In this episode, Carl sits down with Stan Hays, co founder and CEO of Operation BBQ Relief, to talk about what it really looks like to feed people on the worst day of their lives. From the recent deployment to Jamaica after a massive hurricane to the emotional weight of serving their thirteen millionth meal, Stan shares the stories behind the numbers, including the moment a simple pulled pork sandwich became a symbol of love, humanity and hope.

Joining the conversation in studio is champion pitmaster Tillman Lee Nelson III of Tillmans BBQ. Tillman rolls in with award winning brisket, his Perfect 200 rub and honest talk about the grind of the competition circuit, marriage on the road, barbecue family and why he still watches every face in the room when people take that first bite. Together, Stan and Tillman dig into why barbecue has such a deep emotional pull, how the barbecue community shows up for each other, and what it means to use food as a vehicle for comfort, connection and service.

Key takeaways:

• What it takes for Operation BBQ Relief to activate in places like Jamaica and why safety, dignity and cultural respect matter as much as the food.

• How a pulled pork sandwich, a parking lot and one stranger’s gratitude helped Stan find his “why” and changed how he sees the work forever.

• Why competitive barbecue is a family sport for Tillman, how his wife Amy became the real secret weapon, and why the barbecue community feels like a second family.

• Simple ways listeners can get involved, from volunteering with OBR at OBR.org to supporting the people doing the cooking in their own communities.

About Walk-In Talk Podcast and Walk In Talk Media:

• Walk-In Talk Podcast is hosted by food industry veteran and storyteller Carl Fiadini, shining a light on the flavor, the hustle and the heart of the industry. Walk-In Talk is the official podcast for the New York, California and Florida Restaurant Shows and the Pizza Tomorrow Summit, and the on-site media partner for the US Culinary Open at the NAFEM Show. Walk In Talk Media is also the North American media platform for The Burnt Chef Project and regularly supports cause driven partners like Operation BBQ Relief and Hogs for the Cause. Recorded at Ibis Images Studios, where food photography comes alive and Carl gets the first bite. Learn more at thewalkintalk.com.

Mentioned in this episode:

Aussie Select - Fully cooked, premium Australian lamb

Fully cooked, premium Australian lamb—ready to serve and packed with clean flavor.

RAK Porcelain USA -Tableware

We use RAK for all in-studio tableware—clean, durable, and designed for chefs.

You've just stepped inside the Walk and.

Talk podcast, number one in the nation.

For food lovers, chefs and storytellers.

I'm Carl Fiadini, your host, shining a light on the flavor, the hustle and.

The heart of the industry.

We're the official podcast for the New York, California and Florida restaurant shows, the Pizza Tomorrow Summit, the US Culinary Open at nafm, and the North American media platform for the Burnt Chef project, recorded.

At Ibis Images Studios where food photography.

Comes alive and I get the first bite.

Find out more info@thewalkandtalk.com today on the walk and Talk podcast, we are honored.

To welcome a man whose work has changed lives across the country.

Our featured guest is Stan Hayes, co founder and CEO of Operation Barbecue Relief, an organization that feeds communities and first responders when disaster hits and hope is running low.

Joining us in the studio is our friend and champion, pitmaster Tilman Lee, who came loaded with some serious bar barbecue for us to film and taste.

This is an important moment for American culinary excellence and every fundraising effort helps fuel their journey to support the team.

Reach out@acfchefs.org this episode is about service, heart, and the power of food to lift people up when they need it most.

Gentlemen, welcome.

Thanks for having me.

Appreciate it.

First things first, before we, before we bring Stan on, let's talk about the delicious proteins we had in house today.

What did you bring?

I had to bring that award winning brisket.

I'm trying to remember what place that got us last week if it wasn't.

First, you know, we don't want to hear about it.

No, I'm kidding.

It was really, really fabulous, man.

I mean, I'm looking around the table here, everybody's shaking their heads, their smiles.

We're all ready to go to sleep right now.

It's kind of like that meat coma.

It's definitely that.

