In Raleigh, a barbecue food truck is turning everyday meals into a way of helping others. The truck, called And Also With 'Cue, runs on a simple but meaningful idea: every sandwich sold helps put food in the hands of someone who has none. For its owner, a pitmaster named David, the business is as much about feeding the community as it is about serving good barbecue.
At the heart of the truck is a give-back model that customers take part in with every order. When a customer buys a barbecue sandwich, a sandwich is also given to someone in need. In other words, the meal a paying customer purchases goes on to serve and feed hungry people for free in the local communities the truck visits, turning a single sale into two meals.
The menu is built around classic barbecue. The truck offers whole pork barbecue, brisket, spare ribs and baby back ribs, along with chicken wings and chicken quarters. To round out the plate, there are sides such as mac and cheese, slaw and baked beans, giving customers a full spread of comfort food to choose from.
The brisket stands out as the truck's signature dish. It is prepared Texas style and slow smoked for twelve hours over pecan and hickory wood, a long and patient process. David puts the brisket on around six in the evening, after he has had dinner with his wife and daughter, and then takes it off the following morning, so that it is ready for the day ahead.
The impact of the give-back model can be measured in plates served. Since the truck opened, it has fed more than 400 people for free. Each of those free meals is the direct result of a paying customer choosing to eat there, which means the truck's regular business and its charitable mission grow side by side with every order.
The truck's unusual name carries its own story. The name And Also With 'Cue came from a collaboration between David and some ministers of the First Baptist Church of Raleigh. It plays on the familiar church exchange in which one person says peace be with you and the other answers, and also with you, joining the language of worship with the world of barbecue.
For David, that pairing of faith and food carries a clear message about who barbecue is meant for. The name was chosen to marry the barbecue business with the church, and also as a way to say that barbecue is for everyone. As he puts it, barbecue is for those who can afford to come to the truck and just as much for those who cannot, which is exactly what the free meals are meant to prove.