Today we’d like to introduce you to Dylan Boerboom.
Hi Dylan, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My mother started her own business when I was in Kindergarten. By the time I was in high school, if we wanted dinner at a decent time, I had to cook it for us. I taught myself the basics with YouTube and reading cookbooks.
For college, I stayed at home and paid for Normandale Community College at a rate I could afford to. I studied Business Finance for a. year or so, before making the switch to Food Science. During this time, I began experimenting with barbecue on a Big Green Egg we had recently purchased. Before long I was hooked, and spent the weak planning the cook that I would execute over the weekend. The first time I cooked a brisket that I was truly happy with and shared it with loved ones, I knew I found what I really wanted to do with my life.
After some time studying food science and with more time on the Egg, I began to realize the limits of the BGE to produce top tier barbecue. I was really enjoying cooking barbecue, and wanted take it to the next level. I began scouring craigslist in the barbecue regions of America. I was specifically looking for a large central Texas-style offset pit. I found a 500-gallon pit for the ridiculously low price of $1200. Although I had no need for such a massive smoker, I made the trip the next day to go get my new rig. I spent every weekend cooking, learning, and honing the craft. Before long I had people asking if they could place orders, and I was running my own little barbecue speak easy in Mom’s backyard. I had no idea how to run a food business, but I was having fun.
I was in the process of transferring to the U of M to finish my food science degree, and was realizing there was no way I would finish without taking out student loans. At this same time, Chef Scott Pampuch contacted me on Instagram about a barbecue chef position available. I let him know I wanted a job, but had never worked in a kitchen professionally. He promptly quit responding. I was not deterred. After my next cook, I happened to see Scott was at “Fulton” serving food. I surprised him with a sample of my cooking, and he offered me a job on the spot.
I did the math, and an entry-level food scientist makes similar money to what I could make without a degree working two jobs. I dropped out of school and started working in kitchens with the dream of starting my own kitchen one day. I worked with Scott opening Dalton & Wade, and then Fulton. I then worked for Justin Sutherland as Sous Chef of Handsome Hog. It was at Handsome that I met Chef Garrison Sherwood, who would later help open “Boomin Barbecue”. After I worked with Brian Sharped at Cov of Edina. I worked there until Covid lead to a layoff. During my time in kitchen, Gary and I did Boomin Pop-ups whenever time allowed, usually a handful a year.
When laid off, Gary and I began doing donation cooks out of the 500 in my backyard. Just like all. those years prior, it caught on and we began doing full takeout services. Restaurants were closed at this time, so we really saw a ton of business. The city of Minneapolis caught wind from a 311 call, and we had to stop. By the time we shutdown, we had a waitlist of over 250 people for our menu. We simply sold out each week and the cue grew longer.
After years of working as a Chef for others, I knew we were ready to take the legitimate leap for ourselves. I put money down to begin building our dream mobile kitchen, and the journey to opening Boomin Barbecue began.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
We could never complain about how things are going for Boomin Barbecue, but it hasn’t been a smooth road either.
The city of Minneapolis and frankly Minnesota as a whole is stifling to small businesses. They do not make it easy to open a business with the ridiculous rules and hoops we had to jump through. Want to make traditional wood fired barbecue in Minneapolis? Be prepared to sell out with an electronic smoker, invest an absurd amount of money on an inferior NSF offset pit, or both and still lie to use the traditional smoker. There isn’t a NSF-certified traditional wood-fired smoker on the market that is large enough to produce food to sustain a full scale barbecue operation, but neither the city or state care to make exceptions. People like to complain about the quality of barbecue in Minnesota, but they don’t understand the restrictions set in place that truly limit what’s allowed. So you can either follow the rules and make less food and inferior barbecue, or break the rules and risk fines or being shutdown. This is a failure on behalf of our legislatures.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Boomin Barbecue?
My name is Dylan Boerboom, Chef/Owner of “Boomin Barbecue”. At Boomin, we specialize in wood-fired barbecue and live-fire cooking. What disguises our style locally is our simple seasonings or Salt and Pepper. Our flavor comes from the execution of running clean fires. A dirty fire creates off flavors from incomplete combustion of the wood fuel. For a barbecue joint, our branding is unique. Our graphic is a mesh of synth wave, 80’s arcades neon, and Miami Vice. Its different and unlike the traditonal county like imagery associated with barbecue. Another thing that makes us unique is non pork-centric menu. We have a huge following of people that do not eat pork. Even though its not cheap or easy with current prices, we like to keep lamb and beef options on the menu.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
My mother deserves all the credit. Watching her grow her business from cleaning dive bars before sending me to afternoon kindergarten, to now managing forty employees, she’s a badass and inspiration. Now she’s our food runner and jokes that one day she’ll retire and work for me full-time for fun. It’s a blessing to be able to provide this opportunity for her.
Gary Sherwood needs to be mentioned in the same sentence. Gary is the calm presence we need in the kitchen. His pallet, talent, and dedication have lead to Boomin being the success it is. I couldn’t do it without him.
My girlfriend Ana has been nothing but supportive on this journey. She also runs our front of house for Boomin. Her love and support keep me driven and grounded.
Abi Sherman our professional photographer and dear friend. Until she joined the team, pictures never captured how delicious the food is. She’s a talent and blessing to the team.
And lastly thank you to Brandon Randolph and Ross of Ombibulous for giving us a home to grow our business. When everyone else shut us down and showed no interest due to covid, they invited us with open arms. We owe everything to them.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://www.boominbbq.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boominbbq/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Boominbbq/
Image Credits
Abi Sherman
