All language subtitles for Kings.of.BBQ.S01E02.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH[eztv.re]

[music]

ANTHONY: Ceddy bear.
CEDRIC: My guy.

Fresh off the press.

The questionnaires
we need to fill out.

Oh, this is from
the food scientists?

Yeah.

Let's see what
these questions are.

We're really excited about
our new barbecue brand.

- AC Barbeque.
- AC-- Anthony, Cedric.

We've got to talk
to some experts

about building a global brand
one thing a time,

- one rub at a time.
- Yeah.

So, as y'all start
perfecting your rub,

you have to deal with
a food scientist.

- Right, so all right, cool.
- Okay.

So, we met with Pilot R&D.

So, what we strive to do
is take you from your vision

all the way through
to product coming off

of a commercial
manufacturing line.

And they gave us
a questionnaire

that we have to fill out
to narrow down

what our rubs flavors should be.

"Please generally
describe your product."

What we're doing is rubs.

What's the desired
product flavor?

- Um...
- Bold and in your face.

Okay, delicious.

Deliciously bold
and in your face.

In your face, ooh,
that's like a slogan.

Yes.

"What is the desired
product texture?"

Mm.

High quality
without highbrow.

What we don't want
is everybody to be...

- Yeah, ah, ah.
- We don't want everyone

- ordering these...
- Ooh, hey, here's one.

Does this even make sense?
Affordable excellence.

Hey, man, that's it.

- That's the texture.
- Okay.

My introduction to cooking
started with Julia Child.

- Ooh.
- My mother came home one day

and said, "Your daddy's
gonna be hungry,

so you better
cook him something."

And she went off to bingo.

So, the first meal I cooked,
I learned from Julia Child.

I roasted a chicken,
I put some butter under the skin

and some fresh herbs.

And my dad came home,
saw the food,

saying, "Damn, your mama
put a foot in this."

I said, "Mama didn't make that,
I did."

He said,
"What are we eating tomorrow?"

And that is where my love
of food has come from.

That's dope.

Does this product need
to be vegetarian?

I think the product itself
might be vegan.

The cow is vegan,
'cause the cow only eat grass.

The cow don't even eat meat.

"What are your anticipated
initial production run volumes?"

Our volume has gotta be
fairly high.

So, let's just go "a lot"?

- Okay, hold on.
- Yeah.

"A lot" sounds basic.

A lot of what, Ced?

We wanna start out
with three rubs.

The hard thing about this
is to take

all the flavors that I love
and narrow all of that down

into three distinct flavors.

That's the hard part.

A whole bunch?
Bountiful?

ANTHONY: Oh!
- Bountiful amounts.

ANTHONY:
Ooh, that's a good word.

You were an English major
in college.

[chuckles]
We chugging along.

"Are there any ingredients
that need to be included?"

- Tarragon.
- Tar...

I'm just gonna throw it
out there.

A lot of people say,
"No, Ced, wrong thing."

But I would love for people
to go, like,

"Oh, you're the guys
with the tarragon sauce."

- Yes.
- Okay.

But peep this,
the next question.

- Okay.
- "Are there any ingredients

that are unacceptable
for the product or brand?"

BOTH: Tarragon.

If it doesn't work,
you didn't catch me saying it.

No, not at all.

These flavors, they should
have a little Midwestern,

- kind of guy that goes to work.
- Yeah.

And then, has that Hollywood
twinkle to it, you know.

- Anthony-- Anthony style.
- [laughing]

ANTHONY: I think we're gonna
need these food scientists

to really help us get us to
where we want to be flavor-wise.

We can go from there.

CEDRIC: We're ready
to do this thing.

CEDRIC: How are you?
Good, good.

- Hey, everybody.
- Hey, guys.

- All right.
- Cedric, man.

- Good to see you.
- How you doing, brother?

- Ali.
- Hey, Cedric.

- Hi, good to see you.
- Nice to meet you.

CEDRIC: It's nice
to meet you in person.

Yeah.

CEDRIC: Our food scientists,

they're bringing
flavor rubs for us.

Really, all we're gonna do
is eat.

Like...
[mumbling]

And tell 'em what we think.

- And I look forward to it.
- Okay.

I'm about that life.

I'm gonna bring a water pill
for myself, just in case.

I don't want
my ankles to swell.

A lot of rubs.

- Let's talk about process.
BOTH: Okay.

DANA: We took a lot of what
you had said

in the questionnaire to heart.

And because you guys had a lot
of different things

that you liked, and a lot
of different directions

you wanted to explore,
we explored a lot of territory.

- Okay.
- So, we want your feedback,

and then in the next round,
we go deeper.

- Got you.
- And we're gonna talk

about taste, and aroma,
and the way it looks,

and the way it feels,
so that we find out

your likes and your dislikes.

So, we're gonna look
at seven different directions--

lemon pepper, chili lime,
salsa verde,

jerk, classic OG,
pastrami smoke, A10.

All you need to do is hone in
on what your favorite three are,

and then we're gonna create
the perfect spice for you

by the time we're done
with the whole process.

BOTH: Okay.
- First question,

- are you hungry?
- Yeah, oh yeah.

DANA: Dan has a solid
20 pounds of meat...

ANTHONY: Okay, all right.
- ...going on back here.

DAN: We have ribs, brisket.

So, for the initial tasting,
we'll just be taking a piece,

dipping in the different...

ANTHONY: Okay.
- ...seasonings.

DANA: Normal human beings

don't just eat dry rub
off of parchment.

And so, that's why
we have meat here,

'cause we need to consume it
the way everybody else

is gonna be consuming it,
to get that full experience.

- Yes.
- Okay.

You guys ready to try
some stuff?

- Yeah, I'm ready to do it.
- All right, let's do it.

ALI: So, for your first taste,
this one is a lemon pepper.

