For years, Illinois natives and buddies, Bryan Whipple and Sean Trowbridge would have fun gathering friends and family for leisurely cookouts at their homes that included “low & slow” smoked meats and tasty sides served up with a lot of care and love. But as word got out about their amazing bbq, they noticed the party sizes growing and wondered if they could put their passion to work for them.
Bryan grew up helping his mother cook and prepare food for large parties at the local VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) organization. Throughout the years Sean helped his Uncle do pig roasts for family & friends. The guys, through a common passion for BBQ, formed “Team FIB”, got a logo and purchased “Smokezilla”, a 300 gallon black smoker. Using their own signature blend of dry rub spices, unique bbq sauce and flavorful hardwoods on quality smoked pork and beef, they quickly gained catering gigs. Soon business was booming with family reunions, weddings, corporate parties, etc. and eventually Team FIB even signed up to partake in Batavia Windmill City Festival. They were met with such an overwhelming response they sold out early each and every day of the event. Team FIB’s popularity grew so much in just the last year a second smoker was added to the arsenal, a 750 gallon smoker.
Team FIB also enjoys giving back by hosting a pig roast at the Valley Sheltered Workshop in Batavia. A non-profit business which offers job opportunities to individuals with disabilities. 100% of the proceeds from the event goes to help the organization maintain and operate the workshop.
Team FIB says they can only describe their dry rub and unique bbq sauce as a “Midwestern style bbq” – a blend of influences from Memphis, the Carolinas, & Texas making it unique to us and the Chicagoland area. They use lots of apple and mixed hardwoods when they smoke their meats for 12-13 hours.
Good smoked meat is definitely their passion and it took a lot of trial-and-error to perfect it, but they truly love what they do and have a good time doing it. They are dedicated to their business so much that they work in shifts through the night maintaining the perfect cooker temperatures. Often the result is only getting a couple of hours of sleep to make sure there is just the right amount of heat and smoke.
Team FIB currently operates their food truck/trailer out of the Batavia Menards (located at 300 N. Randall Rd., Batavia, IL 60510) parking lot on various Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays where they offer a variety of awesome bbq and sides. They often sell out early so be sure to visit their Facebook page for days & times! (Facebook Link: Team FIB BBQ Trailer )
