01
It Started Around the Table
Ship grew up in South Texas in a predominantly Czech family where food, family gatherings and hospitality were a big part of life.
His mom was the oldest of six. Growing up in their small Czech community, her high-school classmates called her “Mouse.” The nickname might have fit her 5-foot frame, but not much else about her. She was a basketball star, class president and, by all accounts, a dynamo.
She also held herself to an exceptionally high standard—and expected the same from her kids.
That standard carried into the way she welcomed people and fed them. If people were coming to your home, you took care of them. You made sure there was plenty. And if something was worth doing, it was worth doing well.
Ship inherited quite a bit of that.
Long before there was a Ship’s Backyard BBQ, that combination of hospitality and high standards was already there.
02
Learning to Cook for a Crowd
At Texas A&M, a trip to a small church barbecue fundraiser made a lasting impression. The food mattered, but so did the feeling around it: people working together, welcoming strangers and using a meal to bring a community closer.
Years later, with a career in finance, a growing family and more people gathering around the table, Ship kept finding reasons to cook. A church friend named Dave helped teach him the patience of managing a fire and the satisfaction of feeding a group. The early cooks were not all masterpieces. That was part of the education.
Every brisket, chicken and long afternoon beside a smoker taught him something—and made him want to try again.
03
Then Things Got a Little Out of Hand
Small cooks became team dinners, church events, family reunions and gatherings with a hundred people to feed. Better ingredients led to better tools. Better tools led to a custom-built smoker weighing more than 600 pounds.
The scale changed, but the standard did not. If Ship said he would feed the group, there needed to be enough food, it needed to be ready when promised and it needed to be good.
Cooking for a crowd became less about showing off a smoker and more about accepting responsibility for everyone’s meal.
05
From Texas to a Colorado Backyard
Colorado made some familiar Texas ingredients harder to find, but it also created a new circle of friends and neighbors who were curious about real Texas-style barbecue.
The big smoker had more capacity than one family could use. So when Ship fired it, he started offering the extra room to friends. Brisket led to ribs, turkey and chicken. Then came house-made sausage, beef cheeks, pork belly, smoked chicken salad and whatever experiment happened to be on the prep table that week.
That is how Ship’s Backyard BBQ took shape: not as a restaurant concept, but as a bigger version of what had always happened around the table.
06
Why We Keep Doing It
We like the process—the planning, the trimming, the long cooks and the constant search for a better result. But the food is only half of it.
The real reward is watching someone try something they thought they did not like and discover that maybe they just had not found the right Pitmaster yet. It is seeing friends take dinner home, share it with family and come back curious about what might be on the next cook.
Hospitality explains why we cook for people. High standards explain why we are obsessive about doing it well.
07
Come Hang Around the Pit
Ship’s Backyard BBQ is still growing the same way it started: one cook, one experiment and one group of friends at a time.
Read the latest Notes from the Pit. Try something new. Ask how it was made. And if you want to learn how to make better barbecue yourself, come hang around the pit.
Great Friends. Good BBQ. That’s What It’s All About.
