Owner of Menononee Falls-based Slo' Motion BBQ Food Trailer & Catering plans to open retail shop to sell their own line of rubs and sauces

A popular Menomonee Falls-based food trailer, Slo' Motion BBQ Food Trailer & Catering, plans to expand its business by opening a retail shop to sell its own line of rubs and barbecue sauces.

The shop, at N64 W22622-22694 Main St., Sussex, will have a commercial kitchen to make the sauces and products. It will sell meal kits, ready-to-eat meals and wholesale products, said owner Adam Gegare. The 1,000-square-foot shop will have no indoor seating.

"I believe in using the best products I can find and pride myself on using 100% hardwood to smoke my meats," said Gegare. The company motto, he said is, "God, family and barbecue."

More: Check out these Memorial Day observances in the Milwaukee area

More: What’s the big deal with food trucks? Try out one of these food truck events and find out.

While he will still operate his food trailer through catering and at public and private events, Gegare hopes to sell sauces and be functional in the new facility by July, he said. The hours have yet to be determined.

Gegare left his 21-year career with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections to open his food trailer in September 2019. He bought a trailer, got it ready and started scheduling events and places that were food truck friendly.

He had 63 days of events scheduled between Memorial and Labor Day 2020. Then COVID-19 hit.

"With a flick of a switch in March that year, they were all canceled," he said.

"I almost went back to corrections," he said. But instead, he relied on his faith and innovation.

He partnered with other restaurants to offer menu items for sale and provided curbside service instead of relying on events. During the height of the pandemic, he even partnered with a few other eateries to provide 100 meals a week for free for healthcare workers.

"I hustled hard," he said. For the first year, he said, he operated as a roadside food trailer, but then he found his niche: catering, food truck events, and private and public events and festivals.

But now, he said, he has successfully been at many events, people are loving the barbecue he cooks, and he is ready to expand.

Homemade sauces

Gegare said he has four homemade barbecue sauces that are retail ready and 14 other flavors in the works.

One that is retail ready is a cherry bomb barbecue sauce that infuses cherry juice infused with the smoky heat of chipotle peppers. The label describes it as "4th of July meets Door County."

Another is Dairyland Inferno Barbecue sauce, which carries a "spicy, flavorful heat" that comes from "a myriad of spicy peppers."

The I-94 Barbecue Sauce is a "thick and sweet sauce (that) has just enough heat at the finish."

The last of the homemade sauces that are retail ready is the Crabby Apple Barbecue sauce, described as a "tangy sauce with hints of fresh apple."

"I've been cooking my entire life, almost. So when I quit corrections to start a barbecue business, creating sauces to complement fine meat was an automatic thought. I started out using Sweet Baby Ray's but knew I could do better," he said.

" I just started experimenting with flavor profiles to create sauces I liked. The first one I thought it would be cool to create a tangy apple. I live on the corner of Crabapple and Thornapple so I came up with the name Crabby Apple. People loved it, so I went to the lab to create more," he added.

Gegare said all his sauces are gluten free and that he does not use MSG, flavor enhancers, high-fructose corn syrup or corn syrup.

"I make clean sauces using quality ingredients that make you feel good after you eat, not a sore tummy," he said.

He said he will likely offer smoked meats as well as prepackaged goods for purchase.

"Some stuff might be seasonal and some regular. I also have plans to go spend some time with a master sausage maker in Texas to up my game in that area," he said.

For more information and updates on Slo’ Motion BBQ Food Trailer & Catering, visit www.facebook.com/slomotionbbq or slomotionbbq.com

"I really enjoy fire. The balance of everything needed to create the perfect fire to make a clean smoke is where I get my enjoyment. If the smoke ain’t right, the meat ain’t right," he said.

Cathy Kozlowicz can be reached at 262-361-9132 or cathy.kozlowicz@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @kozlowicz_cathy.

Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.

DOWNLOAD THE APP: Get the latest news, sports and more

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Menomonee Falls barbecue food trailer to open retail shop in Sussex