Jerry Calloway runs Cujo’s Big Smoke B-B-Q, which combines the flavor of Louisiana with the barbecue cooking style of Texas.

Thirteen years ago, I gave up my 17-year career to follow in my father’s footsteps. After working for so many years for corporations, I decided I wanted to work for myself. Even when I was an Engineer I wanted to own a restaurant.

I grew up the youngest in a family of 12, along with one nephew in Grambling, Louisiana, where my family gatherings centered on cooking big meals, which included barbecues and fish fries every Friday night. We were very close and we come from an old family with old traditions.