Navy veteran capitalizes on passion for BBQ

BEEVILLE, Texas — A Navy man turned pit-master has turned his passion into a successful business venture in a short amount of time.

Opening a restaurant is hard enough, but doing so during a pandemic creates even more challenges. Despite the odds being stacked against him, John Anthony Gutierrez has thrived with a lot of help and one really big break.

“Cooking runs pretty deep in my family and a lot of the people I hung around with too,” said Gutierrez. “I didn’t know I could take it to a professional level.”

Gutierrez took his passion for cooking to the U.S. Navy in 2002. After more than a year in the reserves, he went active duty and was assigned to the USS Stout, a ballistic missile defense ship.

Cooking there taught Gutierrez to be resourceful.

“You don’t always have all the ingredients you want, I got to get creative,” said Gutierrez. “I also got to barbecue on the ship, we’d have steel beach picnics.”

Gutierrez came home to Beeville when his father passed in 2014. Already a carpenter, he learned how to weld, but the passion for cooking was still there.

“Everything I’ve learned, everything I did, it’s all culminated into what it is today,” said Gutierrez.

What its become is Capital G BBQ. Gutierrez and business partner Juan Gutierrez (they aren’t related) opened Capital G February 10 of this year. The spot’s success only fuels Gutierrez’s passion.

“With anything you do like this, passion is certainly part of it,” said Gutierrez. “It has to be the difference maker and it is here.”

Gutierrez’s passion comes through in every bite. That’s why Capital G has built such a fast following.

“We don’t exist unless Beeville shows up, and they have,” said Gutierrez.

But word is spreading.

Despite being open a short time, Capital G was recently featured in ‘Texas Monthly’, something Gutierrez calls “an honor”.

“It just gives you more confidence in what you’re doing,” he said. “I know there are a lot of good barbecue places around here, but to be picked by ‘Texas Monthly’, that tells us we’re great.”

The BBQ is worth the drive to Beeville, wherever you’re coming from, but make sure you get there early. Capital G BBQ opens every Wednesday through Saturday at 11a.m., and it’s a rare day they aren’t sold out by 2 p.m.

Source: https://www.kristv.com/veteransinfocus/veteran-capitalizing-on-passion-for-bbq