DANA: Feel free to dab
and try it.

- Mm.
- It's good.

I mean, when you first taste it,
you get it,

like, without it being like,
"Oh, look at me, I'm lemon."

ALI: So, second one
has double the sour.

- The lemon jumps out early.
- Does it feel tangier?

I think it might
be a little too tangy.

We always wanna push it
too far...

- Yeah.
- ...so that we know we haven't

- left any territory unexplored.
- We did that.

- "We did that."
- Yeah.

So, we've landed
in too-sour territory.

BOTH: Yeah.
- Now, maybe we pull it back.

This one is actually
splitting the difference

between the first two
that you tried.

It's like the Goldilocks
of lemon pepper.

So, the food scientists
explained to us

that if we do
like a certain rub,

we can keep working it,
keep shaping it

until we get that
exact taste that we want.

I like the lemon flavor,
and it could be kicked up

just a notch with--
with the pepper.

I like that.

Now that we know
your preferences,

we're gonna combine
the best parts of all of these

- in the final application.
- Okay.

ALI: Jerk is up next.

You mentioned you wanted this
to feel bold.

- Mm-hmm.
- We've got four times

- the level of all spice.
CEDRIC: Yeah.

A little jerk
every now and again is fine,

but it's very bold.

Especially, you're getting
real coarse right here.

ALI: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
DANA: Yeah.

ANTHONY: That's a bit much.

And I just came back
from Jamaica,

and you have what would be
an American jerk.

It's not that pure
Jamaican jerk.

We gotta cut it down
to three from seven.

BOTH: Yeah.
- So, jerk has gotta go.

- Yeah.
- Yes, yes.

Let's talk about this
pastrami-styled smoke.

Something like darker
and better for red meat.

Oh, well, damn,
I never thought about this.

- Mm-hmm.
- This is definitely

thinking out of the box.

- Mm-hmm.
- Something that is not

what your traditional
seasoning may be.

That's why I really like
that idea behind it all.

- Yeah.
CEDRIC: I was gonna say

the same thing.
It's unique,

and it's got the most savory
that we were looking for.

ALI: The next one is classic
original barbecue rub,

but with a little bit of a twist
so that it feels unique,

it feels like you guys.

So, these have coffee bean
and orange.

Yeah.
During the holidays,

I'd brine bone roast
in a coffee brine,

and I really do enjoy that.

- Mm-hmm.
- Yeah.

ALI: The orange,
it kinda elevates everything.

- Oh, yes.
ANTHONY: Mm!

I do love the orange zest.

Yeah, I'm a big fan
of that brightness.

It feels interesting
to the, you know...

[smacking lips]
You know.

ALI: The coffee bean,
once it's on the grill,

so that'll be something
to look at later on.

When it cooks, does it change
the flavor at all?

ALI: It absolutely does.
- There are flavor compounds

that are more affected by heat
and will sort of...

- Okay.
- ...dissipate quickly.

Others will get more intense.

So, we have to balance those
in a cooked application.

Yeah.

Because there's too many
seasonings to start with,

we're just dabbing
for this round.

But in the next round,
they'll actually grill the meat

with our rubs on it
so we can really perfect

our flavor profiles.

ALI: Next up is A10.

So, this is basically
a steak seasoning.

I don't know.
This one tastes too pedestrian.

A flavor that you can
get anywhere.

So, if you don't love it,
let's leave it.

Up next is chili lime
to gauge your heat preference.

ANTHONY: I don't think so.

Didn't seem to fit
just in general.

So, let's go on to the next set,
salsa verde.

Not that I dislike,
only I just don't think

it's for us right now
coming out of the gate.

We wanna think outside the box,

and I think this is too far
outside the box

- to start with.
- Yeah.

It didn't feel like
we should try to get people to,

"Look at us, we got
flavors of the world."

ANTHONY: You know.
- Great, perfect.

[all agreeing]
ALI: We've got our top three

favorite directions.

It feels like lemon pepper
is a no-brainer.

CEDRIC: Yeah.
- Mm-hmm, yeah.

ALI: Classic barbecue rub
with a little twist.

- And pastrami smoke.
CEDRIC: Oh my goodness.

We want to give you
the traditional barbecue thing

that you grew up on,
and yet lead you

to a more modern world.

It's a rub
with a 4G capability.

But being able
to taste it in 8K.

We want a rub
that is fiberoptic,

and that's available
in the Metaverse.

[laughing]

CEDRIC: We want to have things
that are familiar,

and yet we can-- we can
take you somewhere different.

Yeah.
You guys have any tarragon?

- Yeah, we have some tarragon.
DAN: We have some tarragon.

Ced's real on this tarragon kick
for some reason right now.

DAN: All you can eat.
- See, I did not even think

- it looked like that.
ANTHONY: He really hasn't tasted

tarragon at all, so we can,
like, finally put this to rest.

- Put in your palm.
CEDRIC: Okay.

And slap it.

Mm.

- You like that, huh?
- Yeah, aha!

- You like that!
- Ha! Ha!

I see what's going on
with tarragon.

Tarragon is into
that wild stuff.

ALI: Inside there are all these
little essential oil reservoirs.

- Ah.
- There you go.

Now the black licorice
comes out.

Oh, yes, you're right.

Kinda stronger
than what I thought.

If you're not French,
it can be a little polarizing.

Yeah, okay.

When you took the tarragon

and put it upon
your palate...

- Yes.
- ...how did it taste

- to you then?
- I was tarra-fied.

Yeah, terrified
of the tarragon.

And I'm not against
the tarragon people.

I know it's a whole group
of Tarragons For Americans

out there fighting with banners,

like, "Yo, don't take
our tarragon."

And I was with you guys,
but I was wrong.

Y'all on your own.
[Anthony laughs]

Let us make a couple
other tweaks.

