PORT WASHINGTON — If you're looking for fall-off-the-bone barbecue look no further than Yummy Bone Barbecue.
“Oh man, it’s the best barbecue this side of the northern states. Let’s go that way," Robert Meredith, the owner of the barbecue restaurant at 201 N. Franklin St, Port Washington said.
He's celebrating 10 years of business serving up wings, brisket, ribs, and so much more. He brings a mix of his grandmother's Mississippi cooking and his own to the table. Meredith calls it's 'Wississippi' as a combo of his family's Mississippi heritage and his Wisconsin upbringing.
“I used to watch my grandmother in the kitchen, and, you know, and we had barbecues and I’ve just kind of self-taught myself, and here I am.”
His restaurant had humble beginnings. It all started with a pop-up tent and a Webber grill outside of a Port Washington gas station. Then he moved inside a bowling alley, and finally into his current corner location in Port Washington. Now 10 years after opening his first kitchen, he's focusing on opening a second location in Milwaukee.
It will be at the Paper Table Company which is on 733 N. Milwaukee Street. It's like a food hall but mainly for to-go meals.
Business has been good between his storefront and food truck. Sales have increased thanks in part to a grant from Spectrum Reach that gave him a free advertising campaign.
“Gave us like 1,500 commercials, so 500 commercials per month for 3 months," Meredith said.
All of it was free. It’s called Pay It Forward. The mission is to give multicultural small businesses development tools like free ads, creative services, and marketing support. Under normal circumstances, the ad package would cost $15,000. Spectrum Reach plans to give this grant to about 30 different businesses with 9 or 10 from the Milwaukee area.
“It made a world of difference to my business. Definitely grew, and I still hear people coming in and talking about when they saw that, and they wanted to come and visit," he said.
Small businesses can apply for this grant through February 25th by going to the Spectrum Reach website.
It helped Robert open a second location and start thinking about even bigger possibilities in the future.
“Love to work with culinary students to train them and then give them an opportunity to work with me in these other locations either as managing those locations, working in those locations, or they want to do a franchise.”
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