Terrell's Journey
Gina's Journey
(as written by Gina)
In 2014, Terrell and his buddy Mark, were engulfed in smoke from a smoker, BBQ competitions, and lots of talks of what makes a great brisket, and pork butt. They had conversations inside Mark’s trailer (during cooks, thru nights) of award winning rubs on the circuit, and what that might smell, taste, or look like in a Win.
Terrell started mixing…..our house was overthrown with big plastic buckets, huge bags of seasonings, and large, long handled spoons…..time and time again, samples were made, many went into the trash can, many were counted as close. We all tasted, Terrell, Mark, family and friends, if you walked into our house, you tasted. Finally, a great rub for brisket, and pork were born….It was a celebration, and those seasonings did produce many wins, and are still doing it! From Grand Champions, to many First-Place briskets, ribs, and chicken; with those wins, they got the opportunity to compete at the Jack Daniels World Invitational BBQ event in Lynchburg, TN.
I celebrate Terrell. I am so proud of him for his gifts of the love for good seasonings, his ability to start throwing spices in a bucket, stir them around, his creativity, his workmanship, for packing spice in a jar to get down the road once more… I am proud of the way he has stood before others, and believed in the products, before anyone else could believe in them. I’m thankful for his time with Mark on that circuit, and for his generosity in sharing great food with us after those cooks!
I’m proud of the courage Terrell has had to walk into stores, and ask if they want Big T Spice Co products on their shelves, because he knows they’re great, even if they don’t know it yet. I’m proud of every closed door he has walked away from, because every open door was better! Like a fine aged steak, Terrell is a better man with age…….A good man, living life the honest way, by hard work, and perseverance. An easy man to love.
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From Terrell: My Daddy always said “Son, if a job’s worth doin’, it’s worth doin’ right”. One taste and you’ll agree, our seasonings are done right. Just keep blending……..
(as written by Terrell)
Simply put, without my bride, there would absolutely, positively, be NO, Big T Spice Co. Gina had the vision from the beginning, and had to convince me. When we finally perfected our first seasoning blend, Gina said to me “Terrell, we have to put this on the table for others to try, this is fantastic”. I laughed and asked her if she really thought someone would buy the seasoning. We had to have labels for the bottles, we had to have names, Gina would pitch names; she would lay in bed at night thinking of seasoning names. She has always had and kept the vision. Gina worked tirelessly figuring out the business end, as well as researching, and coming up with ideas for new blends. She has been my partner in every way possible, traveling on the road sometimes 12 to 14 hours to the next show. She reminded me when things were tough, as well as easier, “we had to have our story” and do we ever have a story. She would joke, and compare us going from town to town, tradeshows to fairs, and other events to that of Loretta Lynn (without the singing voice – ha), and her husband, Mooney, driving all over the country. She has been my rock, reminding me that God has us, and our journey. There is no one I would rather be on this journey with than her…..I love you Babe.
Together – Because of the business, all our time went to selling at tradeshows, fairs, events etc…. We spent countless hours on every aspect of our company thinking up our old-world look logo, and labels. Gina always said, “you eat with your eyes first”. Now, we both are coming up with product ideas, blending and flavor concepts, and enjoy testing this every chance we get. We have hauled product, pulled trailers, been hit by a drunk driver, drug our bumper down the road without knowing it, ate peanut butter, ate more peanut butter, and when that was gone, we bought more peanut butter. We’ve had many a “truck picnic” on that road. We can now laugh about backing in trailers…..We didn’t see home much, and all that would come with “home”. Most importantly, we blended, our spirituality, our family life, our friends, people and strangers we met on the road, our cooking and food, everything was a blend to us, everything….We may not have done it perfectly, but we did the best we could, and that was what mattered, and we’re good with that.