We're getting
more and more focused,

and we'll meet you back here
for the next round.

- All right.
- All right.

- Appreciate it, man.
- All right.

- Thanks.
- Thank y'all, man.

- It was awesome.
- Yeah.

Delicious stuff, I love it.

[music]

♪ All right

I don't wanna get too deep
in your pocket, so $20.

Let's go.
Easy money.

I could tell by how
it left the club head

that that one was in.

I gotta put a little mustard
on this hot dog.

Get in on top of it.

Get in on top of it!

- Ahh!
- Ohh!

How you not gonna turn left
on me now?!

That was good.

So, we got an idea
what we wanna do

with our flavor profiles
with the food scientists.

But you know, our success
is really predicated

on how to move this product.

So, we definitely need someone
with great marketing ideas.

Our reputation's at stake.

Who do we get to advise us
on this, man?

I think this is what
we need to do, man.

I think we need to get
Daymond John to come on board

and see how he can
help us out.

You gonna call
Daymond real quick?

Calling him right now.

- Hey, what up, Daymond?
- What's going on?

Where you at, man?
It's a little too early

for you to be in the club, man.

Oh, come on, man.

You know, I'm just
setting the mood.

- Gotta start off right.
- Oh, okay.

Daymond John
is a great friend of ours

that we know from way back.

CEDRIC: Founder of FUBU.

People know him more nowadays
as one of the stars

of the hit show "Shark Tank."

[chomping]

ANTHONY: All right, look here,
man, you know this business

that Ced and I
are about to do, man.

We're just trying to put
together a team,

and we were just
reaching out to you

to see, who would you recommend

in terms of helping us
market this?

I know someone
who is a great fit.

His name is Erik Huberman.

He's right out there
in L.A. with you.

He has his own
digital marketing agency,

Hawke Media.
Amazing guy.

Yeah, Erik Huberman, right.

Yeah, listen,
Erik knocks it out of the park.

- Okay.
- You'll hook us up, right?

Listen, man, I love
both of y'all [bleep],

- so that was an automatic.
- A'ight.

Okay, that's what's up, baby.

See you when you get
to town, baby.

- I'll see you all there, man.
- For sure, bro.

All right, peace.

CEDRIC: Erik Huberman,
that's big.

ANTHONY: We gonna do it,
we got to do it right.

$40 a ball, Ced.

CEDRIC: Ooh, ooh.

ANTHONY: Money. Oh-ho-ho-ho!

A little Keanu Reeves, man.
You got too much speed.

Cash up.

Drop 'em in there, baby!

- There's a 50, I owe you 10.
- All right, good, we good.

As my mama would say,
as long as I owe you,

you'll never be broke.
[laughing]

[music]

All right, what's up, man?
Guys, how you doing?

- We're doing all right.
ANTHONY: Come on, everybody,

throw up a dub,
you on the West Side.

West Side.
That's how we going, all right.

Daymond John referred us
to a gentleman

by the name of Erik...

- Huberman? Huberman.
- Huberman, yeah.

- Head of...
- Hawke Media.

Big marketing company,
and we need a marketing team

to get the messaging out there
so that we can get people

- buying AC rubs.
- Yeah.

We really appreciate, you know,
y'all helping us out.

Of course.
So, I wanna talk about

just how this is gonna work.

Our marketing team
is here to help you

promote and sell your products

to meet the needs
of a target market.

That means coming up
with the right slogans

and creative ways to reach
your potential buyers.

You've worked with
Daymond before.

What other brands
have you worked with?

We've worked with about
4,500 brands at this point.

Red Bull, Verizon,
HP, Nike.

BOTH: Okay.

I'd like to introduce
two of the leaders.

Jeeyan, who's our
head of marketing.

My job is to drive revenue
and grow brands.

So, pretty much,
if you guys aren't hitting

your revenue quota,
you've got one person

to point the finger at,
and that's me.

Good, good.
We needed someone

to blame for all this stuff.

As long as your barbecue brand
is as good as your role

as Eddie in the "Barbershop,"
I think we'll be okay.

Oh, let's go,
let's turn up.

All right, that's good, yeah.
[laughter]

We've got Kyle Harrington,
who is our head of services.

So, Kyle's gonna be really,
like, running the team.

I'll be working to ensure
that you have the right person

doing the right thing
at the right time.

Thanks, Kyle.
Pleasure, man.

We're working together right now

and putting together
a full plan for you guys.

We're basically gonna be
swapping in and out people

that are gonna be working on
individual parts of it.

So like, we're gonna
bring you a Shopify expert

to help build the website.

An SEO person,
a marketing strategist.

And then, as things trail,
we'll bring in someone

for Amazon,
Facebook, TikTok.

Next week, we'll come by
the clubhouse

and present all that
and walk through it.

- All right.
- We've been overthinking it.

I got like barbecue sauce slides

that we can do for the kids,
like waterpark.

[laughter]

ANTHONY: Barbecue sauce slides?
- Slides, yeah.

- Okay.
- The kids'll love it.

What are we gonna do
to make people say,

"Yo, we need
that AC Barbeque" [bleep]?

ERIK: The big thing
to think on is something

that we can communicate
to the audience,

like, "This is why
you wanna buy this stuff."

Like, what is missing
in the market

that AC Barbeque
is going to serve?

Why does the world need this?

Oh, goodness.

Think about a brand.
Like, you think about Adidas,

you think
"Impossible is nothing."

You think about Nike,
you think, "Just do it."

So, it might
make sense to start

with just a one-sentence
position statement.

ERIK: You need
to make it super simple

for other people
to communicate it to each other.

- Got it.
- Right.

We got some homework
to do then.

Awesome.
Well, looking forward

to next week, guys,
this'll be fun.

- All right, cool, man.
- Okay, guys.

