Bull Hawgs has the Best a Pig has to Offer

LISA C. LUEDEMAN,
For the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, Published June 27, 2004

When Harold Jennings joined a fraternity buddy in a 2001 barbecue competition in Columbia, he had no idea the seeds were being sown for a career change. That change would eventually lead to the opening of Bull Hawgs Barbecue, located at 2612 Highway 56 in Pauline.

"My friend's team placed in that competition, and I came back thinking 'what a neat experience,' " said Jennings, a 1985 graduate of finance from the University of South Carolina who had been working for his family's business, Jennings Paint and Glass. "So I came home, built a cooker, and it wasn't long before I started traveling around with my own team to different barbecue competitions. I met a lot of wonderful people and thoroughly enjoyed it."

In November 2002, Jennings found himself looking for a job when the family business closed its doors. "I did the whole resume and pound the pavement thing and hated it. After a while, I got the idea to start offering box lunches to businesses, and I began a catering business out of my home," said Jennings, who turned his love of cooking into a full-fledged business in early 2003. Jennings wasn't sure where the catering business would lead him but was eager to follow the path that he felt was being laid before him.

"One night I was sitting at a friend's having dinner when we started talking about how great it would be to open a nice store in Pauline where I could sell my barbecue and people could come in to get milk and bread and such," he said. He didn't think about it anymore until he learned at a Christmas party a month later that there was a local man who wanted to build a store and wanted a barbecue restaurant in the corner. "It was one of those wow moments when I just got chill bumps and felt like God was telling me that this is what I should do,"

Jennings said. Bull Hawgs Barbecue opened in late May with a specialty of pulled pork that is seasoned with a secret blend of herbs and spices and is pulled and separated by hand. "It took a while for everything to come together, but these past four weeks have exceeded any expectations I ever had," he said. The restaurant holds about 40 patrons and is open 11 a.m. until 7 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.

A barbecue plate is served with your choice of two sides and costs $5.25, including tax. Bull Hawgs Barbecue also offers chicken on Wednesdays and Fridays as well as smoked chicken salad when available. Hot dogs, grilled cheese, peach cobbler and the Buckburger, named after Jennings' father, round out the menu. After working out of his home for more than a year, Jennings is especially excited about the restaurant's kitchen facilities. He uses a fully automatic, digital rotisserie cooker that can hold 700 pounds of meat. "As you can imagine, catering out of a normal household kitchen is cramped, so it is nice to have the large cooking area, which allows the catering side of my business to be more centralized as well," he said. Jennings prefers to cater events for groups of 300 or less but will provide for larger groups such as a recent fund-raiser for Young Life, during which he prepared 1,200 meals the night before the restaurant opened.

Bull Hawgs Barbecue, which takes its name partly from Jennings' college nickname Bulldog, employs nine, including Jon Fowler, John Pettit and Susan Coyle. In addition, Jennings' family and friends helped to prepare the restaurant for opening day. His wife, Marsha, a local decorative artist, created much of the decor including the faux-finished walls and flooring and an intricate mural which complements the wildlife trophies on display by Jennings, an avid outdoorsman. His father helped build the large screened porch "which is comfortable even in 90-degree weather."

"I credit so many people with helping me achieve this dream," said Jennings, who named Bret Allen, Danny Ligon and Kevin and Valerie Cowan especially. "God has simply placed so many neat people along this path." Jennings and his employees start each week with a short Bible study and prayer for a good week and hope that their restaurant can be a ministry in itself. "We want our customers to know when they walk in the door that they will always see a smiling face and a kind heart behind the counter," said Jennings, whose family includes a 9-year-old daughter, Ellie.

"My goals in life have changed. I have roots here in Pauline … my great- great-grandfather had a farm right down the road, and I want to create something special here for me and my family. "It's not about money anymore. I want to be a good son, a good father and a good husband. I just want to support my family and to have fun doing something I love to do."