Yeah.

So I went on the way here today, I stopped over at Rick's Meats in, in Lithia and I said to the, to the gentleman, Rick said, listen, we're filming today.

I need a fat ribeye.

We have any.

He goes, yeah, I'm going to go cut you.

I'm going to go cut them up right now.

He brought me six pieces.

They're all like an inch and a half, two inch thick bone in, gorgeous upper ribeye.

And I got to choose, I got to like, pick as a litter.

What?

How was that steak?

I was just going to say that thing was incredible.

Wow.

I mean, you got.

I mean, listen, there was a group effort on this thing, and it came out spectacular.

Yeah.

You know what makes it really great?

What do we dust it with?

Toman's perfect 200.

Okay, man.

I'm just saying.

I'm just saying, you know, what do we call it?

A shameless plug?

That's okay.

All right.

How do you become a championship pitmaster?

You cannot give up.

No matter how hard it is, no matter how many times you lose, you cannot give up your competition.

You gotta practice, practice, practice it.

Show up week in, week out, and just keep trying.

Can you make anything else?

I tell you, like I was telling you guys in the kitchen, I don't know if I can cook anything else these days.

It's pretty sad.

Stan the Stan Hayes, welcome to the program.

Hey, man.

Thank you.

Are you enjoying this today or what?

Oh, it's been amazing.

You know, getting to hang out and, I mean, this is a lot about what barbecue is about, you know, good food, good times and good people.

All we were missing is the bourbon.

True.

Good point.

Yeah.

Everybody's shaking their ass.

I thought it was a great idea today to stack the day with just icons in the barbecue world.

Right.

Because we've got, you know, Stan, what you're doing with Operation, you know, Barbecue Relief is.

And congratulations, by the way, on your 13 millionth meal served for disasters.

I mean, not well, I mean, so it stinks that you have to do that.

It does, but it's a hell of a milestone.

Yeah.

You want to celebrate it, but at the same time, you realize the loss that comes with it.

Right.

What people have to go through to be able to get to those numbers.

All horrible.

What you're doing, though, not horrible.

And it's commendable.

And you're doing God's work as far as we see it.

No, thank you.

You, Tillman, I mean, what you're doing on the competition trail is ridiculous.

How many times you won already?

Well, we had a good run beginning of this year, end of last year, and it was seven in a row that we were winning.

So it started to get to the point where people were showing up to sabotage me if they could and throw me off my game.

They finally did get me at one of the contests, and it was just.

We turned in really good food.

It just didn't work out.

They got you liquored up, right?

Well, they were trying to do that.

My wife, luckily, my wife Amy was not having it.

She's like my watchdog, you know, the way I tell a lot of people is we've been working so hard for so long, it's finally coming out and paying off.

And that's what today's about.

It's about perseverance.

And that's the beauty of how this was layered.

Right?

You got Stan here, you got Tillman.

I don't know, for me, normally there's an actual executive chef.

There's somebody here who.

Who commands the kitchen.

And I get to just do, like, video camera work and John just gets to shoot pictures.

Right.

But not today.

That was not the situation today.

But I feel like this is going to be one for the barbecue books.

As we know, last month Jamaica had a massive hurricane obr.

Operation Barbecue Relief.

You were there.

You're still helping.

What's the story on the ground?

So when you look at what people are going through, there isn't the infrastructure in the country to just go down to the Home Depot and start to rebuild.

And it is going to be years.

I mean, when the biggest resorts in the.

In the country are sitting there talking about some of their resorts aren't going to be open till May of next year, that is.

And they've got.

They print money almost, you know, so it.

It shows you what people are going to be going through.

But the one thing about it is, is the resiliency.

The people on that island that live there, that make that their home, they know what they're in for.

And so even though they may not have been prepared with the food and the necessities at the time that it happened, they know how to recover much faster than any of us would, you know, so that for us, it's.

How do we help bridge the gap for them?

I mean, listen, I'm a Floridian.

John, you know, well, he's almost a Floridian.

