About Us
GG’s BBQ Beginning
GG’s BBQ actually was a dream to open a food establishment or catering business to sell some of our mastered backyard BBQ recipes. My wife, Rosalie, and I decided to purchase a smoker that was designed for efficiency and made for commercial use. After consulting with our son, Carl, and gaining all information that goes with opening a catering service, we decided to go with the idea and it was then that Carl decided to finish out his term as head chef at Lost Valley Guest Ranch and join us in our venture. We ordered a smoker to fit our needs and got things off the ground; so to speak. Now, we needed a name for business and we settled on Gus’s Gourmet BBQ and Catering. Since this name didn’t quite roll off the tongue real easy, we also registered DBA “GG’s BBQ & Catering”. Now, one might ask; who is Gus? Well, Gus is my dog; a Chesapeake Bay Retriever and a hero as far as dogs go for me. (Read more about Gus)
GG’s BBQ actually was a dream to open a food establishment or catering business to sell some of our mastered backyard BBQ recipes. My wife, Rosalie, and I decided to purchase a smoker that was designed for efficiency and made for commercial use. After consulting with our son, Carl, and gaining all information that goes with opening a catering service, we decided to go with the idea and it was then that Carl decided to finish out his term as head chef at Lost Valley Guest Ranch and join us in our venture. We ordered a smoker to fit our needs and got things off the ground; so to speak. Now, we needed a name for business and we settled on Gus’s Gourmet BBQ and Catering. Since this name didn’t quite roll off the tongue real easy, we also registered DBA “GG’s BBQ & Catering”. Now, one might ask; who is Gus? Well, Gus is my dog; a Chesapeake Bay Retriever and a hero as far as dogs go for me. (Read more about Gus)
Our First Humble Location
We had a name and a smoker but now we needed a spot to start building a business. One day, I stopped in to buy gas at DJ’s Country Store and visited with owner, Donna Hasenack. After sharing the details of our plan, she offered us a corner of her store on Highway 50 East to start selling BBQ. We opened our doors in the corner of her convenience store/gas station on December 14, 2007. Now we were off and running and the next task at hand was to convince people in Pueblo that there actually was some authentic Southern BBQ in town. Granted, it was only a six item menu in the beginning; beef brisket, pulled pork, baby back ribs all served with homemade sauces (Sweet and Spicy BBQ Sauce and Carolina Mustard), baked beans and coleslaw. We also had potato chips and soda pop in the can. As time went on, we got a little creative and introduced “Red Neck Nachos”, Jonna, and Jax; and the menu grew to around nine items. The humble start was not an easy task but anything worth having is not easy! After a couple of pretty hard months of patiently going to work everyday, people started to frequent our corner and seemed to enjoy the food which led to regular customers stopping by on a daily and weekly basis. Then a couple of good sized caterings came our way; no better way than that to get your food in front of a large group of people! There have been many hurdles in the process and probably a lot more in front of us but so far by perseverance and the grace of God we have managed to weather the storms. GG’s moved to our current location at 3606 Morris Ave, #C, Pueblo, Colorado on February 21, 2012, after closing the Highway 50 East business at the end of the business day Saturday February 18, 2012.
This was now the beginning of another venture as we now have a full service restaurant and a kitchen. The menu has expanded to offer more BBQ items and now other homemade sides like mac and cheese, Grandma Hazel’s potato salad, Carl’s famous coleslaw, french fries, sweet potato fries, fried okra, onion rings, jalapeno onion strips along with an assortment of homemade dessert items such as cookies, cobblers, pies and cakes. Other recent kitchen creations introduced to the menu since the move are the “Hillbilly Reuben, “Mississippi Prime Rib” which is smoked bologna, a southern favorite; the “RX” which is smoked turkey on open faced bun smothered with baked beans. During Lent, we offer a Friday special Poor Boy catfish/shrimp sandwich. Father’s Day weekend we kicked off an ongoing weekend special (Friday/Saturday night, only); our very popular smoked prime rib plate – 12 ounces prime rib served with garlic mashed potatoes, green beans, dinner role and a green salad; and a prime rib sandwich throughout the week while the prime rib supply lasts. We will be forever grateful to Donna Hasenack for her graciousness for allowing us to gain our humble start as GG’s BBQ! Hope to see you soon! Remember…where there’s smoke; there’s flavor!
