Jon Mansmith had no idea what he’d come up with after rummaging
through kitchen cupboards to throw together a barbecue sauce for an
Elk’s Lodge dinner 20 years ago.
Jon Mansmith had no idea what he’d come up with after rummaging through kitchen cupboards to throw together a barbecue sauce for an Elk’s Lodge dinner 20 years ago.
But the sauce was a big hit with the Elks.
“When I got home that night, my wife said we had three or four phone calls asking what type of barbecue sauce we used,” Jon Mansmith, now 62, said.
Since then, Jon Mansmith, his wife, Juanita, and son Mike have made barbecue a full-time business. The Mansmiths serve up more than 100,000 pounds of meat while catering functions throughout the year. They also sell a line of barbecue seasonings through area Nob Hill grocery stores. And on Fridays, Mike Mansmith offers whole tri-tip, pork ribs, chickens, ranch style beans and garlic bread cooked over an open grill in a lot alongside the Airline Highway in Hollister.
Ridgemark resident Elwood Dryden has been frequenting the Mansmiths’ Friday barbecues for about 14 years. Dryden said he typically orders chicken and the ranch beans.
“It’s flavorful and fresh,” Dryden said. “I know who does it and I feel confident when I buy it.”
Jon Mansmith calls the Friday menu “California style” barbecue because it is cooked over the open grill.
“People in California, they’re not all that accustomed to the smoked meats unless they come from the Midwest,” Jon Mansmith said.
That portion of the family business was born at the Hollister Farmer’s Market several years ago. However, the farmer’s market season was too short for many of the customers.
“They wanted us to keep cooking,” Jon Mansmith said. “They wanted us to cook something every Friday.”
So the Mansmiths began setting up near Gold’s Gym on Nash Road every Friday year-round. A year ago, they moved to the lot near Bertuccio’s on Airline Highway.
The thick sauce Jon Mansmith slathered on those pork chops for the Elks Lodge dinner 20 years ago sparked a public interest in the skills he developed cooking for Young Farmer’s functions.
After some calculating, Jon Mansmith had a recipe down on paper. And as he diluted the thick paste with different liquids, the taste changed.
“It’s good stuff,” Jon Mansmith said. “People start using it and they fall in love with it.”
In 1991, Mansmith’s barbecue skills received recognition beyond his wildest dreams. At the American Royal International BBQ Sauce Contest in Kansas City, Jon Mansmith had four of his barbecue paste deviations take first place in their respective sauce categories. In 1992, the success continued, with four more first place awards and three in the top 10.
But the 1993 competition was the clincher. Twelve of the 14 sauces Mansmith entered into the contest placed in the top 10 in their categories, including seven that won first-place awards.
The Mansmiths also make a dry rub spice that Jon Mansmith developed through more than 40 years cooking chickens at the San Juan Mission fiesta.
“The seasonings are actually our main business,” Jon Mansmith said.
Mansmith’s seasonings made a clean sweep of the National Barbecue Association annual conference awards in 1998.
In the early 1990s, Jon Mansmith sold his water testing lab on Mission Vineyard Road and made the barbecue business a full-time operation.
The Mansmiths have a large smoker and four barbecue pits that they use when catering weddings, company events, anniversary and birthday parties, and ranch cattle brandings.
“It’s kind of a word-of-mouth thing,” Jon Mansmith said. “It’s a slow way to do it, but we have a lot of other things on the fire.”
Both Jon and Mike Mansmith enjoy barbecuing.
“You drink a few beers, stand around and shoot the bull,” Jon Mansmith said. “And as long as you pay attention you’re all right.”
Most customers are drawn to Mansmith barbecue because they get to see it being cooked and know it’s fresh, Mike Mansmith said.
He couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
“I get paid to go to everyone else’s parties,” Mike Mansmith said.
Mike Mansmith said he expects to keep the family business going for many years. And his two sons, Levi, 8, and Garrett, 4, could one day take over. For now, the boys enjoy tagging along at functions like the Holte memorial dinners, where the Mansmiths donate their services to smoke holiday turkeys.
“That’s always the goal of small business,” Jon Mansmith said. “To see the business handed down generation to generation.”
America’s Original Food
Barbecue, America’s original food, is akin to religion in some parts of the country. There are four major barbecue areas, including the Carolinas, Memphis, Texas and Kansas City. All have not only differences from each other, but differences within each region. As the cradle of barbecuing, the Carolinas have the most varied styles. California has its own style of open grill barbecue, although it is less recognized throughout the rest of the country, where barbecue is cooked in a closed pits, slow and low for up to half-a-day.
Here’s how to take Mansmith’s BBQ Paste and create regional barbecue sauces:
Texas sweet style
1 part Mansmith’s
1 part ketchup
1 part sugar
Tennessee
kick-a-pu-style
1 part Mansmith’s
2 parts Jack Daniels
South Carolina style
1 part Mansmith’s
1 part mustard
1 part ketchup
Piedmont, North
Carolina style
1 part Mansmith’s
4 parts vinegar
Western North
Carolina style
1 part Mansmith’s
2 parts vinegar
1 part ketchup