You're from New Mexico.

Come on.

We've been through our share of storms, and as a Floridian, you know, I don't want to say we're the Florida Met.

We're not.

But, you know, you see the videos.

Every.

Every hurricane, people outside, they're surfing, they're outside, like under trees or whatever.

Okay, fine.

I saw a video of what was going on in Jamaica.

Like, they were like, there was some serious partying going on.

I was, as a Florida person, I was impressed with that.

I was like, wow, look at this.

So what goes into activating a response?

How do you know when to pull the trigger?

How do you know when to get going.

So, you know, we started the week before it hit, just preparing.

And we do this all the time.

I mean, earlier this year when Aaron was, you know, coming towards the, the east coast, we were like, we've got to be prepared for this.

We can't just wait and see if it goes out to sea.

And.

But it's also good exercises for us to be prepared and make sure that we have it.

So if it turned into nothing, it was still good preparation for us.

But the way it was looking, that wasn't going to be the case.

We, you know, it looked like Jamaica was going to take, you know, a direct hit.

Luckily, you know, for the entire country, the, the biggest portion of the population, you know, down in the Kingston area was really, you know, saved compared to what they saw on the western side.

Yeah, Montego Bay is, is just trashed.

I mean, they, they took so much in that whole area.

But for us, it was like, all right, how do we do things in another country like this?

You know, we've only done before this one other international deployment.

And so we started talking with, you know, the resources and the government here, which then led us to the ground.

I mean, after this happened, we were on calls with Minister of Health, the, you know, the Prime Minister's office and such, and they were the ones saying, hey, don't bring hot food.

You know, and for us, we're like, whoa, what are we going to do?

Like, we need shelf stable things that can move around the island and not get people sick.

And so we came up with the idea of let's, let's put days worth of food together in a box.

You can hand an average family of four three days worth of meals so they don't have to go looking for food every day or twice a day.

What's in a box?

You know, again, it's all shelf stable.

You know, you say you're talking about things like chicken, tuna, sardines.

We, we also asked them to, to make sure we were being culturally appropriate for food down there.

And we found that, you know, things like canned salmon, mackerel, sardines were a big part of their diet.

So, you know, then we add in vegetables, a lot of peanut butter and other kinds of things so you have some additional protein, but, you know, things that kids are going to want, too.

So a lot.

And then a lot of granola bars and snack type things.

Are there disasters where you have to turn your back and you can't go?

There has been, you know, unfortunately there has been and mostly it's because of safety, because our volunteers and my team, the first priority is safety, you know, and there have been places that are not safe, and there's not the environment of safety for them.

And so then we.

We really have to make that decision on is it the right thing to do.

Now that has only occurred outside of, you know, the United States.

We have not had a decision to where we don't go in the United States.

We may be delayed getting there because we want to make sure it's safe for people to get there.

But it's only been outside of the United States that we just find that safety and has to be number one.

Fifteen years doing this, 13 million meals, that is a hell of a milestone.

How does that make you feel when you start.

When you start digging into it?

At first you're extremely proud.

You're extremely humbled to hear the numbers and talk about it.

But then you have to think about the devastation and the fact that somebody had the worst day of their life or a lot of somebodies had the worst day of their life to be able to serve those meals.

It's less about glorifying the.

The amount.

The question is more self reflection.

Yeah.

On.

As a human being doing this sort of God's work, if you will.

You have to really, like, in your quiet time when you're by yourself, you really have to be thinking some.

Some really interesting things.

You know, that's when, you know, generally I have the time to decompress.

Right.

I will tell you that when you're out in a disaster, you compartmentalize a lot.

You know, some of that devastation, some of that emotion that.

That comes in because of seeing those people in their worst times, even when they're thanking you on that day that they're getting that meal, when, you know, they had to go through something so bad to get in the food line, you.

You still.

You look at that and you're proud of it, but at the same time, you reel a little bit.

