07/23/2026
Hey everyone, Diana and I are excited to finally introduce Oak & Ember BBQ Co. and start sharing what we’ve been working on.
I grew up around Santa Maria-style BBQ in California, and we want to bring that same real live-fire cooking here to Cottonwood and the Verde Valley. We’ll be cooking tri-tip, chicken and more over premium red oak on a traditional Santa Maria grill.
Between our own money, a loan we took out and help from our family, we’ve already invested over $15,000 into getting this started. We now have the truck, the grill trailer and our first load of red oak here in Cottonwood, and we’ve gotten approval for our setup.
We’ve made a lot of progress, but we still have some important pieces to figure out before we can legally start serving. Our biggest need right now is finding an affordable licensed commissary kitchen in Cottonwood, Clarkdale or somewhere close by.
If anyone knows a restaurant owner, church, caterer or someone with a licensed commercial kitchen who may be willing to rent us space or work out some kind of partnership, please tag them or send us a message. Even the right introduction could help us out a lot.
We’re also still working on getting a portable handwashing sink and hot-water setup, a flame-resistant tent, food-safe coolers and storage, firebrick, signs and some of the other supplies we need to get started.
We’ll also be launching a Kickstarter with different supporter rewards, including exclusive launch stickers, Founder shirts, BBQ plates, family meals, Founder discount cards and some larger rewards for people or local businesses that really want to help us get across the finish line.
We aren’t asking people to build this for us from nothing. We’ve already put a lot of our own money, time and work into it, and our family has helped us get this far. We’re just asking the community for help with some of the final pieces—whether that means sharing our page, helping us find a kitchen, donating or sponsoring equipment, connecting us with local events or supporting our Kickstarter when it launches.
Our goal is to serve really good, authentic food, keep our prices fair, grow the right way and host a community-sponsored BBQ each month whenever possible.
Please follow Oak & Ember BBQ Co. and share this post with anyone who might be able to help.
Thank you guys. Diana and I are really excited to finally bring this to life.
The Art of Authentic Santa Maria BBQ
Real oak. Live fire. Honest food.
