A loan helped da boyz build community with innovative, locally sourced comfort food that explores global cuisine.


Ian's story

Though Doug and I first bonded several years back listening to Billy Joel's The Stranger at 3 AM, we truly became friends when we smoked our first brisket together. Since then, our friendship has been fueled by our mutual passion for exploring global food traditions, commitment to local and sustainable foodways, and penchant for cheap beer and fire pits.

The result? In 2019 all our food talk got us labeled “a couple of weird meat boys.” In 2020 we embraced the name, started a blog, and Doug welded us an 18ft trailer smoker. In 2021, we started a hot sauce company that uses simple and innovative recipes featuring unique ingredients and collaborations with farmers, artisans, and community spaces. But, ultimately, as our name implies, hot sauce is not our forever goal: what we want is the chance to share our food philosophy and cooking with the world — to build sustainable foodways that honor the many incredible traditions in our community and embrace the innovation necessary to make a truly better world.

We were allowed to start this journey briefly when we ran a food truck and took first place in a professional chef’s competition for locally sourced dishes. So when a friend offered us the chance to run a takeout restaurant from his bar’s kitchen, we said, “Yeah, we could do that.”

But how rude of me! What even is “local” for us? We’re based in Central Illinois, where corn is king. I’m a Ph.D. student, and Doug is a head brewer. But we both grew up in the South — me in Texas, where barbecue, and Tex-Mex reign, and Doug in Florida and South Carolina, where he learned from his family all about things like welding and cooking whole hogs. Together, we’re the Weird Meat Boyz.


This loan is special because:

It helps this business continue to grow.



Loan details


About Weird Meat Boyz

Industry: Food
Years in operation: 3 years - 5 years
Website: weirdmeatboyz.com

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Loan details