COMPETITOR

Vet Smoke BBQ

HEAD COOK: Alex Miner

COMPETITION: World Burger Championship

I am a mostly self taught chef, who got started in the world of cooking, through outdoor BBQ and live fire cooking, while still an active duty Sergeant in the Marine Corps. As a way to celebrate and build camaraderie among my fellow Marines and service members, cookouts were the ideal way for me to contribute to troop welfare and have a good time doing it! I began to become more intrigued by the various styles of cooking, after seeing different styles around the world of BBQ, including the chicken and lamb skewers that I saw, while in Iraq in 2007-2008. Upon honorable discharge, I first stumbled into the restaurant business in the front of house, working my way up from busser, to assistant GM. Through Covid, I found an increasing passion for experimenting and trying new things in the kitchen, and made the jump to the back of house, in various line Cook roles, learning as much as possible along the way. An opportunity arose to move into the chef/pitmaster role at a local BBQ joint and I jumped at the opportunity. Through my time there I learned a lot, not only about myself but about the profound opportunity we have in this industry to affect people and to show people who we are, through food. Since moving in to my current role, I have been able to secure a spot in the World Food Championships in the burger category, my "Tuefel Hunden" burger beating out several other phenominal creations and voted on by food network celebrity chefs, and I could not be more excited to represent myself, my food, my family, my country and fellow service members!