KungFu BBQ's Dream: Help Us Open a Restaurant in Dayton

It Started with a Dream....and Random Strangers in a Random Stranger's Driveway...

The year was 2020......ahh yes…. who could ever forget THAT year…

COVID…. The Year of the “Stay Six Feet Away in the Land of Masks".....and in the midst of the heaviest COVID restrictions at that time, we of course decided that even with a world-wide pandemic going on, that 2020 just wasn't crazy enough for us and that we just gonna add more crazy to the year! (To those who know us, it makes perfect sense! To those who don’t know us now, when you do, then you’ll know! ;)

Dream Big or Go Home, Baby!

What was our Dream? It was simple: to care for others and make good food. It was that simple and to this day it’s been that simple. For us, caring for others first starts in the Home, in the act of sharing a meal together. It is in these very basic steps: first, making the time to take that time to do something for someone else, it’s in taking simple ingredients, adding attention and detail into each step of the making of the meal. To then share it with another, while actually being present in the moment and engaging with each other in an actual, in-depth meaningful conversation.... that is Love!

We dreamed to Feed the Body while simultaneously Care for the Soul and we set about creating that dream into reality, in the only way we knew how: being wildly authentic and unapologetically us and in treating You as Family! Our goal was to ensure that you knew that when you were with us, you were among Family! Family who made you feel loved and wanted and cared for! And in the time spent with us, you could feel the Love and the Care and at the same time enjoy some amazing multi culture food using American smoked and BBQ techniques!

And of course, we decided that 2020 during COVID would be a good time to turn that Dream into a Reality…

Creating Our Dream…and Keeping Social Distance

We started off with giving boxes of food to friends and family, telling them that if they enjoyed our food to post about it on their social media. After doing a few of these by the end of the month, we had had enough people reach out to us asking for a meal that we decided that we needed to start making a “waiting list” and decided on when we were going to make our first official announcement. We clean up and “borrowed” Dad’s old smoker, came up with the Menu of the Day and started scraping our money together to buy products and supplies, all the while keeping our finger crossed that the cost of meat and cheese wouldn’t go up again before we had a chance to buy it!

And so, on Oct 13, 2020…We created Our first post:

What was our first official "Boxed Meal”...?

Smoked Gochujang Chicken Thighs

Pork Belly Adobo

Ma's Korean-Style Meatballs

Drunken Truffle Hogg Mac n’ Cheese

And on a Sunday in October back in 2020, in a kitchen the size of a broom closet with a conveyer-style set up.... We made our first 40 boxed meals. All the while in amazement that 40 random strangers were about to show up to some random stranger’s driveway. They had no choice in what the menu was. They only knew what the menu was going to be a day ago and were asked only two questions. “Do you accept”? Yes. “How many boxes would you like?” We would inform them that we would reach out to them on the day of, to let them know the time and location of the pick-up. That was it!

Were we that insane?

Were we that crazy?

Would it actually work…?

We were a little bit of both that day....and come to find out so were forty of ya'll that day....

The Forty that day were named OG’s that day….and hence begin the Driveway Days!

Forty…Sixty…Eighty…Where am I on the Waitlist?

The OG’s came through that Sunday. We are not sure really what their first thoughts were. Driving up to some random stranger’s house. Little kids playing together on the grass, not so little kids with their shirts off riding their bikes on the sidewalk and in the street, Us sitting on a metal picnic table with two black warmer boxes and a clipboard of forty names. All we asked was share on social media!

Those were the OG’s, the Original Gangsters that day...and 40 became 60 Boxed Meal and 60 became 80 Boxed Meals, and that time of KungFu BBQ became known as, “The OG’s and the Driveway Days.”

If you ask either of us, we will tell you over and over again…We could not be where we are at now nor where we were back in the Driveway Days without Our OG’s: Their Love and Support and Kindness became the Foundation of KungFu BBQ! Such OG’s as:

MacKenzie Manley Alvin Kelly Phill & Stefanie Boyd

Will Mescher Alexis Larsen Michael Griest

Bob & Jo Ann Gillispie Nick Decker Brian Johnson Danny Cortes Chris Meleason Chris Davis

Amanda Quigley-Mundy Chris Morgan Jeff Hubbard Steve & Brittney Harris Terrence Hill Ben Mazer

Michael & Kari Harris Desmond Kean April Flores

Gary & Janet Hasecuster Brian Choy John Wright

Pati & Mike Rogers Dustin Johnson Ronnie Edmonds

Angie Naehring-Thurman Rich Chong Ben Bently

Keith & Elaine Sochacki Jacqueline Slater Sue Sears

Kevin & Joanne Hall Courtney Goodman Kevin Kirby

Ricky & Brittney White Raymond Chow Jeff Secrest Laura G. De Alaia Samantha Hughes Chris Pieraldi

