Rabbi Q — officially known as Rabbi Mendel Segal — has been very, very busy lately. Earlier this year the executive director and rabbinic coordinator of the Vaad HaKashruth of Kansas City launched his new product line, Mendel’s Foods, LLC, and has hit the kosher barbecue circuit, proving once again he is a champion smoker.
On June 14 at the second annual Chicago Kosher BBQ Competition and Festival, Rabbi Segal’s barbecue won first place in the chicken, brisket and beans categories and took third place with his ribs. The judges also crowned him the competition’s grand champion.
Rabbi Segal, who also calls his team Rabbi Q, has been barbecuing seriously for three years. {mprestriction ids="1,3"}His accomplishments at the Chicago competition are even more amazing because he was pulling double duty at the event. The organizers of the Chicago festival hired the Kansas City Vaad, more specifically Rabbi Segal, to run the event. So you wonder, how could he compete?
He explained that he organized the competition until the judging was ready to begin. Then another person took over the distribution of the blind judging numbers. Since Rabbi Segal had no involvement with the judging numbers, he was allowed to compete.
“When the judges get the food, they have no idea whose it is,” Rabbi Segal, adding “it was a little hectic and totally crazy.”
Other teams told Rabbi Segal they thought he had a leg up on the competition. He believes it is actually the other way around.
“The truth of the matter is the other teams have a bit of a leg up because until that morning I am really doing a lot of different things. I didn’t even start thinking about my food until close to 2 in the morning. I was helping all the teams get situated and all that,” he said.
Rabbi Segal’s interest in kosher barbecue began peaking when he started organizing the Vaad’s first Kosher BBQ Festival in August 2012. This year’s event is set for Sunday, Aug. 16, at the Ritz Charles in Overland Park.
“Then I went to see how other people did it and built a network,” he said.
So far Rabbi Segal has competed in kosher barbecue contests in New York and Chicago. This year he is looking forward to competing in Fairfield, Connecticut in August and Dallas in October. He is the sole cook on his team in the kosher competitions.
“I have a couple of friends who come to give me a little bit of a hand,” he said.
That’s different when he competes in non-kosher barbecue competitions.
“When I do the Kansas City Barbecue Society ones — those are the big non-kosher competitions — I have a teammate. He grills the non-kosher entries because we are required to enter two pork entries. I do the kosher. I do beef and chicken and he does pork, on different equipment of course.”
There’s more kosher barbecuers in this country than you might think, Rabbi Segal said.
“Last time I counted there are about 10 different kosher competitions and each one gets a nice group of teams that are local. There’s quite a few, but most of them are not on a high level,” he said.
His main competitor is a guy from New York.
“He comes to ours in Kansas City and he’s going to New England and as of the other day he said he’s probably going to go to Dallas, too. His goal is to try to beat me,” the rabbi said.
“It’s nice. We’re really good friends now. There’s the rivalry but at the same time we respect each other.”
He loves the competition and getting to know all the teams. In fact he said the barbecuers on the circuit become like a family.
“The friendships that are developed through it, the shared passion, is really amazing,” he said.
Sometimes the rivalry takes a back seat to friendship. Take the results from the Chicago competition, for example.
Because of Shabbat, teams begin their prep, such as making the sauces, on Thursday night or Friday afternoon depending on the competition’s set up. Once Shabbos is over, the teams arrive at the competition site and begin to fire up the smokers.
Rabbi Segal’s New York friend was in Chicago preparing for the completion when he learned his grandmother passed away.
“He came in Friday, got most of his prep done,” Rabbi Segal said. “But Saturday night he had had to drop everything and go fly out for the funeral.”
“Since his meats were all ready to go, I decided I would turn in his meats too. I cooked my meats and his and I thought if he wins anything, it will be a tribute to his grandmother. I don’t know what I was thinking because turning in one team’s entries is hard enough, especially when you are also the guy that everybody’s coming to with questions. But I pulled it off and he took first place ribs.”
“So it was kind of funny because literally I turned in all the first-place entries even though the ribs were his technically and mine got third. I did almost the exact same things with both of them. It was fun.”
Mendel’s Foods, LLC
Rabbi Segal decided to launch his product line after he realized he had a talent for barbecue.
“It’s all about knowing what you’re good at and I realized that I actually have some God-given talent at this. I can do it and it’s kind of fun.”
The thoughts were put in his head some years ago, before he went to work at the Vaad, when he managed the kosher deli at Hen House on 117th St.
“A lot of customers would tell me I’ve got the face and personality for a product. Mendel’s something. At the time I thought what on earth would I do? Hummus or something? What do I know? I’m just a guy who runs a deli.”
As he was thinking of a product, one of his mentors suggested he think of something his friends always have in their refrigerator.
“I had all sorts of ideas but when the barbecue kicked off I started experimenting with my own sauces. About three years ago I served one at a big family barbecue and everybody was just going crazy. I had also just won a couple of awards in Long Island. So that’s when I decided to run with it.”
It took Rabbi Segal about three years to go from recipe to development to physically having products in production. He is currently selling barbecue sauce and seasoning, otherwise known as rub, in four states. His products are made in a commercial facility.
“I just launched the Chicago market, which is one of the reasons why this trip was really important to me. So it’s even sweeter that I did well. I’ve got them in five stores there now and I’ve been hearing good reports.”
Besides the Jewell in Chicago, Mendel’s Foods are on the shelves in the kosher section at Hen House here as well as The KC BBQ Source in Liberty, Hot Spot Barbecue in downtown Overland Park, Kansas City BBQ Store in Olathe, and it recently became available at bbqaddicts.com — where it is called “the nation’s leading provider of kosher barbecue sauce and kosher barbecue rub.”
Other than his wife helping out here and there, he has no employees. And that’s the way it will stay for now.
“I don’t know if I will regret this. I’m trying to build the business to the point where I start hiring people as opposed to looking for the venture capital, hire the people and build a business. In other words, I’m trying to build it from the ground up,” he said.
He does believe eventually he will take on partners and investors. He also plans to grow his product line in the future.
He markets his products through word of mouth, his website, mendelsfoods.com or rabbiq.com (both are directed to the same site), Mendel’s Foods LLC on Facebook and Twitter
“I invite you to follow me on twitter and please, ask me anything, @BBQrabbi.”
On Facebook he writes, “Mendel’s Foods LLC was established to bring quality kosher BBQ products to the market!! And ... ‘Don’t Worry, It’s kosher.’ ”{/mprestriction}