Written by Abbas Muntaqim
Smoking meat, grillin’, and barbecuing is inherent to New Afrikan Culture. That sweet aroma of smoke gently rising and evaporating in the air not only makes us salivate for the food to come, but it’s also a signal, calling us to come together to break bread and to be amongst family and loved ones. Growing up, we all know about the informal ‘election’ on who earned the right to throw down on the grill. Because we know that grillin’ ain't for everyone, which becomes clear when someone serves undercooked chicken talkin’ bout “it’s done!” Or when a self appointed ‘grill master’ decides to get on the Weber and burn the chicken and claim “that’s just char!” Firing up the pit and cooking meat isn’t for the faint of heart, and that’s perfectly fine. However, those who master the art of putting fire to wood and coals, there’s a deep sense of pride and honor that comes with preparing smoked meats for the people.
Roderick’s BBQ in the heart of deep east Oakland, is a testament to this tradition. They epitomize the Afrikan art of combining wood and fire to create meals for the community. As a family run community business, where father, son, and daughter (when she ain’t acting) all come together to serve up some New Afrikan BBQ that is guaranteed to leave you satisfied. Whether you like chicken, links, or tri-tip, each meat brings a different taste, and sparks a different memory that can last a lifetime. After each meal, you’ll be hoping you got enough room for some banana pudding. I know it's a few times I've had to stand up and let the food sink to the bottom of my stomach to make room for a few more bites of desert, but I digress…
What makes Rodreick’s special is not only the smoked cuisine, but the fact that it’s a community business. It ain’t just another establishment that’s in the neighborhood making money off of the people, rather it's deeply ingrained amongst the people and it supports the positive development of the community. This is something that I know first hand.
Back in July of 2017, me and my brother Delency founded People’s Breakfast Oakland, which has evolved into People’s Programs that we know today. After a few successful breakfast programs, word began to spread about our initiative, and the homie Pendarvis Harshaw hit me up, and introduced me to Brandon from Roderick’s who wanted to support our free food distribution for the houseless. Brandon quickly offered his support to bring food for our breakfast program. Little did he know, this allowed us to have a break in making breakfast ourselves the night before, and allowed us to get a bit more rest than usual before Sunday's program.
As soon as we had our tables set up, both Roderick and his son Brandon pulled up with some hot warm trays of smoked meat that we served to the houseless. I admit, I didn't have my regular McDonalds breakfast that morning, a tradition that I have thankfully grown out of. So, I was hungry. I quickly snuck a few pieces of that Roderick’s chicken, and boy, that chicken brought me back to life, and I was ready to serve the people! Not only did they win a new customer, but Roderick’s showed their dedication to the community by serving the people for free. And this is something they continued to do program after program, free of charge, until we had bigger events that we offered to pay for (because reciprocity is important)… which they still gave us discounts on!
But enough from me, I just wanted to paint a picture of this business that I got deep respect for. I had the honor and privilege to sit down with Roderick, and I asked him some questions about how and why they do what they do. It also was Roderick’s first on camera interview! So some Black History was made. But anyway, I hope you enjoy this laid-back conversation we had just after the rush of students came in for lunch from Bishop O’Dowd. For the sake of flow and length, the conversation was edited, and repeated words were also removed but the flavor of the interview has been preserved!
Let’s get into it!
Abbas: I'm here with the man, the myth and the legend…Roderick. Man!
Roderick : Oh. Thank you! Thank you!
Abbas: What inspired you to start Roderick's barbecue? How did you learn how to grill and smoke…?
Roderick: I've been cooking since I was 12. That's the first time I barbecued on a little hibachi in my backyard.
Abbas: Before Benihana?
Roderick: No. Not before benihana *both laugh*. But, as far as what made me get into the business, I saw my father and his wife doing something that I knew I could do better. It was the craziest thing I'd ever done in my life. And I did not know how hard it is, and [how] difficult it would be. But we’ve been doing it for 22 years, and we're still in business, so I guess we figured it out and got the equation right.
Abbas: What led you to wanting to create your own business?
