Meet Dan Misuraca | Owner and Pit Master at Red White & Que Smokehouse

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

Hi Dan, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I had worked for a retail shoe store as a district manager and a store manager throughout Florida, Washington D.C. and Manhattan for 15 years and had always been successful at running and managing business for someone else so I thought “huh, I bet I can convince Katie (my wife who also worked for the same company for 10 years as a store manager throughout NJ and NY)) that we can do this by ourselves!” We were confident in our ability to build a team and make sales. The real curve ball we threw at ourselves was deciding to pick a restaurant as the business of choice considering we had next to no restaurant experience. Back in 2014 when we bought our house and moved out of the city, Katie had bought me a little smoker as a house warming gift. BBQ started out as a hobby and we would throw big BBQ parties in our new backyard and once our friends started to show up to the parties with Tupperware ready to take all the left overs home I knew I was onto something! The real decision maker was when I decided to host a 20 year Marine Corps reunion party with a bunch of my Marine buddies at our house and we just cooked BBQ all weekend long then I was convinced that I could build this into a nice little business. A cool little Mom & Pop joint where I cook all the meats and my wife makes all the sides. We did our homework and found a tiny place on craigslist that we could afford and we just decided to commit to this vision of making authentic BBQ, giving exceptional service and become everyones favorite little hole-in-the-wall spot, Our own little American Dream.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
What sets us apart from others: In the BBQ world it’s common that someone can be great at making BBQ and bad at business or are great at business and bad at making BBQ. We are committed to both. I personally manage the business back end and am the Pitmaster every day and my wife manages service and the sides kitchen. When you come to our restaurant you will pretty much always see at least one or both of us. We genuinely love to be there with our employees and our customers!

What are you most proud of: I’m proud of everything Red White & Que. Of course the food is great but lately I’ve been feeling most proud of the environment that we’ve created here. It has always been important to us to create the kind of place that we want to work. There is a strong team here and everyone works hard, is proud of what they are doing and is having fun and that translates into the customer’s experience.

How did you get to where you are business-wise…: We only took on what we could handle in the beginning starting with a tiny 500 square foot location. We learned the business through experience and just getting up everyday and working both in the business and working on the business. We have also never been afraid to take a calculated risk and we understand that nothing is forever so we’ve learned to embrace change. Of course it hasn’t been easy but easy isn’t any fun. I’m a Marine, so I’m not stranger to hard work. And above all we’ve gotten to where we are by trying our best every day to make great food and give our customers a memorable BBQ experience.

Challenges: Covid was a challenge for the whole world and certainly the restaurant world. At that time we had just taken over a new lease on the other side of town to expand our pickle making operation and the timing could not have been worse. Just like a lot of businesses we had to scale back some of our ambitions and focus on what was most important which was making sure Red White & Que could stay open and keep feeding our community. Being able to embrace change and problem solve quickly is a learned skill that has served us very well throughout the years.

What do you want the world to know about your brand and story: BBQ is an American tradition, it’s the food we eat with friends and neighbors in celebration all over the country. My wife and I set out with a mission to remind people through our little restaurant that the American Dream is alive and well. Throughout the past 7 years and now to our new 80 seat location, with all of it’s lots of ups and downs we feel like we are living that dream. You don’t need to have 30 locations to have a successful business, you need to have 1 location that means something to people and we feel like we’ve created that here at Red White & Que.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
When we opened our little BBQ joint we were encouraged and supported by our local Veteran’s community. In fact when we first opened the commander of the local VFW came into our restaurant and let us know that we were the only veteran owned business in town and they were going to make sure we succeeded. I will never forget how that made me feel. When you take the entrepreneurial leap it can be scary and easy to feel alone and that encouragement changed the game for us. Veterans from far and wide came to our little spot just to root us on! From that moment on we’ve built a partnership with local veteran’s organizations to give back to that same community that has turned into our “Buy A Vet A Meal” program. A simple donation from our customers that goes to feeding veterans all across the state free BBQ. So I give a HUGE shoutout to the Veteran’s community that have been our customers or spread the word about us and have always had our back.

Website: https://redwhiteandquesmokehouse.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/redwhiteandquesmokehouse/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/redwhiteque?lang=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Redwhiteandquesmokehouse/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ06XxtHTyR6Acr0I1pIv6A