We appreciate your time, man,
we thank y'all.

All right, fellas, peace.

Erik, man, glad to have you
on the team.

- You're hired.
- Mega huge.

Why does the world need it?
The world?

- That's a big place.
- Wow.

- That gave pause.
- Yeah.

You know, we sit up
and we talk about, you know,

why we're doing it.
Well, our reason,

we're friends, we love to eat,
we love to cook.

But does that really sell

- to the masses?
- Right.

How do we get that across?

It's a lot, bro.

But look here, if your dreams
don't frighten you,

- you ain't dreaming big enough.
- Big enough.

I mean, we're building
the right team.

I like the way that Erik
and them were thinking, man.

- Yeah.
- You know,

it's causing us to think.

What is going to be
the slogan?

I pity the Q.

- I pity the Q.
- [laughing]

- Okay.
- My man was like, yo,

he was like, the "just do it."

- I was like, ew, that's a...
- Yeah.

I think a lot of iconic brands
have iconic sayings.

Nike, "Just do it."

American Airlines,
"Something special in the air."

I want it to be good
as "Where's the beef?"

Ohh.

You wanna chew?
Get the barbecue.

- No, no, no, no.
- Okay, no, that's not that...

- Give us a minute, folks.
- Yeah.

We'll come back
to you with it.

Hey, Ced, what's it's called

when you just
doodling in your book?

I'm not a very good doodler.

ANTHONY: The best thing
that we can do

is to go to the golf course
and hit some balls.

You know, a lot of times
people say deals are done

- on the golf course.
- Mm-hmm.

Well, Anthony and I,
whenever we wanna talk

over business,
this is where we head.

We're out in the open,
beautiful green grass,

lets you think
a little clearer.

Okay, but you do
do the work.

- Yeah, I do do.
- [laughing]

[music]

CEDRIC: Was that a three-putter
or two-putter on that one?

You gave me the gimme,
so just two putts.

I could give you the win.

No, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no.

No, no, I got you on the back,

and you got me on the front,
so we're pushing.

Pushing, okay.

- All right.
- All right?

- All right, cool.
- It's all good.

All right, we're gonna live
to fight another day.

My man Erik, he put some
interesting challenges

on us, man, like one,
why what we're doing, right?

The reason why we're doing
AC Barbeque

is we want to celebrate food,
our culture,

and the community,
and what it provides.

- Okay.
- That's the natural

kind of why
we're doing it, right?

Not just why.
Why in five words or less.

AC Barbeque,
get it hot off the grill.

That's a good one.

Shut up and eat.

- That's aggressive.
- That's aggressive, yeah.

People will take that
and be like,

"Oh my God, they're so mean."

Okay.

I had that split in half.

Thank you, brother.

- Nothing like a good tater tot.
- Oh, man.

Our sauce would be great
for dipping like this.

Mm-hmm.

I got a new one.

AC Barbeque,
best friends in your mouth.

- It's, uh...
- It's...

It's, uh...

I mean, you know,
we're best friends and...

- Yeah, but you know...
- The flavors and the eating.

Yeah, in your mouth?
It's almost...

- It's almost there!
- It's almost there.

- But it's like...
- But it's a little too much.

Just a little, right?
[laughing]

Best friends.
We're in your mouth.

[smacking lips]

It caught me off-guard
a little bit.

Got "AC BBQ."

You got five letters.

Could we make--
what was that, an acronym?

Uh, no.
An acronym actually...

- Oh, it's-- that's...
- ...spells the word.

It's a synonym?

Uh, a homonym?

A "frankenym"?

I don't know what it's called.

"AC BBQ."
All cooks...

Better be quiet?

Quick?

- Quivering?
- Quazy?

Qua-- quaaluded.

Mm.

Better be quelling.

Quell-- quell-- mm.
Better...

Better be quavering.

- All cooks better be...
- Something.

And we so close.
Q's just hard, man.

- Yeah.
- Q just don't have enough stuff

- in the-- oh! Oh!
- What?

All cooks better...

be questioning...

their seasonings
they've used before.

Oh.
But it's long--

more than five words,
but okay.

Well, anyway.

You know what?
I... I...

You know what, we'll pass that
along to the guys tomorrow.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean, hey.

Get this team to help us
just really clear up

what our messaging is,
I think that's gonna be the key.

what our messaging is,
I think that's gonna be the key.

- Yeah.
- But we got the passion.

- We got it, we got it.
- You know what I mean?

No, I like it.

DIEGO: Hey, guys,
Erik Huberman is here.

CEDRIC: Erik Huberman.
Thank you, Diego.

Akk right, Erik, man,
welcome, brother.

[overlapping greetings]

Good to see you. Yeah.

Today, we're gonna meet
with our marketing guy

and his team about our little
adventure at the golf course.

It was another tax write-off.

It was our homework assignment.

We thought about the why.

- Mm-hmm, why.
- And the-- and the who.

- And the where.
- And the what.

I'm thinking about how many
things we can write off.

- Yes.
- As long as we talk

- about business.
- Yes.

ERIK: So, last time we talked,
we discussed coming up

with five to seven words
that really describe

what you guys are doing.
How'd that go?

- I mean...
- It was some homework.

Yeah, we still-- I don't think
we still landed.

ANTHONY: We came up
with something.

- Yeah.
- You wanna hit 'em with it?

- I pity the Q.
- I pity the Q.

What was the, uh...

This is the one that really
stands out for me.

AC Barbeque-- best friends...

BOTH: In your mouth.

[laughter]

Look at that.

- Guys, guys love it.
- Look at it.

- Look at that.
- Guys love it.

Nailed it.

I like "best friends
in your mouth."

It feels authentic, it's fun,

it speaks to you guys,
I'd go with it.

Guys love it a lot.

Exactly, that's what
we're bringing.