So for me, once I walk away from that, if I go home, relax, whatever it is, and when I've got that quiet time, it's my time to decompress and figure out, okay, how do you let that go a little bit knowing that you're doing amazing things, but people had to hurt for it.

Do you carry guilt?

Do you have a survivor?

What do they call that?

Survivors?

Yeah, it's survivor's guilt.

Or, you know, I mean, there's many different things.

I mean, you know, there's.

There's times that I think that even as volunteers out there, you can get Stockholm syndrome, where you start, you know, feeling that compassion and, and, and, you know, of, of people that are in that.

And, and it's like, not the true Stockholm syndrome where you're like, hey, these are my captors.

It's the, the I am right next to these people.

And now I, I feel what they're feeling, and it is tough.

I mean, look, you know, I, I, I tell people that so often when somebody's thanking you for something as simple as a pulled pork sandwich on their worst time of their, their life, it is extremely humbling how, you know, to sit there and accept a, a, a thank you like that, because you're not going through what they're going through.

You're just doing what you know to do best.

And, and you're using barbecue as that vehicle because it's comfort food, and, and that's where you came from.

And so for me, it's taken a long time to realize that it really had nothing to do with the barbecue.

Eggs and ketchup.

And I lived like, I can throw a rock and hit the Hard Rock Hotel over there in Hollywood.

And we didn't have power for three and a half weeks, but three days in, you know, we weren't prepared.

We didn't have any food or anything, which is unlike me.

I'm incredibly prepared for stuff like this.

We got caught pants down, and we were hungry.

Man, the Hard Rock was the first place to get power.

And, you know, the word went out that they were doing breakfast.

We walked over and we got our first hot meal after three days.

Eggs, ketchup.

That's what it was.

And it was amazing.

Pulled pork sandwich is like next level elevated cuisine right there.

You're doing good work.

This is such a necessary thing in the world.

I'm so happy that you came to the studio today.

I want to tell this story because I think it'll sort of emphasize what you're talking about and, and, and really what has, you know, and I'll explain it afterwards.

But when you, when you're sitting there and, you know, I was in Joplin, Missouri, about the third day after that tornado hit.

I watched this old Cutlass pull into the parking lot, and this thing was beat.

I mean, when I say beat it, it, it just looked like it had been ran through the ringer.

But what I really noticed was I couldn't see who was driving There was so much stuff piled into this car.

And then this little old lady popped out of the car, and she was sitting in the parking lot, and I was like, oh, my.

You know, and.

And she looked lost.

So I went over and I asked her if I could help her.

And she was like, I. I heard I could get a meal here.

And so I walked her over to the food line, right?

I said, here, ma'.

Am.

Here you go.

And I walked away.

And a few minutes later, I turn around and she's standing in the same place with her little to go container.

And now she's crying.

And I'm like, oh, my God, what do we do?

So I go over there and I'm like, can I help you?

What's wrong?

And she looked at me and she goes, I need to know who to thank.

I said, excuse me?

She goes, I need to know who to thank.

And I said, ma', am, it's just a pulled pork sandwich and some sides.

She goes, no, no, son, it's not.

She goes, it's not about the food.

It's about the fact that you showed up, that you're showing this community love, that you're showing them that they're not forgotten.

She goes, to me, it's showing me that they're still good in humanity.

And it hit me like a freight train that it had nothing to do.

Yeah, barbecues come food.

But it was more about showing up.

It was more about being there and.

And giving a hug to somebody when they needed it than it was to hand them a pulled pork sandw.

And today, when we have people tell those stories, we tell them, you just found your why.

That's why you go out and you do what you do.

You take time away from your family, your job, whatever it is, to go volunteer it is because you found why it is important.

And so if I ever think, man, are we doing the right thing?

I think that little lady in that parking lot, what she said, stan, you.

Work with pitmasters and cooks from all over the country.

What qualities show up in the people who bring that skill?

The calm, the heart, to work with everything around them.

You know, that is this chaotic business, Henry.

Well, you know, I mean, you said it.

All of it is the chaos piece, you know, but it's the heart.

