OUR BBQ PIT MASTER
David Stidham fell in love with barbecue at an early age, as he grew up surrounded by local barbecue joints in Memphis Tennessee, which many consider as the barbecue capital of the world.
As a die-hard self-professed backyard BBQ expert, David spent many years in Tennessee as well as other areas throughout the Southeast and Midwest honing & perfecting his love for all things wood, fire, smoke and meat.
In 2012, while watching BBQ Pitmasters on TV and with a little encouragement from his sons, he decided to take his chances on the professional barbecue circuit. After about a year of even more practice and perfecting, he finally entered his first competition. Come to find out, all that hard work and practice paid off as he saw immediate success right out of the gate.
He finished with four stage calls including a 2nd place chicken, 11th place ribs, 3rd place pork, 7th place brisket for a very unexpected 3rd place overall as a rookie in his very first professional competition!
Without looking back, David quickly went on to successfully parlay his passion and knowledge for BBQ perfection into developing several nationally bestselling sauces as well as winning multiple grand championships, reserve grand championships and countless other awards and honors.
Today, David has become one of the better nationally known professional BBQ Pitmasters in the world and is proud to utilize his proven championship BBQ techniques and secrets with everyone as he opens his first restaurant in the St. Louis area right here in New Baden, Illinois.