Hello, I am Christopher “GOOSE” McElhattan, and this is how it started....
Goose’s Wood-Fired Catering is the result of 23 years living and loving the art of BBQ and all things related. I believe everyone has a passion and I am lucky to have found mine. In building this company I decided that very first day to only work with people who have the same level of commitment and love of BBQ that I do. Our team is really more like a family. We all adopt the motto “if you don’t love what you do then do something else”.
I moved to N.C. in 1989 from northeastern PA. And had a religious experience called BBQ! Up to this point in my life the idea of BBQ amounted to what ya’ll affectionally call Sloppy Joes. So, what do you do when you fall in love with BBQ? Well first thing is figure out what it is, and then you ask yourself how do these guys cook it?
Fast forward to 1993 and I have built a custom bike shop & spend weekends studying how to perfect the art of grilling. People are starting to take notice of my BBQ and customers begin asking me to come over for cookouts, It doesn’t take long to realize that people really just want me to do the grilling! By 2005 the old Weber wasn’t cutting the mustard. I start out to build the perfect custom smoker (I mean how hard can that be? I build motorcycles for a living). Well I find that this is not as easy as one may think. Each piece has to be built individually, welded, polished and then I usually had to start over, all the while understanding that it’s not enough to just have a great looking piece of equipment. It also has to work!
Finally in 2007 “Pork’s Purgatory” made her grand debut. Weekends become a labor of love and the phone kept ringing. You know that saying “if you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life” well it’s true! Finally people that were friends of friends began calling and for the first time it hit home that people really liked what I was doing. I really liked what I was doing so I decided to jump into the deep end of the pool and see what happened. The result has been amazing! I am always humbled when a stranger calls and entrusts me with an event. If you think about the responsibility of preparing food for family that’s one thing but to cook for complete strangers based on reputation is the greatest compliment I have ever had.
Our event planner has over 15 years experience and she knows the devil is in the details. With a background in culinary arts she has aided in the development of our signature sides and handcrafted sauces. Being a native Charlottean, she knows the south and is dedicated to preserving these traditional recipes. Together we have created a unique relationship that allows us to excel at what we do best .Our pit masters have more experience than I have years and our servers know the importance of professional service in a casual environment. I understand the growing pains of business but have reached the conclusion that to do the best job for our customers may mean that we are not the biggest caterer in town, we are very happy just to be the best. Our job is always to give you 110% in our planning, our pricing, our service and most importantly our food!!!!
We look forward to working with you
Christopher” GOOSE” McElhattan