I mean, like, I've had some.

I've had world champions come in and never touch a piece of meat because they jumped in where it was needed most at the time, and they're over there stirring green beans in a tilt skillet or something like that, you know, so it's also about no ego.

You know, again, it.

It is like jumping in where it's needed.

And.

And that's what I think the amazing thing is, is, you know, they didn't come because it was, hey, look, I'm going to be, you know, I'm.

I'm.

I'm this world champion or I'm this.

No, I'm here to help people.

And whatever you need me to do, if.

If that.

If that's stirring green beans in a.

In a tilt skillet, that's what I'm gonna do.

I wish egos didn't exist.

Simple.

Till, I mean, you heard Stan's answer.

What part of the barbecue craft resonates most deeply with you and why?

Well, it's definitely the people, family.

You know, we always talk about the barbecue family or our barbecue family, something about that meat or, you know, barbecue.

That food is assimilated with gathering groups of people together, you know, and like Stan said, feeding people in need.

I mean, barbecue is absolutely the best choice for something like that.

And it goes a long way, too.

You really can make that go far, especially if you got, like, one of these smokers that hold 20 or, you know, 30.

30 bucks or whatever.

Like, you can.

You can really feed some people.

But you built your reputation through competition barbecue.

What first pulled you into the craft and pushed you to pursue it at such a high level?

Well, honestly, it was, you know, growing up around barbecue with my dad and grandfather, and then my grandmother always made the sauce.

So, you know, being a part of that week in, you know, weekend, week out, we were constantly cooking, coming together for Sunday dinner.

It was a lot of times barbecue.

And as that.

As I grew up, I just.

I. I started to try and, you know, do more of that cooking on my own.

And, you know, then it turned into competition.

For some reason, it always brings barbecue.

For whatever reason brings out the competition side.

I don't know what it is about it.

So that's kind of where it started for us, and you just kept going with it.

In a world where our attention span is 7 seconds or less, and when you look at barbecue, it requires instinct, patience, almost a relationship with the fire.

When you're in the middle of a long cook, what keeps you focused?

Well, most of the time, it's winning because we're doing a contest.

I'm focused on making sure every aspect of the cook.

Nobody wants to be a loser.

Nobody does.

My wife is the most competitive person I know.

So if I lose or we.

Or we lose together, It's a problem.

And anybody that knows us right now listening is going to be laughing because they know how she is at awards.

Stan, you're no slouch in this Pitmaster world.

What say you?

Well, you know, I mean, to me, competition barbecue has always been who's going to offend the least number of judges at the table.

At the end of the day, it's about being as consistent as you can across all the meats that you're cooking that day.

And that's where I always would strive to be, is be consistent with everything being good.

So I know that if you do that, you're going to, you know, you're going to be there.

So it's just one of those things that it's repetition.

It's a lot of that.

But my.

My wife's also Amy, by the way, and so I have an Amy as well.

She doesn't like to lose either.

But I would say that that's why we got into it as a family was it was a way to do things together.

It wasn't about the competition, but, man, you know, it took that place of.

Of, you know, whether it was golf, football, tennis, basketball.

For people, you know, that rush, that first time you heard your name called, it was like, all right, now I'm done.

I tell the joke all the time.

I.

We got our name called first contest, and now I own an rv, a trailer, and a sauce company.

And it's like.

I don't know what I was thinking.

Yeah, for sure.

On the note of the wife, I was going to mention we.

You know, one of these things that I joke with my wife about is how great barbecue is for marriage.

And she laughs at me, but she knows I'm right.

It keeps us together.

We work together, we spend time together.

You know, even though sometimes we don't want to have to pack up and, you know, spend a week getting ready to travel, however far, ultimately, it still brings us together as a family.

Yeah, you've been in enough competitions and community events.

What's the moment when you watched your barbecue change the energy of a room?

That's a hard one.

I mean, you know, you bring out the food, people are waiting anxiously.

The pressure's on.

Everybody knows when they cater or when they're serving.

