Joe Sparaco isn’t letting his hobby go up in smoke.
The Oneonta native operates Smokin Joe’s Barbecue, a mobile catering and event service.
“What inspired it, actually, was my brother and another guy and I just had a big party one time and cooked a bunch of food,” Sparaco said. “I was like, ‘Yeah, I’d like to try that,’ and, about a year after that, I did, and people said, ‘Gee, you should try getting into barbecue, you’re pretty good at it.’ and I started out with basically nothing: just a trailer and concrete blocks, gradually moving up to a trailer with a cooker – but it wasn’t much of a cooker – on it and I just kept going from there.
“I used to do a lot of pigs back in the day and things like that, then I kept going and going at it,” he continued. “I finally got to where I could build a nice cooker, and it’s just been going for years. I don’t have a mobile unit, but I have a big 21-foot trailer and I pull that around and … I just bought another food trailer that would be a tow-behind, too, so we could set up alongside the road and have a unit with water and stuff to set up, and cook with the big cooker, then serve out of the other unit.”
Sparaco, 59, whose primary business is a construction company, said he’s honed his barbecue skills for roughly 25 years.
According to the Smokin Joe’s Facebook page, Sparaco runs the business with partner Jeanene Higbie, also an Otsego County native, who “brings a wealth of experience … having worked for more than 40 years in the food and beverage industry, including restaurants and catering.”
Sparaco said Smokin Joe’s events run the gamut.
“We go to a lot of weddings and graduations and family reunions, anything like that,” he said. “We go all over and go wherever. We don’t travel over 100 miles or anything, but we could. It’s mainly around Oneonta and Delaware County.”
And customers, Sparaco said, are increasingly happy.
“They like what we do and we’ve been getting lots of calls and we’re already booked for six weddings next year,” he said. “We’re getting phone calls pretty much every day, and it’s pretty much April to October. It’s been word-of-mouth. People would just hear I was doing it and give it a try and, next thing you know, they’re telling somebody else, ‘try this guy.’
“My chicken has been the most (popular item) that a lot of people have raved over, and we’ve done really well with that and pulled pork,” Sparaco continued. “We do all sorts. Smoked mac and cheese, pasta salad, potato salad, macaroni salad, salt potatoes and corn on the cob — basically everything.”
Though demand is high, Sparaco noted, he is accepting event bookings.
Sparaco said he hopes to grow Smokin Joe’s.
“I just want to make it that much more and bigger and do more of it during the week where we can do different events,” he said. “I’m just looking to push it that much more.
“It’s something that I love to do,” Sparaco continued. “I’ve gotten to like it so much that that’s what, down the line, I’m hoping to do, and give up the construction and just do barbecuing.”
For more information or to book Sparaco’s services, find “Smokin Joe’s” on Facebook, email smokinjoesoneonta@gmail.com or call 607-422-7958.