About Memphis Fire Barbeque Company

Everything Memphis Fire started when I read this article... way back in the day.

This project started in 1999 when I read a cover article in Saveur magazine about Authentic Southern Barbeque. The article talked about how barbeque was the last style of food that the large food-service companies could turn into a convenience food. The words written were magical, and that’s all it took to get me interested, hook, line and sinker.

Chef Steven Popp

on how he started in BBQ

jet set spice company

From Ideation to Creation

I was such a purist that I had to start from square one after drawing ideas from that article. I began by developing my distinctive barbecue dry rub, which I dubbed Memphis Fire.

This rub was successful in early friends, family and workplace professional kitchen trials and cookouts. From this initial success, we felt it was time to turn this passion into a business. We launched the Jet Set Spice Company in 2002 as a prominent vendor inside the famous Burlington Rib Fest. It was quite a privilege, and it felt like quite the homecoming for a Burlington Boy to launch at his hometown event.

As our brand began to change and evolve, we realized that at its core, we wanted to encourage people to start cooking at home again. At the time, I had started my professional Culinary Arts Education as a Head Instructor at Liaison College and connected with explaining the benefits and uses of our products at our stops along the craft markets we would sell at. Through this direct consumer contact, the primary reason people chose to purchase our products was that our products are free of fillers and additives. Significantly, none of them have added salt, and a few don’t even have any salt. This commitment to quality, purity and honesty is something we continue to this day, some 20 years later.

our spices in use in 2024 at memphis fire barbeque

Most of our spice blends are unique, others are classics that have been rebuilt using different ratios and flavouring options to suit our needs at the restaurant.

We’re just a couple of culinary nerds, who became best friends over food and married each other because of many reasons, not the least that each of us was crazy enough to tackle this challenge together.

We have always cooked from the heart since we were young. I entered this business when I was 14; Lori would enter it as a second career later in life. We love quality ingredients, proper technique, and honest hospitality, and we’re food nerds.

We decided to set down roots together in this area of Hamilton, which is gorgeous. We wanted to open a restaurant to practice our craft together, a place that would serve food that was in touch with our core values as cooks and as a family.

a new adventure begins

We had already made the decision that we would be cooking the food that we enjoyed in our time away from the professional kitchens we had been working in. Comfort food was what made us happy, and in turn that made other people happy, so there was never a doubt that we would open a Southern Barbeque joint that centered around common comfort food, done uncommonly well.

After months of renovations with loads of help from family and friends, and various trips abroad to procure vintage items for the dining room, we opened the doors to Memphis Fire Barbeque Company on March 18th, 2010.

Mom and Dad to the Rescue

Long time customers will recognize my parents, Linda and Stan Popp who helped us when we needed them the most. The had both settled into retirement back where I grew up in Sarnia, Ontario. At first they were commuting back and forth from Sarnia to Hamilton each weekend, which shows how amazingly dedicated they are to being the best parents two crazy kids like us could ask for, to help with renovations and business startup tasks.

What is even crazier is that when we hit big and really started to resonate with our community, they gave up their retirement and moved up to Grimsby to help us with the insanity that was this restaurant at the beginning.

We all poured our hearts, minds and bodies into the success that we all achieved as a group, and we could not have managed 1/10th of the accomplishments if we hadn’t all worked together to make it happen.

We spent years working side by side, Stan and Linda running the Front of House and Lori and I running the Back of House.

Thankfully, and most deservedly, my parents were able to step back into semi-retirement after 10 years and are still active with us in running Memphis, but behind the scenes.

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for coming to our rescue and leading us both into being better and more savvy entrepreneurs.

you gotta eat here

It was a great experience, and we miss John to this day.

I don’t think I was ready for that phone call, randomly in the middle of the afternoon on a Thursday. You see, I was still in the euphoria of creating the Lobotomizer that morning, still reeling from the food coma that I had put myself in.

Somehow, word had got to the producers of this new show on Food Network Canada about us. We will come to find out later that over 1000 people had written into the production company to put our name forward, to the point they were being told “yes, we already know about Memphis Fire.” The researcher for Lone Eagle Productions and I talked for 2 1/2 hours about everything related to the how and why of Memphis Fire. It was interesting to me that the tipping point of us being involved on the show all came down to that massive breakfast I had created earlier that day. It was when I mentioned the Lobotomizer that the deal was sealed, I am certainly glad that I was craving a grilled cheese with bacon and pancakes and eggs that day. One glorious mashup later and we’ve been airing steadily on You Gotta Eat Here in syndication all over the world for over a decade.

We were able to showcase our amazing breakfast and barbeque items to the nation, and people came from all around to “be Lobotomized”. We were open seven days a week for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner and had a staff of over 48 people, which is a lot for a 67-seat restaurant. I still can’t believe we were able to hang on to that magic, with our parents right beside us through the crazy years that led to our appearance. There were days when we would serve over 700 guests, that is over 10 complete turns of the restaurant: wild and fun memories for sure.

Unfortunately, fate intervened in November of 2013 and I suffered a Heart Attack. It was mild, and eight years later that too is a memory and remains a wake-up call. We tried moving forward with our opening schedule unchanged, however, change had to happen.

So, when you have the craving for our old signature breakfast items, know that we miss them too. Those were some crazy fun times doing things that now seem superhuman to me. If you miss the Lobotomizer too, there is a tutorial on how to make it on our YouTube Channel That Canadian Chef. The Link is below.

Learn to Make the Lobotomizer

thank you for everYTHING

Days away from celebrating our 10th Anniversary of opening, lockdowns forced us to cancel those plans, and we as everyone else in the world waited to see what the future held.

We pivoted to providing our curb-side takeout, and boy howdy did everyone turn up to support us. Through the entire rebuilding post lockdown, you and everyone else, new and long-time customers came and made sure our family and our extended Memphis family were able to put food on our tables, send our kids to post-secondary education and most importantly, feel that sense of community that we cherish to this day.

As of writing, we’re getting ready to celebrate our 14th Anniversary this March. To realize that we’ve become the fixture of a community that we care so much for is really a dream come true. We are excited to celebrate more good times, with good food and honest hospitality as part of this great community for many more years to come.

Thank you for the multiple television appearances, support of our YouTube Channel, hundreds of awards and primarily for your patronage and friendship.

You see, “When you’re here, you’re home” isn’t just a nice catchphrase; it’s our way of life, and we hope you enjoy your time spent with us at Memphis Fire Barbeque Company.