People are waiting and the, you know, I bring the food out, make an announcement, everything served, and kind of let them know what the buffet line includes and watching them make plates, sit down, and start eating.

You know, you're.

When you're the cook, you're.

You're watching, you're watching people's faces, reactions in the whole room and when you see the looks of, of, you know, enjoyment and so on, it's awesome.

Awesome feeling.

The other night, my son and I, my 7 year old, we came out while you were competing at the Big Belly barbecue bash and charity event over in Davenport and you were a man on a mission.

You had the thousand yard stare.

I'm talking to you and I know you were listening, but you were kind of like, get out of here, kid.

You know, but, but you were right in the thick of it.

I didn't take offense to that at all, by the way.

I appreciate it.

It's okay.

I mean, you, you gave me brisket and, and some pork.

I'm totally fine.

You feed me and I'm, I'm good.

Yeah, but I got to watch you in action and it was really cool.

And then I also got to see some of the antics, I guess, if you will, between the teams and people just coming up and knocking on your, on your door, coming in and, and, and all that stuff.

I thought it was very interesting because I had not partaken in such a thing before.

Most of my experiences come via kitchens in a hotel or a restaurant or something like that.

This was unique for me and I'm really glad I got to go out there.

And the reason was I wanted to capture you in action with some film.

Super cool.

But I saw you in that zone is my point.

You have to live like that because you're on the road constantly.

Like you're, you're living in the zone.

When do you rest?

That's a good question.

I mean, honestly, I try to, you know, like, like Stan mentioned decompressing.

I try to decompress and not worry about what I have to get prepared.

You know, let's say Monday through Wednesday and then Thursday or Wednesday evening, it's on and it's starting to, you know, get everything ready.

Not only do I have to worry about what meats and seasonings and all the other stuff, I have to worry about the, the bus, make sure that it's road worthy.

And then of course, we still have kids.

We have, thankfully they're a little older now.

They take care of themselves.

But you know, when you start adding all that in, there really isn't much decompression time.

And when this time of year when the contests are every weekend, it takes a toll.

And the wife, a few times she's, you know, second guessing our decision.

So when the night's over, competition is Done.

You're packing up the rig.

Everything's over.

Right?

And you get me.

I don't know, maybe it's you, Amy.

You're in the.

In the trailer there, and you got the food, and you're like, okay, do you just start picking on your own food?

Or did she just, like, do a run to McDonald's or something?

Like, what's this?

What's this?

That's a good question.

It's actually a couple of guys that listen to this will laugh.

I will eat competition barbecue all the time.

I don't care.

I'll eat it, reheat it.

Amy will basically shun me.

She is not eating barbecue anywhere, let alone my competition barbecue.

After a day of eating, especially yours, especially mine.

She's, you know, she's my.

I tell her all the time, you have to taste before we turn in.

You get a taste and tell me what to put in the box.

So by the time we're done turning in on Saturday, there's no more even thinking about eating barbecue.

Also.

Wait a minute, though.

Wait a minute.

I just had a revelation.

I get it.

You're cooking it, but she's the taster.

She's telling you what.

She's the champion.

It's exactly.

Amy.

Amy, you, in fact, are the.

Don't let.

Don't let them tell you any different.

It is, in fact, you are the champion.

We have a name for.

Her name is actually the Pork Queen.

Soon as she started helping.

She started helping me make pork turn in boxes, and we started winning.

And true story.

So hashtag Pork Queen.

You know, we don't want to eat them, but we do.

Don't tell her that.

I mean, I just told.

I don't know how many people.

I'll just put it out there.

I'll probably.

I'm gonna get email.

Stan, why barbecue?

Why does barbecue have an emotional connection to people?

Yeah, well, you know, I think one, you start at food.

First of all, food is the greatest unifier in the world.

But what food unifies more people than barbecue?

I mean, I don't know that there is one.

But more importantly, it is quintessential comfort food.

It isn't just, you know, I mean, it's what brings people around.

You know, you talk about your.

