Heath Hall is President and Co-Founder of Pork Barrel BBQ. A BBQ lover by birth, Mr. Hall learned the finer points of low and slow cooking as a kid watching his Dad work his magic on the many grills and smokers in their family’s backyard.

As President of Pork Barrel BBQ, Mr. Hall oversees the day to day operations of America’s fastest growing barbecue company, which sells Pork Barrel BBQ products across America and operates a Pork Barrel BBQ Restaurant in Alexandria, Virginia that Food & Wine Magazine named one of America’s top new BBQ restaurants in 2012. He is the creator of the company’s national award winning line of BBQ sauces and spice rub, including Pork Barrel BBQ Original BBQ Sauce which was named by Men’s Health Magazine as the nation’s best BBQ Sauce and Cook’s Illustrated Magazine as America’s Supreme BBQ Sauce.

He is head pitmaster of the Pork Barrel BBQ Competition BBQ Team which has won numerous competitions including the 2011 Safeway National Capital Barbecue Battle in Washington, DC and the 2012 Sam’s Club National Barbecue Tour in Pleasantville, NJ. Mr. Hall has cooked in the most prestigious barbecue contests in the world including the American Royal Invitational, American Royal Open, Memphis in May, the Jack Daniel’s World Championship Invitational and the Sam’s Club National Barbecue Championship. In 2011 the team was named the Perdue National Chicken Champions.

Additionally, Mr. Hall has appeared on numerous local and national television and radio programs as a BBQ expert and guest chef including ABC’s hit reality show Shark Tank, Fox & Friends, Good Morning America, Fox 5 DC and the BBQ Central Radio Show.

Mr. Hall received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Truman State University and holds a law degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. He is licensed to practice law in Maryland. Before joining Pork Barrel BBQ, Mr. Hall was Strategic Operations Director for Leadership for America Operations at The Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC where he specialized in national security, foreign policy and judicial issues. Prior to joining The Heritage Foundation, Mr. Hall worked as Senior Legislative Assistant to United States Senator James M. Talent where he advised the Senator and developed policy positions and legislation on wide array of issues.

Mr. Hall lives in Baltimore, MD with his wife Nisha and his two Black Labs Sam and Bones.

On Today’s show Heath will share:

- What’s Your Personal Mission Statement
Reward lives in the house of risk.

- Biggest Business Mistake
Our biggest business mistakes came from having no real world experience in the food world prior to starting Pork Barrel BBQ. As a result we entered into a lot of early deals with brokers, distributors and retailers where we ended up getting the short end of the stick just because we wanted to get on a new store shelf. Over time we have learned that there are deals worth walking away from if the negatives outweigh the positives. We’ve also learned that by walking away from the first offer you sometimes get a better second offer.

- How Do You Handle Business Stress and Uncertainty
The best way to handle stress and uncertainty is to be as prepared as you can possibly be. The more prepared you are the less likely you are to encounter uncertainty which lessons the likelihood of stress. In those times that you still encounter stress and uncertainty take a step back and look at the big picture and don’t rush into any immediate decisions if time allows so you can be sure you are making the best decision to tackle the stress and uncertainty head on.

- Greatest Business Decision That Changed Everything
There is no question that the decision that changed everything for Pork Barrel BBQ was our decision to accept the offer from Mark Burnett Productions to appear on Season One of Shark Tank. Our world changed overnight and has allowed us to take the company to places we could never have even dreamed about.

- Best Book For The Entrepreneurial Mindset
Shark Tales by Barbara Corcoran.

- Plus much more...