Meet Angel Gutierrez | Founder of Goot Ole Bbq

We had the good fortune of connecting with Angel Gutierrez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Angel, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
It actually goes back to 2014. I cooked a lot on the grill and smoker at home. I enjoyed doing it outside my garage all the time. I had a TV out there and I could interact with neighbors so it was much more fun than sitting in my backyard. One day a neighbor of mine approached me about competing in a small bbq cook off at his job. I laughed it off telling him all I do is cook for friends and family and no way I could do something like that. After some persistence I gave in and agreed to give it a shot. Brisket, ribs, and chicken were the categories so I went to work to prepare for as it was about two months away. I knew I needed a name so the brainstorming began. I came up with Goot Ole Bbq Cookers. Goot was a play on the word good and my last name. Gutierrez can be difficult for some to pronounce and as a kid I was called Goot from time to time. Even my brother and son have now earned that same nickname so it worked perfectly. I did go on to take 2nd place in ribs in that cook off and went on to compete in several others as the years went on. Fast forward to today and I have been competing as the pitmaster for another team in the Houston Rodeo Cook off since 2019 where one of my best finishes was 10th place overall. Towards the tail end of covid I decided why not start making money off this and I formed Goot Ole Bbq LLC. I have catered birthday parties, weddings, business grand opening, and even a quincenera. It’s nothing big right now as I am taking it slow, but I look forward to what the future holds.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Well my career is currently in the tire industry as a sales rep for a distributor. A large part of my tire career was spent working for Discount Tire. I learned a lot about how to take care of people and how to grow a successful business as we were trained to embrace the individual stores we worked in as our own business. It was a very high paced environment that helped hone my skills for the hard work and dedication it takes to run my own business of bbq catering. People tell me all the time how they are amazed how I can work my full time job and still manage to pull an all nighter cooking only to go right back to my regular job the next day. My answer is simple. I enjoy it! For me putting in the work on my smoker cooking is a release for me much like sitting on a beach or going fishing for others.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Here in the Cypress area is where the first stop would be. I would take them to The Rosehill Beer Garden. A great family place my family and I frequent for adult beverages and to enjoy all the various food trucks. We would also take a trip to a couple good burger places. Have to make a stop at one of my favorite taquerias and then Southwest Houston to the Chinatown area to dine on some of the best Asian cuisine! I am sure bbq would have been a stop you thought I would have listed here. Although I do try various bbq places from time to time my inspiration lies with restaurants outside of what I do. The Texas market is saturated with bbq places as we all know. I frequent restaurants outside of bbq for inspiration to help me create a bbq that is still true to its roots but is outside of the box with the goal of setting myself apart from everyone else.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My friend and former neighbor Edward Gonzalez for inspiring me to push my cooking beyond just cooking at home and not giving up in his quest to push me into my first bbq cook off. Aaron Franklin is another although I have never met him, but for putting together some wonderful and informative bbq books which helped me continue to develop my skills and learn the mistakes I was making. What he does is a true inspiration and his story has some similarities to mine which gives me a boost of confidence that I am heading on the right direction. I also want to give a shout out to Eddie Jackson who has appeared on various food network shows and is the owner of the Rosehill Beer Garden for giving me some great criticism that has helped me grow as a pitmaster and allowing me the opportunity to cook on his pits as well. Lastly, my family for all their support and putting up with some less than perfect food in the beginning of all this but it has all paid off!

Instagram: @gootbbq

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