Roderick: I've always wanted to be my own boss since I was a kid. I can even say when I was six years old, I envisioned doing my own thing. I never envisioned working for anyone else.
Abbas: What's it feel like [owning your own business]?
Roderick: It's a good feeling…The thing is that you have friends that have jobs and they have the 401k and retirement. And when they get to 63, they can look at life and say, hey, I can chill, whereas I can only do that if I have a steady stream of income coming in. And that's the only con to it. But the pro to it is you don't have to take sh*t from people that you don't respect.
Abbas: We was talking a bit earlier, you was talking about your father. You was talking ‘bout about how..he taught you about the white man. “The white man this, the white man that.” You said something that stuck with me. You said "I just always wanted to look forward". What does it mean for you? Being a Black business here off 98th and looking forward? And creating your own path?
Roderick: If I was living in the past, I wouldn't even have this business. I have a buddy he works for the hospital over here in Oakland. And he's always talking about the white man in the system. Saying we're slaves to the system...I said, next time use that energy that you have talking about the white man and what he's doing to you and use it as a positive way. And that's what everybody should do. We already know how the world is. If you haven't figured it out by now, you probably won't know at all. You got to strive forward and move. You move forward. You always have it on your shoulder so you don't forget. But you don't have to live in that life of being down and talking about it. Because it's negative energy…
Abbas: There's a certain responsibility we gotta have for ourselves, yes, we can understand what they've done, but there's a responsibility we have to be able to move things forward in a positive direction. Where we aint beholden to them. Otherwise we're gonna be stuck in the same situation.
Roderick: Exactly. And they aren't all bad.
Abbas: So family plays a big role here. You know, you got your son with you.
Roderick: Yeah. Sometimes my daughter.
Abbas: What does it mean for you? Building a family business?
Roderick: Man. It's the best feeling in the world to be able to have my son working with me. It's just one of the biggest joys that I have. I know a lot of people that own businesses. And the kids go to school and the kids go off and do things. They always end up back in the business, but they go on trying to find themselves. Some do find themselves and end up doing what they're great at because they're making a lot of money. But a lot of kids will go back to the family business because of something that they did…You hate your family business until you have to work for somebody else. I rather get yelled at by my son *laughs* then I would somebody that I don't respect, or somebody that I'm working for, but he doesn't yell. *collective laugh*
Abbas: Your daughter yells at you?
Roderick: No, no she doesn't. *smiles*
Abbas: So we definitely consider y'all to be a community business, you know, not just a business in the community.
Roderick: Yeah. Thank you.
Abbas: Businesses might be like In-N-Out, make money off people. And say "oh there's too many break ins and we moving out”. Where did you get this philosophy of really wanting to be a part of the community?
Roderick: Well, it was close to home. I only live one exit away (laughs hysterically).
Abbas: You had no other choice!
Roderick: I love Oakland. Oakland's a beautiful city. I mean, people say a lot of things. Bad things about Oakland. It's still a beautiful city. I don't feel threatened. I can walk all the way down the hill. I can get on East 14th. You just have to have your head on swivel. You know, I haven't been bipped. (Abbas laughs and says he hasn’t been bipped either) No, seriously, I haven't been bipped! God has been on my side. But they're giving Oakland a bad rap. Well, it is it is f***** up right now. But it's going to get better. And I just hope that our people. Meaning people of color, don't leave the city because that's all they're trying to do. That's why they're letting it go crazy…
Abbas: You’ve supported us very early on, with our breakfast program. Can you talk about why it's important for homeless people here in Oakland to be able to have a good quality meal, smoked barbecue..
Roderick: Well, they need food. They need balanced meals, you know, and that's one thing you probably don't get when you're homeless is a balanced meal. And I think that that's important not only for homeless people, but for everybody. But my heart does go out to the homeless because it's a big problem right now that we have in this country. So the work that you do…really pulled me in because me being in a fraternity, [an] alpha, we say we're servants, we serve the community. Then that's what I feel like I'm doing here, even though we do it for pay…I want to give you the best product that I can give you. And when we did yours, that's what we were doing.
Abbas: So what do you feel has led you to have a strong bond with the community? Them kids came in and they was like “aye, whats up!”