We had a name and a smoker but now we needed a spot to start building a business. One day, I stopped in to buy gas at DJ’s Country Store and visited with owner, Donna Hasenack. After sharing the details of our plan, she offered us a corner of her store on Highway 50 East to start selling BBQ. We opened our doors in the corner of her convenience store/gas station on December 14, 2007. Now we were off and running and the next task at hand was to convince people in Pueblo that there actually was some authentic Southern BBQ in town. Granted, it was only a six item menu in the beginning; beef brisket, pulled pork, baby back ribs all served with homemade sauces (Sweet and Spicy BBQ Sauce and Carolina Mustard), baked beans and coleslaw. We also had potato chips and soda pop in the can. As time went on, we got a little creative and introduced “Red Neck Nachos”, Jonna, and Jax; and the menu grew to around nine items. The humble start was not an easy task but anything worth having is not easy! After a couple of pretty hard months of patiently going to work everyday, people started to frequent our corner and seemed to enjoy the food which led to regular customers stopping by on a daily and weekly basis. Then a couple of good sized caterings came our way; no better way than that to get your food in front of a large group of people! There have been many hurdles in the process and probably a lot more in front of us but so far by perseverance and the grace of God we have managed to weather the storms. GG’s moved to our current location at 3606 Morris Ave, #C, Pueblo, Colorado on February 21, 2012, after closing the Highway 50 East business at the end of the business day Saturday February 18, 2012.
This was now the beginning of another venture as we now have a full service restaurant and a kitchen. The menu has expanded to offer more BBQ items and now other homemade sides like mac and cheese, Grandma Hazel’s potato salad, Carl’s famous coleslaw, french fries, sweet potato fries, fried okra, onion rings, jalapeno onion strips along with an assortment of homemade dessert items such as cookies, cobblers, pies and cakes. Other recent kitchen creations introduced to the menu since the move are the “Hillbilly Reuben, “Mississippi Prime Rib” which is smoked bologna, a southern favorite; the “RX” which is smoked turkey on open faced bun smothered with baked beans. During Lent, we offer a Friday special Poor Boy catfish/shrimp sandwich. Father’s Day weekend we kicked off an ongoing weekend special (Friday/Saturday night, only); our very popular smoked prime rib plate – 12 ounces prime rib served with garlic mashed potatoes, green beans, dinner role and a green salad; and a prime rib sandwich throughout the week while the prime rib supply lasts. We will be forever grateful to Donna Hasenack for her graciousness for allowing us to gain our humble start as GG’s BBQ! Hope to see you soon! Remember…where there’s smoke; there’s flavor!
Old Cooker/New Cooker
GG’S choice in smoker/cookers was a lengthy process. Started shopping around for a cooker and was drawn in many directions. We settled on a unit from Cookers & Grills out of Watkinsville, Georgia. I had talked with Ed Ortone numerous times on the phone and you know sometimes you can just get a true feeling about a person and his craft. We weren’t wrong about this man or his product. We decided on a 2008 SE with trailer so that we could also be mobile if needed. This piece of equipment is a dream to cook on. Wood efficiency in a burn is fabulous and just a great cooker to smoke meat on. After we moved to our current location and our volume of cook went up, we found ourselves in need of some support. We settled in on the restaurant model and Ed designed it to be more altitude and weather resistant than the first unit. We thought the first model was a dream to cook on but now we have the ultimate. And, oh by the way…it can hold a bunch of product at a time. Thanks Ed for your fine product.
GG’S choice in smoker/cookers was a lengthy process. Started shopping around for a cooker and was drawn in many directions. We settled on a unit from Cookers & Grills out of Watkinsville, Georgia. I had talked with Ed Ortone numerous times on the phone and you know sometimes you can just get a true feeling about a person and his craft. We weren’t wrong about this man or his product. We decided on a 2008 SE with trailer so that we could also be mobile if needed. This piece of equipment is a dream to cook on. Wood efficiency in a burn is fabulous and just a great cooker to smoke meat on. After we moved to our current location and our volume of cook went up, we found ourselves in need of some support. We settled in on the restaurant model and Ed designed it to be more altitude and weather resistant than the first unit. We thought the first model was a dream to cook on but now we have the ultimate. And, oh by the way…it can hold a bunch of product at a time. Thanks Ed for your fine product.