Meet Clay & Susan Caldwell | Founders, Caldwell County BBQ

We had the good fortune of connecting with Clay & Susan Caldwell and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Clay & Susan, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
Susan: “Clay and I knew that this was a huge risk to start a business. We put everything we had into this thing, and there were a lot of naysayers. Looking back I said to Clay “do you realize we started a business and opened the doors with almost zero employees?”

Clay: “Jimmy was our first employee, really the only one we had. He brought some relatives in to help out in the kitchen, which really made a difference. He has been amazing and still with us today.”

Susan: “I remember getting up at the crack of dawn on opening day and trying to get everything ready. My good friend Alice came with Rhonda to help out as a service project. The grand opening was on a Saturday, and we didn’t know if anyone would come. We sold out of everything that first day within 2.5 hours. Alice and Rhonda enjoyed it so much they asked us to hire them so they could keep working with us!”

Clay: “A call came later that same day and a friend introduced us to Julio, our next employee. He now runs Caldwell County Mexi-Q serving recipes that he created.”

Susan: “Cooper started 2 days later, and he is one of our key managers running the BBQ to this day. We have been so blessed to partner with good people throughout our journey!”

Clay: “Most people think that you have to have everything together to get things done, that’s not true. When you have a passion and you work towards it, that’s when you get things moving. We really grew this thing organically.”

Susan: “Perhaps that’s the difference between a business person and an entrepreneur. A business person needs it all to make sense and focuses on the numbers, with caution every step of the way. An entrepreneur is ready to jump off the cliff to get things moving. Clay is an entrepreneur with enough business sense to find success. I didn’t know what would happen but I had a lot of faith in Clay that things would work out.”

Clay: “I believe in subtle upward pressure to be better, and the humility to realize that we do in fact need to improve each day. Combine that with a strong pride in what we offer and it’s a balancing act, but it yields the right kind of results.”

Susan: “I believe in being both fastidious and friendly. We want to pay attention to the details and be sticklers on quality. We also want to people to feel at home here, and we always tell our team to “err on the side of generosity” when treating our guests.”

Clay: “Susan has been an excellent partner, and she really designed the whole look and feel of this place. It’s been hard work but we’ve had a great time together.”

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Clay Caldwell was a former pig farmer who founded Waldo’s BBQ after learning to smoke hogs for the farm staff. After 25 years, he sold to his partner in 2014 and went into semi-retirement.
As a big BBQ fan and a bit of a foodie, Clay traveled to Texas for the Central Texas BBQ tour and
returned 7 more times. During one of the tours, Clay and Susan made their way into Franklin
BBQ located in Austin. One bite of Franklin brisket had Clay and Susan staring at each other in
awe and disbelief. It was that good. “I kind of had a come-to-Jesus moment, even though I had
been cooking brisket for 20 years,” Clay said. “It’s just that what they’re doing in Texas is
exceptional.” At that moment Clay wanted out of retirement and back into the game using
Franklin as his compass.

The Caldwells bought, gutted, and remodeled the residential home into a charming farmhouse-style restaurant with a large dining room and a backyard full of picnic tables

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We created our BBQ with the idea that we could invite all of our friends and family to come enjoy the food. We want the experience for every guest to feel like they are just hanging out in our backyard enjoying delicious food. Our meat is 100% wood-smoked in our outdoor smoker pits, using a mixture of mesquite and pecan wood. We never use propane or electricity for our cooks.

Caldwell County BBQ is a great place for good BBQ. For great BBQ-Mex Fusion we would take our friends to Caldwell County Mexi-Q!

Our new soon-to-be favorite spot in the city is the new BBQ we are building in Queen Creek this year!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Our People!

Website: https://caldwellcountybbq.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caldwellcountybbq/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/caldwellcountybbq/

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/caldwell-county-bbq-gilbert-2

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@caldwellcountybbq

Other: Caldwell County BBQ: https://www.tiktok.com/@caldwellcountybbq Caldwell County Mexi-Q: https://ccmexiq.com/ https://www.tiktok.com/@caldwellcountymexiq https://www.instagram.com/caldwellcountymexiq/ https://www.youtube.com/@CaldwellCountyMexi-Q https://www.yelp.com/biz/caldwell-county-mexi-q-gilbert

Image Credits
Kat Alford