We're bringing a lot.
[laughter]

We played on some letters.

- You wanna hit 'em with it?
- Yeah. Yeah.

- All cooks better be quavering.
- Quaver.

Yeah, but that's not it.

"Quagmire," you know,
we were trying to find...

"Quke."

Uh, well, the Q
was throwing us off.

You could do like,
"All cooks become better

with our quintessentials."

- See, look at...
- See that, see?

That's why his name is a letter.

- Yeah, like he-- yeah.
- He goes...

- I like that.
- I like that too.

That could be an option.
And on that note, like,

what did you guys
come up with on the why?

Why do they need your products?

How 'bout bringing
the barbecue family together?

- Yeah.
- I mean, you have all

these products and brands
out there,

but nobody's in
the forefront leading that.

You say, like, there's no center

- of the barbecue community.
- Yeah.

- Why?
- Because it is

an American pastime
that is fairly regional.

"I'm Texas,
we do it this way."

"I'm K.C., we do it this way."

It seems like
that's the reason

why nobody's been able
to centralize barbecue.

ERIK: Yeah, and I'm liking
that angle.

- Yes.
- Like, if that's what

you want to be,
is to centralize it,

on a both product
and marketing side,

what if we highlight
these different things?

Yeah.
For us, when we look

at this space,
I think that's right.

Like, what's your favorite
barbecue in St. Louis?

C&K.
Like, it was a part

of the community--
very traditional barbecue.

If you guys wanna be
the face of barbecue

and help centralize
all the different regions,

then it's important for you guys
to go see

what these regional
barbecues are about.

You know some of the spots
in St. Louis,

so go talk to them and start
building a brand relationship.

They've been doing this
a long time.

There's probably
a lot to learn there.

Yeah, they've definitely been
around since my childhood.

I would love that.

And that's a long time.
Ced's old.

I dye it, but you know.
[laughter]

And this is to help
understand what we do.

You know, when we talk about
how we're gonna get

the brand out there, help you
promote and sell your products,

we're gonna be breaking this
down into three things--

awareness, nurturing, and trust.

With awareness, it's,
where do we let people

know you exist that
aren't looking for you?

So, we wanna be on Facebook
in front of people

that have a chance
of buying this product.

We wanna figure out
who your targets are.

They're gonna start
hearing about this,

and they're gonna go to Google
and try to find it.

So, we need to make sure
we're on Google.

And of course, TikTok,

which basically the entire
country jumped on board,

and you can go viral there

a lot more
than these other platforms.

And so, we're gonna use
all these things

to really get people aware
that this product even exists.

From there, though,
people don't always just buy it.

So, the next step
is to nurture them a little bit

so that they understand
why in general should I buy?

And that's when we're gonna use
email marketing.

We're gonna help you guys
create your own website.

You gotta have a destination
for people to go.

Looking for content,
like recipes,

and different places
to try different barbecue

so that they understand
the value here.

And the last piece,
we talk about trust.

75% of people
will not buy from a company

they don't inherently trust.

The good news is,
people do trust you guys.

That's why we put your faces
right on the poster board.

Oh, that's awesome.

We'll start with social media

and really promoting the brand
and the idea.

I'd recommend
start building that now.

Like, start looking at content
you can create on social media.

Sure.

And start showing
what you're doing.

Like, people will love
that connection.

They wanna see behind
the scenes, you guys know this.

And speaking of best buds,
you might wanna talk

to Mike Meldman
from Casamigos,

with Rande Gerber
and George Clooney.

- Oh yeah.
- Like, that's what

that whole brand's about, so he
could be a good connect as well.

All right, cool,
'cause he's a big mogul.

- Yeah.
- If we can do any of that,

- I mean, that's a win-win.
- Happy to make the intro.

We'll let you guys get
outta here so y'all can...

- Yeah.
- Yeah, thanks.

- We'll talk next week.
- Take care.

- Kyle.
- You guys need validation?

- 'Cause we don't have it.
- Yeah, perfect.

[laughter]

Man, right here,
we popping out, right, okay.

- Mm-hmm.
- Hello.

- How you doing?
- Hey, good morning.

Welcome to Discovery Land
Company.

I know you're here to see Mike.

- Yeah.
- Yes, we are.

Hey, guys.
Anthony.

Oh!
What's going on, buddy?

- How are ya?
- I'm all right, how are you?

Good. Good to see you.
How are you?

What's going on, brother?
How are you doing, man?

Welcome to Discovery.

ANTHONY: Mike Meldman,
head of Discovery Land,

had to go sit down
and talk to him

about building the brand.

When you say boss...

- Yeah.
- This is boss.

He was the partner
with Rande Gerber

and George Clooney,

Sexiest Man Alive
17 years in a row,

and then me.

These guys all started
Casamigos.

The company
just sold for what, Ced?

One billion dollars.

I call that company goals,

'cause it's also our goal
to build a barbecue empire.

We're starting with rubs,
and foods,

then tools and grills.

So, this is a good meeting
for us.

So, was real estate
always your first thing?

MIKE: Yeah, I started
as a real estate broker.

CEDRIC: Okay, so these
are all of the properties.

- Yeah.
- I've been to Chileno.

Chileno Bay, yeah.
Kuki'o, that's in Hawaii.

- We've been there.
- All right.

MIKE: Madison, and El Dorado,
and all of our places.

And I'll show you
around the office.

ANTHONY: Okay.
CEDRIC: Look forward to it, man.

MIKE:
Here's the executive branch.

Oh, nice.

- This is your office?
- This is my office.

[padlock beeping]

Come in here.

Oh, this is
the executive shower, yes.

ANTHONY: Oh, you have
your own spa?

MIKE: Massage, mani-pedi.

CEDRIC: Barbershop?
MIKE: Barbershop.

