There are few dining experiences that match smoked chicken wings and a Game Changer at Home Team BBQ. What started in 2006 in a converted garage in West Ashley has grown to seven locations and a company that employs more than 600 people.
As Home Team’s 20th anniversary approaches in November, Charleston City Paper sat down with its founder and pitmaster, Aaron “Fiery Ron” Siegel, to reflect on two decades of the cuisine, philanthropy and people that make Home Team BBQ a pillar of the Charleston dining scene — and beyond.
A white tablecloth beginning
Siegel, an Atlanta native, didn’t grow up eating barbecue. After graduating from the University of Georgia, he enrolled in the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., in January 1997. Following an internship at Atlanta’s Nava under Chef Kevin Rathbun, he graduated and relocated to Aspen, Colo., where he worked at both a high-end restaurant and a burrito spot.
“There wasn’t anything at the time that was fresh fast,” Siegal said. “We take that for granted now. I started thinking about this quick service barbecue restaurant, mashed together with some Mexican and Southwestern aspects, but I continued on my white tablecloth path.”
Siegal moved to Charleston in 2002 to take the head chef position at Blossom, sandwiched then between sister restaurants Magnolias and Cypress on East Bay Street. He started doing a weekly barbecue lunch on Fridays, using Cypress Executive Chef Craig Deihl’s smoker.
At the same time, a college friend, local builder Lindsay Nevin, was looking to purchase an old gas station to turn it into a restaurant.
“I started thinking about my career and what I wanted my life to be like,” Siegal said about this pivotal time. He loved fine dining, but also saw a lot of people crumbling from the lifestyle. The time felt right to strike out on his own with a new concept.
Home Team BBQ is born
Home Team BBQ opened at 1205 Ashley River Road in West Ashley in November 2006. Taylor Garrigan — now an operating partner — was the opening sous chef and together, they created the menu.
The duo didn’t want to fall into the regional barbecue box. Dishes like tacos with a barbecue spin were things that people had not seen in Charleston before.
“That was our idea,” Siegal said. “Create a barbecue restaurant that was maybe a little bit different than those barbecue restaurants that were around at the time. It was more like this is how we want to eat.”
In 2006, it was hard to find places in Charleston where you could get a beer with your barbecue other than Sticky Fingers and Jim ‘N Nick’s Bar-B-Q.
“There wasn’t a place where you could go have a good time and hang out for a few hours, watch a game, catch a music show, bring your kids for lunch and come back with your buddies at dinner and see a band,” Siegal said. “We just wanted to create a place that we wanted to hang out at.”
And that is one of the beauties of Home Team BBQ: it can be different things for different people. Looking for a friendly place to bring kids? Home Team BBQ has a kid’s menu. Looking to cure a hangover? Order some tots and queso. Want to celebrate a birthday? Grab a big table and order the entire menu.
The Sullivan’s Island location opened in 2009 which brought a new level of visibility for Home Team BBQ. The downtown spot at 126 Williman St. opened in 2016, as did an Aspen, Colo. outpost. In South Carolina, Columbia got its own Home Team BBQ in 2019 and a Greenville location opened two years later. The north Mount Pleasant spot opened in 2022.
Giving back and reflecting
Supporting the community has been a top priority at Home Team BBQ. Early on, Siegal got involved with Hogs for a Cause, an annual barbecue festival in New Orleans that has raised over $18 million helping families fighting pediatric brain cancer.
Rock the Block, Home Team BBQ’s annual block party and flagship fundraiser, started in 2017. Siegal and Garrigan are also two of the founders of Holy Smokes, a barbecue festival in Charleston that held its inaugural event in 2021. Both events raise money for Hogs for a Cause as well as the local Ronald McDonald House.
Siegal is very clear that the number one strength of Home Team BBQ is its people. Most of the operations team has been with the company for over a decade, which is unprecedented in the famously transient world of restaurants.
“The biggest thing is growth,” Siegal said about what has changed at Home Team BBQ over the years. “Obviously, we’re seven restaurants now. But personal growth for all of us and all the people who have come through our system over the years. I’ve grown my family under this roof. So many people that work for us have been able to create a life for their family under this roof. That’s a real sense of pride.”
And what has stayed the same since day one? “Good people,” Siegal shared. “I think that’s a constant with us. You’ve got to pinch yourself sometimes that you can come to work and be around all these people that care as much as you do about this place and are willing to do the work to keep it like that or to make it better. That’s an amazing gift to have that type of group of people.”
CELEBRATION: A multi-day party filled with performances is set for Sept. 24 to 26. Paul Cauthen will headline a Sept. 26 show at the Refinery. Tickets: therefinerychs.com
Help keep the City Paper free.
No paywalls.
No subscription cost.
Free delivery at 800 locations.
Help support independent journalism by donating today.
