Joe Sparaco isn’t letting his hobby go up in smoke.
Originally from Oneonta, he operates Smokin Joe’s Barbecue, a mobile catering and event service.
“What actually inspired me was my brother and another guy and I had a big party and cooked a lot of food,” Sparaco said. “I thought, ‘Yeah, I’d like to try that,’ and about a year later I did it, and people were like, ‘Well, you should try barbecue, you’re pretty good at it.’ I started with basically nothing: just a trailer and some concrete blocks, and then I gradually evolved into a trailer with a stove — but it wasn’t really a stove — and I just kept going from there.”
“At the time, I was doing a lot of pig farming and stuff like that, and then I just kept going,” he continued. “I finally got around to building a nice cooker, and I’ve been using it for years. I don’t have a mobile unit, but I have a big 21-foot trailer that I pull around and… I just bought another feed trailer that would also be towed, so we could set up along the road and have one unit with water and everything you need to set up, and cook with the big cooker, and then serve out of the other unit.”
Sparaco, 59, whose main business is a construction company, said he has been honing his barbecue skills for about 25 years.
According to Smokin Joe’s Facebook page, Sparaco runs the business with partner Jeanene Higbie, also an Otsego County native, who “brings a wealth of experience…having worked for over 40 years in the food and beverage industry , including restaurants and catering. »
Sparaco said Smokin Joe’s events run the gamut.
“We attend many weddings, graduations, family reunions, etc. “, did he declare. “We go everywhere and go wherever we want. We don’t travel more than 100 miles, but we could do it. It’s mostly around Oneonta and Delaware County. »
And customers, Sparaco said, are increasingly satisfied.
“They like what we do and we get a lot of calls. We already have six weddings planned for next year,” he said. “We get phone calls almost every day, and it’s mostly from April to October. It’s word of mouth. People hear I’m doing it and they try it, and all of a sudden they’re telling someone else, ‘Try this guy.’”
“My chicken is the most popular food and a lot of people love it, and we’ve done really well with that and the pulled pork,” Sparaco continued. “We do all kinds of it. Smoked mac and cheese, pasta salad, potato salad, macaroni salad, salted potatoes and corn on the cob – basically everything.”
Although demand is high, Sparaco noted, it is accepting event reservations.
Sparaco said he hopes to expand Smokin Joe’s.
“I just want to make it even bigger and do more during the week where we can do different events,” he said. “I’m just looking to push it even more.
“It’s something I love to do,” Sparaco continued. “I loved it so much that that’s what I hope to do eventually, give up construction and just barbecue.”
For more information or to book Sparaco’s services, search “Smokin Joe’s” on Facebook, email smokinjoesoneonta@gmail.com or call 607-422-7958.