- I like it like being home.
CEDRIC: Yeah.

Oh, this is the lifestyle.

Oh, oh, the man
had a spa room

right there in the office.

Like going into the Bellagio.

- Yeah.
- We're gonna do that.

- Yeah, we're gonna do that.
- We're gonna do that, for sure.

ANTHONY: You have your own
7-Eleven here?

MIKE: The comfort station.

Obviously, tequila everywhere.

Live the brand.

ANTHONY: Oh, tequila mach--
I'm going tequila.

- There you go.
- Oh, this is like the--

- the own Mike McFlurry.
- Yeah.

CEDRIC: Yeah, I love
"live the brand."

So Mike, you know,
Anthony and I,

we're trying to become
business guys now.

- Mm-hmm.
- And wanted to talk to somebody

who just really build
great brands.

Good, love to talk about it.

I always like
to do the shot.

Toast.
[glasses clinking]

- Toast, toast.
- Toast.

All right.

CEDRIC: I like it.
ANTHONY: That's smooth.

What's the process of starting
a new brand like that?

George and Rande
had a compound at El Dorado.

And so, we were
drinking tequilas,

and we didn't really
like anything.

So, we went to come up
with the perfect recipe.

We didn't intend to sell it
in stores.

We really did it for ourselves.

Casamigos turned
into maybe the third largest

spirit company in the world.

CEDRIC: Where did that
concept come from?

ANTHONY: Not only just
building brands,

but building with a friend.

The one thing about Casamigos
that was so great,

it was authentic.

George, Rande, and I
really created it.

That's all we drank.

We would have it
at our houses, our parties.

George would wear the t-shirt

so people know
it's truly part of you.

It was authentic
to our lifestyle.

Is this barbecue
authentic to you?

It is.
We've been friends,

you know, 20-plus years.

We are in the kitchen together,

and when we're taking
the trips with the fellas,

we're the ones in the kitchen
preparing the food.

This is authentically
who we are.

And that's how
you create a great brand.

The goal is,
when you think of barbecue,

- you think of AC.
- Oh, whoa.

What are some of the--
the obstacles?

The distributor,

they could get it in the stores,
on the shelves,

but we had to get it
off the shelves.

- Mm-hmm.
- So, that's what you need

to focus on--
how to get it...

ALL: Off the shelves.
- And you guys have a platform.

So, you're gonna have
to use that every day.

CEDRIC: We hired Erik Huberman
and his marketing team

to help us with all of that.

We should have wore
our AC Barbeque t-shirts

here today then, Ced.

You should always
be wearing 'em.

We should have had
the polos on today.

That was the lesson that I took
away from Mike Meldman.

Live your brand.
Promote your brand.

If you don't do it,
no one else will.

I've got a goodie bag,
a swag bag for you guys.

- Oh, thank you.
- Hey, thank you, man.

- Whoa, what is in here?
- Oh, [bleep], so this is...

I think a brick--
I think a brick of gold

- is in here, Ced.
- Oh, man.

Diego!

- Is Diego here?
- He better be here.

For $5 an hour,
he better be here.

[laughing]

[music]

ANTHONY: [grunting]
The swag bags.

Oh, they put some nice
swimming trunks in there.

Okay.

High-quality
Casamigos t-shirts.

And he lives the brand,
he lives the lifestyle.

- Oh yeah.
- Look-- brand. Brand.

That's what it is,
AC Barbeque.

We live our brand,
allowing other people

to live our brand with us.

That's what I took away
from him.

- Wow, wow.
- Like that, right?

[imitating explosion]

If he had
James Earl Jones' voice...

- Oh.
- ...and said that...

- Yeah.
- ...people would be like...

[slow clapping]

As they say, that's church.

- Ohh.
- Oh yeah.

- Taste a little bit of it?
- Uh-huh.

ANTHONY: Hey, how much work
do we have left to do today?

Diego, we got anything
left for today?

What kind of meetings
we got left?

- Diego?
- Yeah.

You know what, Diego?
We work you so hard.

Come have a shot with us.

Oh, yes.

We're not gonna give you as much
as we're giving ourselves,

because you know,
you do a little bit more work

- than we do.
- Yeah, good job, by the way.

Bro, that's nice.
Thank you so much.

Yeah, well, you know what?

Let's toast to what
we're starting here

with AC Barbeque.

- Diego, thank you, man.
- Thank you, Diego.

- You do good.
- Cheers.

Up to it, down to it.

- Mm.
- That's smooth.

- It's really good.
- Damn, Diego, you...

Oh, it wasn't a shot?

Yeah, he's a college guy.

I thought it was a shot.
[laughing]

Oh no, you're supposed
to sip this.

- My bad.
- But it's okay.

- You're good.
- Okay, you get--

- Get on outta here, man.
- Yeah, go on back to work.

- Okay.
- You good.

All right.

ANTHONY: All right, we got a
little cornhole setup here, Ced.

- Gotta go in for it to count.
- Gotta go in.

Not-- not landing on there
being close, all right?

- Really?
- All right, it's kinda like...

I don't think that's the rule,

- but okay, we...
- No, no, no, no.

- That's how we'll do it.
- Ghetto rules, ghetto rules.

That's how we're gonna
play it right here, man.

That's how we gonna do it.

Here, I'll go first.
Look at that.

Bam, look at your boy.

That's how you do it
right there.

You can see, you... okay.

- Okay.
- That was good.

You know, we--
we've done our tasting.

We, of course, worked with
the culinary scientists.

Unh!

I think we should go
to my crib, man.

We should go to St. Louis.

I think we should
I mean, you know, Midwest.

Good place to start ribs.

St. Louis got their own rib.

Our goal, to build
a barbecue empire.

During our last meeting,
Erik Huberman suggested

that we learn about
the differences

in regional barbecuing,
and that we build a relationship

with some of our
favorite brands.

