06/08/2026
Ok it's later....and I'm typing up a long one. I'm good for about one or two of these a year
First and foremost I want to extend a huge thank you to everyone who came out yesterday. Your support means everything to us, and nothing we do is possible without YOU!
Second, I want to apologize to those of you who showed up and either had to switch up your order due to outage's, or didn't get anything at all after our fairly early sell out. I've always said that it's impossible to fully gauge the amount of food to prepare (if you read my menu, believe me, it's not a small amount of food by any means) , but if the trend continues this year, yes I will have to make more. This is something that's been in the back of my mind for awhile, but when you factor in food cost, trailer space, smoker space, equipment space, cooler space, and most importantly TIME...geesh that's kind of a connundrum. But I really hate to disappoint anyone, especially if it's someone who has been a day oner. I've always pushed coming to us early, but when 90% of our sales happen between 11 and 11:30, early somehow becomes late(even though it's not late at all). Which brings me to my next topic:
Pre Orders
We have been quietly doing this on the low for some time now, but our system is pretty crude. Basically you message me anytime up to about 9am on the day of service, and I put your food aside for you. This is what happened to the burnt ends yesterday. It's a good way to make sure you get that brisket, but like I said, it's pretty crude and you still have to wait in line to pay and pick up. So my goal before the next event is to implement a system that would allow you to pre order and pay, pick a designated pick up time, and skip the line for a faster (ish) pick up. It's just a goal, at this point, and successful ex*****on of said goal is a whole 'nother story. I'm just a dude who builds fires, with a slight understanding of how to use basic tools( very similar to a caveman). One thing I know is that my friend Greg over at Riptide Coastal BBQ very successfully implements this system, and I plan on picking the heck out of his brain for guidance on this. He is currently coming off of a very long weekend of running smokers and dealing with hard headed briskets, so I'll give him a few days before I pester him. One thing I want to point out is that there are still other factors involved that would make pulling this off successfully a challenge. The biggest being is that I'm not set up in an actual kitchen, and warmer/refrigeration space is always an underlying issue. I do take pride in always(sometimes) finding a way, and I will ALWAYS do my best to keep my people happy .
So that's that.
Now to address another frequently asked question: "When is your next pop up?"
So all of our dates for the 2026 season are posted on gems520.com, however, due to life, they are not all accurate. We will be catering a fairly large wedding later this month, as well as a graduation party. Getting things in order for those two events are a huge priority, and will eat up most if not all of my free time( not including this post which is taking me an hour to write). Also, our son Gavin(he's my right hand man in the trailer) is graduating high school next week, and thus will also need a graduation party thrown, as well as getting college stuff in order. And we are moving our other son Gage out to Idaho next month to start his career at Micron. So you can imagine it's gonna be a busy and emotional next couple weeks for us. So all I can tell you is follow us on here for upcoming events. We'll keep you posted.
In the meantime, if you've got a bbq itch that needs a good scratching, I'll ALWAYS recommend Riptide (even though Greg got mad at brisket and broke up with her via social media. He'll probably have a change of heart once he catches up on sleep). If not, Smokin Pete's in Geneva and Bearded Bear BBQ out of Union Springs are obviously 1,00,000,000% SOLID choices. And if you don't already, make sure to follow Gems Waterloo for all of their events. They do chicken BBQs, ice cream,farmers market, and are also getting other great vendors to set up at their location, which by the way, has become an absolutely amazing venue. Shout out to Mike Wright and team for all of your tireless work.
Okay, I've wasted enough of your time today. Thankful that I took the day off from my full time job, but I've got a wild turkey going on my personal smoker , then gonna make a turkey breast delivery to my Mom since she was one who missed the turkey yesterday. Thanks to those who read this to the end, and for everyone for always showing us love and support 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Have a great day🔥💨
Jeff