Diego & Taiza Mieth Amy Forsthoefel LaTonya Williams

Jesse Gifford Rhonda McCoy Nicola Baltimore

Scott Fox Richard Dinsmore Armando Soto Eleanor Blystone Brandon Hawley Anna Schockman

Damon & Cathrine Roberts Mark & Sara Bryson Susan Tomme-Scambillis Stephanie & Travis Anderson

Debbie Lieberman Jasmine Kelly

These individuals (and We know that there are still others out there that We missed) for Us, ya’ll became Family…and boy did Family come through! We asked our OG’s, that if they enjoyed the Meal, to share and post on social media! And did they ever!!! Forty Boxed Meals became Sixty Boxed Meals, and Sixty became Eighty Boxed Meals! Thanks to the OG’s and in particular, Dustin Johnson, before We knew it, within six months we had a waiting list of over FIVE THOUSAND NAMES!!! So, We both decided that we needed to just say “F*&ck it! Let’s make this Dream into a Reality!” and We took the jump…

In May 2021, We officially became KungFu BBQ!!!! We promptly went out and got a windowless cargo van.... cause nothing screams crazy and stay away then as meeting up with random strangers at a random location to pick up a Boxed Meal...in a windowless white cargo van!!!!

The Less-traveled Road to making Our Dream into Reality...

We then had our brother and one of our best friend’s, Diego Mieth to develop and create our App and Our website, kfubbq.com! (Look for the app by searching “KungFu BBQ” on your smartphone’s app store!) This simplified and helped us communicate with everyone while allowing an option to pay in advance. You could say it was rather time-consuming hitting up 500 names on a weekly basis! Then we purchased a trailer and transferred it into this janky, one of a kind, never seen before, shockingly state certifiable and licensed Food Truck Trailer!

But the OG’s and each of you wanted more! Through the encouragement, love and support from each and every one of ya’ll...and with some downright begging and nagging from some of ya’ll (because isn’t that what Family does best sometimes?) You helped us make a lifelong Dream of Dad’s a reality by becoming a "Sauce Pioneer" and with your support in October 2022,

We bottled our first ever BBQ Sauce:

The Sauce Tho: Peach Moonshine BBQ Sauce

In 2023, ya’ll supported and encouraged us to take up a once in a lifetime offer from Wright-Patterson Airforce Base, to establish a Restaurant on Area B, regardless that the majority of ya’ll couldn’t even get base access!!! Why? Because you believed in us and in our Dream, knowing that this would only lead us that much closer to the Dream: establishing a location in Dayton!!! Your love and support only pushed us to go harder and motivated us through the long nights and the 3-4 multi-event days! And brought us to August 7, 2024…as We OFFICALLY became a part of….

THE SILOS!!!

The Final Step....

Which brings us to where we are today! In order for us to make this one final leap and finalize our Dream and deliver on our word that we made to each and every one of ya’ll these past five years....We are calling on Our Family that We have created with each and every one of you, one more time! As we are clearly aware that we would not even be where we are currently at now with your love and care and support, we know that we can’t take this final step WITHOUT YOU!!

As opening day is fast approaching (tentatively sometime in late November or early December) you will find Us working furiously to save up from our service at the Food Truck and the WPAFB Restaurant! In order for Us to create the cornerstone of KungFu BBQ in our future new location, which has been and will remain to always be: Caring for our customers as Family, amazing food, and fast service,

We need to do the following:

hiring 10 new employees,

purchase a third set of kitchen equipment,

stock our very first Inventory for the Silos,

build out the kitchen,

train Crew and new hires at new location.

However....

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

How to HELP...

SPREAD THE WORD:

SHARE!!!

Please share Our GoFundMe Page with everyone and anyone you

know, on all your social media platforms!

ANYTHING HELPS:

We KNOW all too well that financially, times are hard on EVERYONE!! Between the rising cost of groceries and the uncertainty over the economy... each of us has financially felt it!

If you can donate.... any amount goes such a long way!!!

A little goes such a long way!!

So much so that, if each of our 10k followers donated just $4 each, Our Dream is Accomplished!!

However, we are astutely aware that when times are tight, times are tight! It’s ok...you can support us by sharing this on all your social media platforms!

We can't express enough how grateful we are for each of you! Our Family’s dream does not come true without each of you, and we don't continue spreading our brand of joy and hospitality without you! We can't wait to see you again, share a meal, and laugh together, and as always:

From Our Family to Yours:

#bbqbringsustogether

Nate, Marie and The KungFu BBQ Family