And so, Anthony and I decided
to go where I grew up,

my hometown of St. Louis.

My favorite barbecue restaurant,
C&K.

C&K-- didn't you shout out
C&K in "Barbershop"?

I did, yeah,
in the first "Barbershop."

ANTHONY: What made C&K
so special for you growing up?

You know, it was one
of these things

that St. Louis used to be--

we all grilled
in the summertime.

- And you had your barbecue.
- Uh-huh.

You got your own
special family recipe.

But when the winter hit
and you want that taste,

you gotta go to a spot
that's open.

You're not gonna pull
your grill out outside.

So, we'll visit them.

We got to get out there
and see these flavors

and these profiles from
all over the country, man.

Ah.
Kicking my butt, unh.

They got some weird things
to eat in St. Louis there?

Snoot is a very St. Louis thing.

- Snoot?
- Snoot, we call it snoot.

- It's the pig's snout.
- Okay.

- Pig ears.
- Pig ears?

My dad would call them
listeners.

- Listeners.
- He wanted them listeners.

St. Louis is just one place.

What do you think about...

[bag hitting board]
Unh.

...us trying to figure out
all of the, you know,

those kind of great regions
where barbecue is king?

I think it's dope.

CEDRIC: We'll-- we'll go by,
we'll see C&K.

Maybe we find a couple
other barbecue places,

and I get to show you my city,

you know, maybe even meet
some of my relatives.

Mm-hmm.

Oh, this is it, man?
All right.

All right, this is it.

There's only one
first-class seat.

'Kay, okay, so this is
for the first-class seat, huh?

Ehhh.

Get in-- unh.

- Got you.
- Okay.

All right, this is me
right here.

All right.

- And game.
- Mm!

- Aw!
- You know what.

- That might have went in.
- Yeah, that was a maybe.

That's good, though.

All right, dog.
Let's go pack these bags then.

CEDRIC: Diego!
Book us flights to St. Louis.

[music]

Welcome to St. Louis, guys.

AC Barbeque,
we pulled up on the spot.

We're at-- we're in
my hometown.

It's about to go down,
all right?

We're gonna show you
some things,

we're gonna learn something
about that St. Louis

barbecue style.

- Am I Laurel or Hardy?
- Go wild.

Which one doesn't speak?

Go wild.
Penn or Teller?

[laughing]

All right, man, this is
the crib right here, baby.

- Okay, okay.
- STL.

There it is,
the famous arch, baby.

ANTHONY: The arch, all right.

CEDRIC: We'll taste some of
the great barbecue of the town.

When we came up,
C&K was the staple.

ANTHONY: Okay, what made
C&K so special

to you guys growing up here?

Well, I mean,
it was the one that was a part

of the North St. Louis, which is
the Black side of town.

C&K was our barbecue.

- Okay.
- It was the one with the sauce,

with the rib tips.

Very, you know,
neighborhood-ish, right?

- Yes.
- I would consider

the north side the heart
of St. Louis barbecue.

It is where the pitmasters
got their names.

And on the north side,
you sauce it up.

Mm, and C&K,
that the north side?

- North side, baby.
- Okay.

That is how we used
to pull up right here.

- Okay.
- C&K, this is the one.

- All right.
- It's good.

Hey, hey, hey.

You know what I'm saying,
it ain't really

a Black restaurant
unless you gotta wait.

Yeah, you gotta call 'em.

- What's up, baby?
- Knock, knock.

- Come on, how you doing?
- Welcome, welcome.

Indeed, you know what?

I got Anthony Anderson,
brought him to the town.

- Okay, hey, Anthony.
- And I said he had to have

some real authentic, you know,
St. Louis-flavored barbecue.

- Yes.
- Brought him to C&K.

- This is my spot right here.
- Okay.

So, you know what?
Give us the works.

- Okay.
- And then he--

what, you heard about something?
What you wanna do?

You guys have some
listeners on the menu?

- Mm-hmm.
- And, um,

I've never had snout before,
so just make sure

you put that on the platter.

I'm gonna need you
to say "snoot."

- Snoot.
- Snoot?

Yeah.
Nobody wants to know

they're eating a snout.

ANTHONY: I've never had snout
before, so just make sure

- you put that on the platter.
- I'm gonna need you

- to say "snoot."
- Snoot.

- Snoot?
- Yeah.

Nobody wants to know
they're eating a snout.

But-- but it is the snout
though, right?

- It's snout, yeah.
- But we're gonna say snoot.

Okay, okay, could you add
some snoot on the platter?

- Okay.
- When you hear that phrase...

- Uh-huh?
- ..."from the rooter

- to the tooter..."
- Yeah.

That's-- that's the rooter?

- That's the rooter.
- Okay.

But maybe it's the tooter.

- No, let's not...
- I hope it's not the tooter.

CEDRIC: We say
"the rooter to the tooter."

What I'm trying to tell you
is where I grew up,

they eat the whole hog,

and I'm talking about
the whole hog.

[both singing]

♪ Hot snoot
on the platter, mm ♪

All right, and we just
sit on the patio?

Yeah, I'll meet y'all out there,
bring the food out.

- Okay, thank you.
- All right, thank you, baby.

- Appreciate it.
- Thank you guys.

Let's go.

Yeah, man, so this
is gonna be it, bro.

ANTHONY: All right.

CEDRIC: Hey, all right.
ANTHONY: Oh, okay.

- Ah, very good.
- Oh, they-- oh.

The white bread
is the move, man.

JAMILA: So, you got--
I split up a half a chicken.

CEDRIC: Okay.
- Some rib tips, some snoot.

And then I did the hot links
with potato salad old-school.

- Old-school right there.
- Okay.

Could you sit down and talk
to us for a little bit?

