Though it hardly seems possible, Boss Hawg BBQ (802 W. Taft) passed the five-year mark with a celebration last week. As they’ve grown to become one of Sapulpa’s most favored BBQ restaurants, it’s easy to forget that settling in Sapulpa could’ve easily never happened.
Joel Carson worked as a field engineer for General Motors In Dallas, and after years of paperwork and headaches, Joel took an offer to retire.
“They offered me a retirement package and I took it,” he said. His wife, Ronda, who had worked for AT&T for more than 37 years found herself “surplussed.”
Thankfully, the IT Development Coordinator was able to retire and the Carsons thought they would live out their retirement years in the Dallas Metroplex, but eventually found that big city life did not suit them.
“We were looking to get out of the chaos, but that town was getting crazy with people moving in from the coast,” Joel said. “We had a good location, a nice home, a beautiful pool, we had a retirement home, right there, but the quality of life was just too fast-paced. You get to a point that you just want to slow down.”
The pair decided to come to Oklahoma—partly because Joel’s father was from Rush Springs, Oklahoma and Ronda is from Moore, Oklahoma—but primarily because Oklahoma would be centrally located as a starting point from which to visit their children throughout the United States. As Ronda poetically put it, “I got him to cross that Red River into God’s County.”
Joel’s foray into the world of BBQ cooking began back in Texas as a family affair learning from his uncles at family reunions and other events. One day, Joel decided to buy a “scratch-and-dent cooker” from Academy Sports. “I started very humbly with a little two-hundred-dollar cooker,” he said. “I kept practicing and I enjoyed improving the product. Then we jumped off into catering in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. We were successful, in fact, we were successful enough that we got to choose our customers,” said Joel.
Joel concentrated on being adept at cooking “Central Texas” barbeque, which he defines as “minimal seasoning and letting protein be the focus. If it’s a rib, or a brisket, or pork, it should taste like that, not covered up with sauce.”
He went on to explain the “science” behind cooking on a wood fire, describing the various aspects of the process such as the color of the smoke, when to put the proteins on the fire, the fuel-to-oxygen ratio, and the type of wood. He pointed to a chart that shows what type of wood should be used to cook certain woods. The Carsons use pecan wood that is seasoned for many months. “It took a lot of time, a lot of research, it took a lot of trial and error, and practice to really understand these kinds of things.”
Joel then found a reasonably-priced mobile cooker which he and Ronda used for competitions in Texas and they subsequently won a number of awards.
Surprisingly, the couple didn’t anticipate opening up a restaurant when they moved to Oklahoma.
“We just came up here to escape the chaos, and to get into a quieter and simpler lifestyle,” Joel said. “We bought property here for the central purpose of being geographically located and close to her family, her kids, and the big city chaos.”
Fate had other plans. “One day, we drove by here and there was a meat market down here at the end of the strip mall. I started smoking some cheese and meats for them.”
The owners of the meat market encouraged Joel to speak to the landlord about a suite that was open. “This nice guy, Harold Wade, he made us a very fair deal for the rent, and before I knew it we were remodeling the facility.
So, on June 15, 2018, Joel and Ronda Carson opened Boss Hawg BBQ. “Today We support eight families out of this business,” stated Joel.
He gives credit to the community for making it through some tough times. “The community has supported us, got us through COVID, got us through storms, got us through lean economic times and hiring issues when we couldn’t find people who wanted work. We have been through a lot of hurdles,” he said.
Joel emphasized their faith has played an important part in their success.
“We have no doubt in our minds that our faith in our Heavenly Father is the major contributor to our success. We pray for this community, we pray for our staff, and for our customers every morning,” he said. “It is no doubt that what we are experiencing is the direct result of our being obedient to who we are as believers.”
Joel believes his approach is what separates Boss Hawg from other barbeque restaurants in Sapulpa. “I have no desire to be just another barbeque option for this community or for anyone passing through,” he says. “I didn’t want to limit myself to barbeque. I thought about calling it Carsons’s live-fire cooking. That is why we have cajun food, that is why we have tex-mex food. I discovered early on that anything you do in an oven, and you put on a smoker and you have what they call clean smoke, it brings on a new flavor.”
Joels stressed they only buy high-grade products. They buy gouda cheese from Holland and V and V sausage—a highly sought-after sausage—directly from the maker in Texas.
The Carsons prepare and serve what is called craft barbeque. “Craft barbeque means you pre-prepare, you don’t pre-chop a tub of beef, or pre-chop a tub of pork, You don’t do anything until it’s ordered and you are ready to plate it. That is why our food tastes so fresh, and hot, and has the flavor people are looking for, they can distinguish it,” said Joel.
His cajun cuisine has received praise from natives of Lousina saying it rivaled anything offered in New Orleans.
It is clear that Joel has a passion for cooking and both Joel and Ronda Carson are passionate about providing their customers five-star food and the best possible customer service. Five years in, and it seems like they’re just getting started.
