MORE THAN WHAT'S ON THE PLATE
I’ve spent years working in law enforcement, project management, operations, management, and leading people. Every one of those experiences taught me something and helped mold me into who I am today. But none of them compare to the passion I have for feeding people and bringing them together.
For me, food has always been about more than eating.
I grew up in the South during a time when your neighbor having a cookout could easily turn into a whole block party. My uncles would get the charcoal and firewood going while my aunts and grandmother prepared the meats and sides in the house. There were cold drinks, music playing, people laughing, and everybody was welcome.
We didn’t need a birthday, holiday, or special occasion. Somehow, there was always enough food for everybody to get a plate, and probably take one home too.
That’s the feeling behind Viddlez-N-Vibez.
SO, WHAT ARE VIDDLEZ?
People hear Viddlez-N-Vibez and ask me to repeat it all the time.
Viddlez is an old-school word I grew up hearing in the South. When you heard somebody talking about the Viddlez, you knew one thing, it was time to eat.
I’d like to tell you I spent months coming up with the name, but the truth is, it had always been somewhere in me.
One night, I was sitting with friends doing a brain dump about what I wanted to call this business, and it hit me: Viddlez-N-Vibez.
Good food. Good music. Good people. A good time.
Everything I wanted this business to be was right there in the name.
BRINGING THE COOKOUT BACK
Viddlez-N-Vibez started with a love for smoking meats, making the sides you remember from cookouts and holidays, and spending hours behind the grill trying recipes until I got them right.
But I never wanted to just hand somebody a plate and send them on their way. I wanted to recreate the feeling I grew up with.
The music playing. People sitting around eating. Somebody getting up when that song comes on. Families spending time together. Strangers talking like they’ve known each other for years.
That’s the Vibez.
When you pull up to Viddlez-N-Vibez, you’re family. It doesn’t matter where you come from or what you look like. Sit down, grab a plate, enjoy the music, and stay awhile. By the time you’re done eating, you might have something in common with somebody you hadn’t even met before.
FROM AN IDEA TO THE REAL THING
This journey didn’t happen overnight.
There have been trials and tribulations, long nights, long drives, conversations, planning, analyzing, and then some more planning.
The idea started years before I was ready to make the leap. Looking back, I believe there was a reason for that. When the time was right, the doors started opening and the right people started showing up.
Some of those people are still here. Some, like my buddy Aaron, aren’t. I’ll always remember our late-night conversations about recipes, who we were going to feed, what people were going to like, and just how far this thing could go.
Those conversations, along with every person who gave me their time, advice, encouragement, or simply believed in what I was building, are part of Viddlez-N-Vibez too.
Today, I get to take everything I’ve learned, everything I grew up around, and everything I love about food, music, and community and put it into something of my own.
And hopefully, along the way, I can show somebody else who’s been thinking about stepping out on their own that the road isn’t always easy, but taking that chance on yourself can be worth it.