Ben’s unique profession path did not embody the culinary arts in any respect, however as a substitute targeted on schooling. “I began as a highschool trainer and it did not pan out,” he says. “So I went to culinary college,” a call that sparked a ardour for him.
Jodi was additionally a trainer, working in elementary colleges, earlier than she determined to attend culinary college, too. “We’re second-career those that sort of hit it large doing culinary,” Ben notes.
After graduating, Ben landed a company eating gig with Compass Group, the place he labored for over a decade, gaining expertise making ready and serving meals to massive crowds. It was throughout that point that the idea for Mama Jo’s shaped, utilizing Jodi’s buttermilk smoked Gouda biscuit recipe as inspiration.
“For years, I used to be operating kitchens at workplace buildings like Boeing,” Ben says. “I satisfied higher administration to drag me out of the constructing, they usually gave me a van, and I simply drove round doing Mama Jo’s, the pop-up. … It turned out to be sort of a model for them that I used to be going round and doing in several cafeterias.”
Ben and Jodi Polson launched their large blue truck three years in the past.
Chris Byard
On the time, “hen biscuits have been our large factor,” Ben says. “They have been at all times nicely acquired on the completely different workplace buildings I went to, and I used to be identical to, I guess I could make it work as an idea for a meals truck. And barbecue has at all times been a ardour of mine, too. Combining these two issues, like having Carolina-style barbecue and fried hen biscuits, appeared like gig.”
When the pandemic hit, Ben, like so many others within the hospitality trade, was laid off, although he was assured in his potential to discover a new gig shortly. “I at all times joked with my bosses that, you already know, in case you fired me, I might have a job the subsequent day. I received fired on a Tuesday, after which I received employed on because the meals truck director at Steuben’s the subsequent day,” he remembers. “If you are going to open a meals truck, you must discover ways to run one.”
When he took the gig, he was up entrance with Steuben’s about his intentions to open his personal meals truck sooner or later, and he and Jodi started perfecting their recipes by doing a sequence of pop-ups out of Tessa Delicatessen on East Colfax.
Mama Jo’s launched three years in the past, and the Polsons have discovered so much since then. At first, “we had all of our sauces in actually small squeeze bottles; we have been utilizing tiny sauté pans to make mac and cheese,” Ben remembers. “Now we have quart-size squeeze bottles and the largest sauté pans I can discover. And we needed to redesign the menu. Once we first opened, I had brisket, fried inexperienced tomatoes and banana pies. You possibly can’t reheat brisket, and the value went up for beef, so we removed brisket and put spare ribs on. Individuals beloved fried inexperienced tomatoes, however they weeded the truck so unhealthy, and on the finish of 1 service we determined fuck it, they usually went off the menu and we placed on tater tots. … You simply determine issues out, what works and what would not.”
Collard Greens are one of many sides accessible at Mama Jo’s.
Chris Byard
In the present day, Ben runs the day-to-day operations of the truck whereas Jodi is targeted on the enterprise aspect, dealing with payroll and scheduling. “After I’ve wanted somebody, she’s jumped on and helped,” Ben says. “We’ve got two little youngsters, and she or he runs a complete pastry program.”
Ben is fast to confess that his favourite a part of operating a meals truck is being his personal boss. “For years, I needed to work for folks I did not get pleasure from, and now I am doing what I really like and I am earning profits doing it,” he says. “If I must take a time off, we will schedule a time off. I’ve received it so dialed in proper now that I work Monday via Friday.”
On the present menu, Ben’s favourite merchandise is the “actually banging Nashville hen sandwich that lots of people do not learn about,” he says. “It is our smoked Gouda biscuit with our lemon-brined hen thigh that is buttermilk-fried after which dunked in our Nashville sizzling oil. After which it will get our Alabama white sauce, our home bread-and-butter pickles, and our creamy coleslaw.”
Mama Jo’s providing a wide range of regional barbecue sauces, comparable to a candy tomato-based Kansas Metropolis sauce and a vinegary Carolina fashion. Together with barbecue meats and a jackfruit biscuit sandwich to fulfill its vegetarian clients, the truck serves sides like traditional-style collard greens and mac and cheese, plus sweets like apple fritters. But it surely’s Jodi’s wealthy, smoky, flaky biscuit recipe that is still the true showstopper — it definitely impressed this Southerner.
And Mama Jo’s makes a complete lot of biscuits. “We’re cranking 600 per week. It is madness,” Ben says.
Whereas the gifted culinary duo says they could finally open a mom-and-pop barbecue restaurant, for now they’re blissful of their respective roles.
To search out the complete schedule for Mama Jo’s Biscuits & BBQ, go to its web site, mamajosbiscuits.com.
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