Your dad and your grandpa.

You know, I think about the family gatherings of people coming around for that.

For that barbecue, but it's really more than the barbecue at that point in time.

It's the camaraderie.

It's.

It's the family.

It's barbecue.

Family.

Is probably every bit.

Is, you know, part of the family, as many of your brothers or sisters might be.

In fact, I like some of my barbecue family better than some of my other real family sometimes.

Amen.

But I think that's the reason, is that I don't think there's a more celebrated food in the world than barbecue.

I mean, you celebrate life, you celebrate birthdays, you celebrate weddings, you celebrate bar mitzvahs, you celebrate death.

It spans the spectrum from, you know, of life.

And so I think that that's why it's the perfect food.

I've been in the food industry for 35 years in different areas and categories and whatever.

And what I've learned is that barbecue people have a bond and they stick together in ways.

I'm talking competitors stick together in ways that I don't see in other sectors.

I just don't.

I don't see it.

You will literally share your method and your recipe with someone that you're in competition with.

That's unheard of, but I think it's the coolest thing ever.

It's such a nuance.

I talk about it.

Look, I always tell people, you still have to replicate it, even if you know what it is.

My smoker is different than his smoker.

It cooks different.

It has different hot spots.

I put the same meat in the same area of the smoker every time.

I'm gonna guess you do the same thing.

Your brisket goes out the same spot on that smoker every time.

And it's because you know what it's going to.

The product it's going to put out.

So I can give you what I do for that, you know, that recipe, but you still have to then execute.

Exactly to 100% agree.

I mean, it's.

I have guys in the trailer, and they're watching me, and.

And I'm.

I'm like, I'm never in your trailer right now.

Why are you in my trailer joking around with them?

But ultimately, they don't even cook on the same cookers.

They're.

You know, the type of meat they're picking out is different than mine.

So it's almost as if you want them to take what you are doing on your unit, your machine, and take it to theirs, because it's actually throwing them off the trail.

So, in fact, it's not a brotherhood.

It's the opposite of that.

It's just chicanery and underhandedness at that point.

The hour before turn in, roughly.

And about 30 minutes after the last turn in, they're Mortal enemies.

That is very true.

And then after that, we'll go drink and laugh and have fun and really give each other a hard time.

Right.

Because at the end of the day when people are talking about turn ins, I mean, I can't remember the first time I won the contest.

I was like, man, that was probably like the worst chicken I just turned in.

And I just got.

And the day I did that, I got a perfect scoring chicken.

And I was like, all right, something.

Now there's something I missed when I was turning this in because I didn't think it was good.

It's still people judging.

Yeah.

With different, you know, appreciations and taste buds and dislikes and flavor, you know, like all that.

All that stuff.

You never know who you're gonna get.

Well, we call that sandbagging.

So we talk.

Stan goes, oh, you know, my chicken wasn't good.

And we're all at awards, and then chicken.

He gets a 180 perfect score.

Chicken.

And then we call him Stan the Sandbagger.

You know, whatever super nice it is.

We have a team in the FBA that just had that happen.

And they were so shocked that they got a first place perfect score.

Pork.

They literally didn't even get out of their chairs.

They sat there for a solid, probably felt like five minutes.

And then I call them Keeping It Sandbagging.

The name of their team is Keeping It Smoking.

And now I call them Keeping It Sandbagging.

Gentlemen, for the people who are listening and for these folks who feel inspired by the mission or the craft, right, we've got Operation Barbecue Relief.

You know, Tillman, you're out there, you know, competing week in, week out.

What's a meaningful way that someone can support their community or get involved with something bigger than themselves?

Something like Operation Barbecue Relief or through Tillman's, like, what?

What do we do?

You follow your passion.

And if that's to help us or help people, you know, register as a volunteer.

It's, you know, it's easy.

Go to OBR.org, click that volunteer button and learn how to do it.

So, yeah, absolutely.

Finally got a chance to meet Stan in person.

So it's great because we're going to exchange information and I want to get involved.

