custom house slaw, and it was literally the line that never ended, from start to finish of the festival.

PAUL:
Eddie Wright's story reminds us that sometimes the best plans come from following your passion, even when it leads you down an unexpected path, from weekend hobby to a nationally recognized barbecue destination, stories like these that make Jackson the City With Soul. My thanks to my colleague Yolanda Clay-Moore for that interview. You can head to our show notes to learn more about his hours and offerings and to get your Jackson food and wine tickets there at visitjackson.com/soulsessions. The podcast is produced by Visit Jackson, the destination organization for Mississippi's capital city. Our executive producers are Jonathan Pettus and Dr. Rickey Thigpen, and I'm our Managing Editor. You want to know more about the great things going on in Jackson, Mississippi, you can find those at visitjackson.com.

I'm Paul Wolf and you've been listening to Soul Sessions.

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