Roderick: I'm a people person. And I think that people naturally gravitate to me based on the energy that I have. It's been like that my whole life, even as a kid. People will come in here now, [that I] just [have] met, and they'll talk and tell me their life story, you know, tell me their woes and things going on. And I'm always positive. I always try to stay positive. I think that that's one of the most important things in life.
Abbas: How has it been? Obviously there’s challenges with owning your own business, especially being in the community. And balance being, you know, of service to people. How have you been able to maintain those principles, even amongst the challenges you faced as a business owner here?
Roderick: Man, I have this quote. Mine is, "nothing comes to sleepers but a dream," and my ex-wife says, “never quit.” When I started Roderick’s, I went through hell. The first two and a half years were my toughest years ever in my life. But I didn't quit.
People would come to me and say: “Roderick, when is enough, enough?” When you gonna pack the stuff up and go get a job?
I would say: “right when I quit is when the bubble was about to pop. And if I listen to you, I'll be there working in a place [where they can] just come and tap me on my shoulder and say business isn't going well, unfortunately we have to let go of some people.” And there you are without a job.
I don't have to worry about that. My son doesn't have to worry about that. Our employees don't have to worry about that when we have them here.
Abbas: So what's the secret to Roderick's BBQ?
Roderick: Love! Love!
Abbas: Any special recipes?
Roderick: No, it's all mine! They're all my recipes. I just cook with a lot of love, man. A whole lot. That's it. You know that and don't put too much salt. *laughs*
Abbas: Why did you want to smoke meat? And how did you learn that art of smoking meat? Cuz that's a whole different ball game.
Roderick: Because my father and his ex-wife had a smoker. That's where I got the old hickory from. And then I don't want to be flipping ribs all day. You know, or even have a pit that doesn't move where you got to go in there and flip it with this. I put (the meat) in there. Put the wood in there and it just rotisseries.
Abbas: Science!
Abbas: You talk about your family and your southern roots. Did that have a big impact on how you cook and your barbecue?
Roderick: I mean, with respect to having soul food because a lot of the side dishes that I cook, I grew up eating, you know, pretty much from birth. And it wasn't like I had greens or yams and macaroni and cheese for the first time when I was 18 or 19 years old. I grew up eating it. I probably perfected it by cooking in a restaurant.
Abbas: So what's a typical day at Rodericks look like?
Roderick: A typical day of Roderick's, is getting up, coming in between 8 and 9. Start off cooking, check your emails, do some social media.
Abbas: I would have thought your son ran it.
Roderick: He forced me to do it when I first got on Instagram. Oh my goodness. I'm like, what the hell am I supposed to do? He says: “Dad just scroll.” I'm like this is stupid….So I created an Instagram page…and I remember we hit a thousand [followers]. I felt like we had broken the record. Now we're at 20,000.
And one of the keys to the success of this business that I'm finding is doing food influencers. We've done Boozie Brunch, Bay Area Food Dreams. Big shout out to her (Bay Area Food Dreams) because she came and did a review for us when I didn't know who she was, she just came in (and made a video). And I'm on Instagram and there's Roderick's! And she has since then blown up, and we've gotten the most views out of [the video] she did.”
Abbas: You know, you're talking about just random food vloggers coming in. And I think the biggest thing that I take away from that is the way you treat people. You don't even know that person is a food vlogger. There's still just a sense of respect and love to that person to where that has an exponential effect on the business and for them as well..That's something that I get from this place every time I walk in, is love.
Roderick: People say it feels like home. This guy came in here three weeks ago and he took pictures and everything…He said that [Roderick’s] is not a restaurant. He said “that place is like home.” And that's what I want people to feel like when they come in [that you’re] getting a home cooked meal. It's not fast food. I've made some great friends in this business and met some real solid people.
Abbas: You making it shake?
Roderick: I'm trying. You know, don't quit. Whatever you do, don't quit.
Abbas: Appreciate you taking the time.
Roderick: Oh, man. Appreciate you too, baby boy. Thank you. Man. Thank you.
*Abbas and Roderick shake hands and hug*