A man with experience cooking three meals a day for thousands is opening a barbecue spot in Waycross.
Matt Lachey holds a grand opening at 11 a.m. today (Wednesday, July 29) at 1900 Brunel Street for “Bandit BBQ Co. ... it’s killer.”
Lachey said he’ll have pulled pork sandwiches and nachos, ribs, chicken, cole slaw and baked beans for his debut day. The veteran cook said he’ll be serving until around 7 p.m. “unless there’s still people coming.” He said he’s been into barbecue since buying a Lang smoker about 25 years ago. He’s a graduate of Jack’s Old South Cooking School, the instruction program of five-time world champion barbecuer Myron Mixon in Unadilla, Ga.
Lachey, 68, has a cooking trailer he sets up at outdoor events and festivals, but this is his first venture at a permanent location.
“We’re going to give it a try,” he said.
Lachey said he started cooking with family members, “honestly, at about (age) six,” while growing up in Austinberg, Ohio in the northeast part of the state. After graduating from high school, he joined the U.S. Navy where he served as a cook on the USS Forestal, an aircraft carrier manned by about 5,500 sailors and other personnel.
After honorable discharge from a near four-year hitch, Lachey said he stayed in the food preparation business working at country clubs, nursing homes and hotels.
When a Flying-J truck stop opened in his hometown, he managed its 24-hour, 225-seat restaurant before overseeing the location’s entire plaza.
Lachey, 68, suffers from diabetes and is on dialysis for severe kidney disease. He said that combination threatened his life a little more than a year ago and led him to his barbecue venture. After surviving that episode, he said he “made up my mind I wasn’t ready to die and needed to do something with the rest of my life and this was it.”
At the outset, Lachey said he plans to be open at his Brunel Street location from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday.
He said his daily menu will include the aforementioned offerings of barbecue meats and cole slaw as well as a rotation of a couple of side dishes including baked beans, macaroni and cheese, greens, and fresh cut French fries.
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