- Oh, okay.
- We were on the way here,

and I was saying this is
such a legendary spot,

you know, growing up
in St. Louis.

- Going to C&K.
- Mm-hmm.

- Mm-hmm. I like that.
- Okay.

I'm a rib tip man,
I gotta go for the rib there.

Off the top right there,
you getting in the tips.

- Mm.
- You got a rib tip.

I got a pork steak over here.

Now, how long
has C&K been around?

JAMILA: The brand has been
around since 1963.

This location,
my dad started in 1983.

- Okay.
- Okay. So, you said now,

y'all family bought
this location, came in.

My dad turned it
into a franchise

- and took care of us.
ANTHONY: Okay.

CEDRIC: I think that's
so important and so dope.

- I love that.
- Exactly.

So, what brought you guys
here today?

Well, you know,
Ced and I are starting

- this barbecue brand.
- AC Barbeque.

- Anthony and Ced.
- We're just touring

the country, you know,
getting flavors

and asking people questions
about their business,

what got them involved,

and what they like,
what they don't like.

And in particular, we're here
in St. Louis because this

- is Ced's hometown.
JAMILA: Mm-hmm.

These are the flavors
that remind me

of my childhood.

Man, I'm just really glad
to see small businesses

like C&K still around,
still striving,

and being true
to who they really are.

Some things should never change.

I was telling Anthony
sauce is kind of a thing

in St. Louis, you know.

Texas barbecue,
usually kind of dry.

But we used to put
that sauce on 'em.

- Yeah.
- That's a big part of ours.

St. Louis is really known

- for sloppy, wet...
ANTHONY: Yeah.

- Right. Right.
- ...you know, messy sauce.

You know, the more sauce,
the better, right?

And barbecue is regional,
so you can go to North Carolina

and they use
a mustard-based sauce.

- Yeah.
- K.C. has a different twist

on their sauce, you know.

C&K is sweet, tangy,
with a little pepper.

Oh, man, these sauces
are taking me back.

We should do a sauce too.
We got to.

Matter of fact, we must.

This sauce,
is it a secret recipe to it?

Yes, absolutely.
The slogan

is "the secret's in the sauce."

- Right?
- Mm, okay.

- Okay.
- You won't tell us

- what's in the sauce?
- No.

If I guess...

- Mm, love.
- Definitely.

There's some love in there.

ANTHONY: That's all
it's made out of-- love.

I haven't had
the snoot yet.

Don't be scared, Anthony.

Oh, wow, that's crunchy.

That's what it's all about.

- It just taste like pork rind.
- That's all it is.

Favorite part of it for me,
it added that crunch

- and that texture to it.
CEDRIC: Right.

Okay.

- Now...
- I can go home and tell my mama

I done had some snoot.

There she go with the ears--
my bad-- the listeners.

Oh.

This a ear, with hot sauce,
mustard, pickle, onion.

ANTHONY:
Not what I was expecting.

Come on, Ced,
let's cut it in half.

- This is shareable.
- Come on, Ced-- ooh!

Wow, that's crazy.

- Ooh.
- Oh, that's wild.

- Mm, that's wild.
- Oh.

Oh, you're just gonna
dig in, huh, Ced?

Okay.

That's-- that's an
acquired taste.

Yeah, you had to have been
raised on that,

where you go like,
"You know what?

Give me what my daddy
used to make."

I thought a pig ear
would be a little bit more firm.

It was like old bologna.

And I found it interesting
that you had me eat a listener

and you had never eaten one
before in your life either.

Uh-uh, never.

But thank you for sharing that
experience with me.

Yeah, but you know,
that's what best friends do.

Yeah. Mm.

So, people come in here and ask
for the listeners all the time?

- Mm-hmm.
- Really?

They-- it's a dying breed,
but yes.

Now, I can honestly say
that I've actually eaten

everything on a pig,
from the rooter to the tooter.

You have, and the "hello."

Hello!

I've never had snoot
on a barbecue menu

- in California.
- Yeah.

That's the way
we do it in St. Louis.

It's just a very down-home
kind of thing.

- Okay.
- But that's not it.

We're gonna keep going, Anthony.

- Yeah.
- We're gonna travel

and taste barbecue
all around the country

so that we can have the right
tools and information

to build our barbecue empire.

- Mila, thank you so much.
- Thank you guys.

- I appreciate you.
- Yeah.

So, we gotta do a little
social media.

You know, one of the things
that we got,

a big marketing company
came in and told us, like,

"Look, you wanna start
getting out there a little bit.

Talk about what it is
you're doing."

So, we just wanna do
a shoutout with you.

Lauren.
Lauren, shoot this for us

- on the phone.
- Ready.

It's St. Louis' own
Ced the Entertainer.

Guess where I'm at?

- C&K Barbecue.
- C&K!

Hey, hello, baby.

CEDRIC: Let's go to Lou, man.

AC Barbeque,
C&K Barbecue.

We pulled up.
We might pull up on you.

Quit playing!
Mm, where that sauce at?

CEDRIC: Next time
on "Kings of BBQ..."

They named the street after me.

ANTHONY:
Oh, Cedric the Entertainer Way.

CEDRIC: You have the Hollywood
Walk of Fame.

They did the same thing here.

All right, so we here.

This is a new
up-and-coming barbecue spot.

Hi, C!

Here's my grand-cookie!

Teach me a popular
TikTok dance.

Okay, all right.

♪ AC Barbeque

I think you got the new face
of the brand right there.

- Oh yeah, that's so good.
- Yeah.

We want to venture
into the accessory business.

- An octagon burger press.
- Yeah.

- Octagon burger press.
- 'Cause we want you to...

BOTH: Stop right here.

ALI: We started with
seven different flavors.

We've narrowed the field.

Does it feel like
it kinda completes

what you're looking for?