I've been wanting to get involved and I didn't really know what the next step was.

So this is working out great to meet him today.

A hundred percent.

And, you know, so everybody knows who you are.

I found out Stan, you know, I talked to people.

I'm like, yeah, you know, this Operation Barbecue is, you know, whatever.

And they're like, Stan, with Stan.

Like, yeah, it was Stan.

You're kind of like a cult classic hero, something like that.

I don't know if I'd call it a hero or a classic, but I think, you know, I think the work speaks for itself and that, you know, whether it's good or bad.

I became the face of the organization early on.

But more than anything, it's about helping people.

And that's why we, you know, that's why we've grown so much even outside of the barbecue community today is, you know, people that just have big hearts that want to help.

I mean, we have tens of thousands of volunteers across the United States and they can't always come out right.

But I mean, you know, last year after Milton, we flew in volunteers from like 29 different states to Florida just to help because they said they would give us the time to do so.

And so we made that investment in them.

But that's, that's the kind of thing that we need more of.

And we need, you know, yeah, we need pitmasters and we need people that know what they're doing in the kitchen, but we need people also that have no clue, that just want, that want to go out there and literally put their arm around somebody that's going through the worst time of their life as they're handing them a pulled pork sandwich because that's what they do well too.

Look, if it were up to John and I and even Pooch, all we would do is cause work.

But we're stuck having to put on this entertainment program and do photography and film work and all this, all this stuff.

Right?

With that said, the off air discussion is that Tillman is going to be a culinary contributor to Walk and Talk and that means he's going to go out and interview if he's not winning.

He's going to interview the champions, the winners at these competitions and we're going to plug into the barbecue circuit.

I am so stoked about that because I love it.

And then additionally, Stan is, you're going to have a reoccurring spot on the show.

We have to figure out some details whether it's monthly, bi, monthly, quarter, silly, whatever, but just to give the updates, you know, John and I, Pooch, we've talked about this extensively.

We want to be part of some amplification or solution.

We just want to put the word out like we want to do the right thing.

You know, we do a lot, obviously we're doing a lot with you.

The Burnt Chef project.

We're friends with a bunch of people, a bunch of teams on Hogs for the cause out there.

Yeah.

So you know, we're just trying to, trying to make some cool stuff happen.

Yeah.

Well, again there's so much amazing things going on in barbecue.

Like you mentioned Hogs.

Hogs does amazing work.

So I mean, the more we can do together, I mean, you know, I think you hear it sometimes but you know, we can do so much more together than we can divided.

Why aren't we doing and working together?

I know there's ways to stack this and layer this with restaurant events with the New York, California, Florida restaurant shows and whatnot and really get the name out there.

Boots on the ground, face to face, like in a big beautiful way.

And I'm here for it and I know you guys are too.

And John shaking his head.

He doesn't talk.

Right?

You don't talk.

Someday man, you're going to say something sometime.

I'm looking at big things, Tillman.

I see really, really big things happening.

Yeah.

I can't wait to get a hold of Stan and try to get more involved with Operation Barbecue Relief.

We're really looking forward to it, you.

Know, and I can't wait for that to happen obviously.

But again, as we bring in and grow the barbecue family and really grow that impact, you know, it's just going to continue to get bigger.

I am so happy that you gentlemen came to this studio today.

Sincerely appreciate it.

Like it was a big banger of a barbecue day.

Tillman, how do we find you?

So all social media would be at Tillmans BBQ or of course my website.

Tillmans bvq.comstam so obr.org is the short handle for the website and all of our social media is at OP BBQ Relief.

People go check, check them out.

And by the way, Tillman, I mean you're selling these sauces.

You could, I mean you should have said, hey, buy my sauce or something like that.

Yeah, I'm not a good pusher.

I get yelled at all the time for that.

But you are a good pusher.

I, I could see you people knocking on your window at 3am to get that stuff.

I'm just saying.

All right, folks.

John, by the way, good photography.

You're dirty.

We are out.

It.