PHOTO PROVIDED The Dad’s BBQ crew, above, work at a Penn State “White-Out” game.

Dad’s BBQ began when Jennifer Winters bought her husband, Marshall Winters, a small smoker for inside the grill.

“He fell in love with that,” Jennifer said.

They upgraded from there and cooked for friends and family. People kept telling them they should be selling their food.

“It started out as a venture on the side,” Marshall said.

Their first event was at Squarewood Acres Campground in August of 2022.

“Our menu was so small back then,” Marshall said.

They picked the name Dad’s BBQ because Marshall didn’t want anything too complicated, to honor his dad and because he loves “dad jokes” that make their sons roll their eyes, which explains the “Hi Hungry, I’m Dad” motto on their trailer. Jennifer handled most of their marketing and label designs.

The brisket is the most sought-out food at their events, Jennifer said.

“We have a lot of loyal brisket followers,” she said.

The Momma’s Mac is their top side, but the Gangsta Green beans are popular at weddings. The people that don’t get them ask for it because they hear everyone around them talking about it.

“People rave about our green beans,” Jennifer said.

When they first started, they set up at locations around Lycoming County, getting their name out there. They catered their first wedding in October of 2022.

From there, with word of mouth, they grew. Originally they were able to cook out of their house, but they expanded and now are headquartered at 5316 Lycoming Mall Drive, Montoursville.

When they first started, an event with 200 people would cause them to “freak out,” Marshall said. Then that number grew to 250, then 300. Now they can cater events with 800 people.

“We want to be trusted with larger events,” Marshall said.

“But we still love the 100-people events,” Jennifer said.

That first year, they primarily did pop-up events. In 2023, they added more catering. By 2024, more than half of their events were catering. This year, that number grew to 90 percent. They booked more than 20 weddings this year and they are already booking weddings for 2026.

When they first began booking weddings, catering one a day was a big deal. Now they can have two or three in a day, plus a graduation party, by splitting the team, Jennifer said.

“It’s been tremendous growth with the team,” she said. “It’s been great to see.”

What started as a duo has grown over the years. In November 2022, Chris Anthony, who Marshall described as “super passionate about BBQ,” was looking for a full-time job.

With Marshall being “Dad” and Jennifer being “Momma,” Chris as the pit master gets the title of “Uncle Chris.”

“I’m Dad,” Marshall said. “Chris routinely gets called Dad because he’s older than me.”

Last year, Randy Dixon joined the team as the part-time cook, prep and cleaning.

“A lot of work goes on behind the scenes,” Jennifer said.

In addition to the four core members, they also have other part-time employees that help with catering events.

“We’re focused on being one of the best in central Pennsylvania,” she said.

One of the benefits of doing catering events is making it easier to plan.

“We don’t like to run out of food or close early,” Jennifer said. “We make sure we have enough food for people.”

However, she called it a double-edged sword because they also didn’t want to have too much food left over going to waste. They used the leftovers to start their “Feed a Fam” program and asked Facebook for Montoursville families in need that could use the leftovers. While they aren’t doing as many events where they have leftovers, they still keep their ongoing list and reach out to the families to see if they can help them.

They recently had an event where the recipients didn’t have the space for the extra food and they told them to do what they could with it. Since it was around midnight, they didn’t want to reach out to their normal families, so they dropped the extras off with the Pennsylvania State Police in Montoursville.

Dad’s BBQ has fed people around Lycoming County, at Lewisburg Arts Festival and even at the White-Out game at Penn State.

“That was our busiest public event ever,” Marshall said.

Don’t expect to see them opening a restaurant anytime soon. They like the flexibility of being able to take a few weeks off after a particularly busy time, which they would not be able to do if they had a restaurant, he said.

For now, they are sticking to public events and catering events in Pennsylvania, Marshall said.

While the Dad’s BBQ trailer isn’t out at public events as often as it used to be, people looking for their food can find “Porky Packs” and some sauces for sale at Tebbs Farms and Greenhouses. They also encourage people to follow them on Facebook for updates on where they will be next. To order food, email FeedMe@LetDadCook.com.