Macon Magazine

sauce, pickles, bread, meat. Everything you're eating here, we made with our hands. When you eat a turkey sandwich here, we butchered those whole turkeys. We made the rub. We smoked and sliced it." The smoking process alone is incredibly labor-intensive. "It's a 12-hour, 14-hour cook on these pork butts. Or whole hogs, when we can get them from Comfort Farms ..." Hampton began "It takes days," Lopez finished. "We're doing everything the right way. We just stick true to who we are because we firmly believe in our product," Hampton said. Creating delicious food from scratch isn't the only challenge. They have to sell it, too. Hampton explained that they are "off the beaten path here. People come here because they love our barbecue, but we don't get that downtown foot traffic [this far from Cherry Street.] But we have to survive. We have to sell food. Whatever it is we got to do, we got to do it …. This is how I feed my family. This is how my kid's gonna go to college. We put everything we have into this little building at 120 New Street." Lopez said she believes the rewards of the work outweigh the challenges. "I've been here for over a year, and I've yet to feel burnt out. I feel like that's huge .... I mean, honestly, in the food industry, during the pandemic, I was like, done. I didn't want to do it anymore. I was burned out. I was underpaid, not appreciated …. Working with Ben rejuvenated my love for the industry because of his passion and how committed he is. We're working our asses off. He's on top of the roof, putting a new roof on. He says he's going to do something, he does it. And not once in my 15 years in this industry have I worked with somebody like Ben. And Marla," Lopez said. "We care about each other," Hampton said of their team. "No one's trying to put all their [mess] on one person and walk away from it. That would be screwing over your friend." "That's why you have a team," Lopez said. "Restaurants are hard in a perfect world. … It is tough. But anything worth it, you gotta go through the trials and tribulations," Hampton said. But the tribulations have lessened since Lopez joined. Hampton was working "16-, 19-hour days" a lot of the time, he said. But recently, he was able to take a morning off to build a fence at home. When he called to check in on how the day went, everything had been smooth. One busy Saturday, Lopez and Hampton were both at a catering event, and Snack held down the fort. "When we came back, everything was beautiful." Hampton said. "Clean! Even more things were done than usual," Lopez enthused. Finding a team, however small, that works together so seamlessly that any of them can take a day off — "I can't say how much that means to me as a business owner, father, boss," Hampton said. Hampton and Lopez' hard work and teambuilding result in delicious dishes like juicy, slow-smoked brisket on homemade buns with fresh slaw, fried mac and cheese, and smoked turkey and collard greens. And they are proud of what they do. Hampton encourages people to try the food for themselves: "What I really want people to know is this: We're doing things right. Give us a chance. Come eat the food. You might pay a couple extra bucks, but you're eating stuff made by hand, made from scratch, made with love." CHEF VICTORIA LOPEZ SHOWS OFF SOME JUST-SMOKED BRISKET (LEFT), OWNER BEN HAMPTON PREPS FIREWOOD FOR THE SMOKER (RIGHT). PHOTOS BY MIKE YOUNG. FEBRUARY/MARCH 2023 | maconmagazine.com 35

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