Back in 2019, I hired a guy named Marcus who'd done three years for possession with intent. He was upfront about it in the interview. Said he'd gotten clean inside, learned to work the kitchen line at a facility in Huntsville, and needed somebody to give him a shot.
I almost didn't. I had a catering job for 400 people that weekend and couldn't afford to babysit anybody.
Marcus ended up running my overnight smoke for five years. Never missed a shift. Never let a fire get away from him. Knew exactly when to rotate the racks on our SP-700 without me having to check. When he left last year to start his own operation in Beaumont, I was happy for him and genuinely sad to lose him.
That's what second-chance hiring can look like when it works. And in this labor market - especially for commercial BBQ operations running 16-hour smoke cycles - you can't afford to ignore a talent pool just because they've got a record.
The Labor Problem Nobody Wants to Talk About
I've been doing this for 30 years. Competition circuit, catering, consulting with restaurant groups across East Texas and Louisiana. And I've never seen staffing this bad.
It's not just that people don't want to work. That's lazy thinking. It's that the people who do want to work have options now. Fast food is paying $15 an hour. Warehouses are paying $18 plus benefits. You want somebody to stand next to a 275-degree smoker at 4 a.m. loading briskets? You better have something to offer.
Meanwhile, I'm watching restaurant groups shuffle executives around like musical chairs - new CFOs, new operations heads, everybody looking for the magic formula to grow their brands. But the formula isn't complicated. You need consistent product, which means consistent labor, which means finding good people and keeping them.
Second-chance hires solve part of that equation. Not all of it. Part.
What "Second-Chance" Actually Means
Let me be clear about terminology because people get confused.
Second-chance hiring means considering candidates with criminal records. Could be felonies, could be misdemeanors. Could be something that happened twenty years ago, could be something recent. The specifics matter - I'm not telling you to hire anybody with a pulse and a parole officer.
What I'm saying is that blanket policies against hiring anyone with a record are costing you good workers. Maybe the best worker you'll ever have.
There are guys coming out of state facilities who learned foodservice inside. Real training. They know how to follow protocols, show up on time, handle the monotony of repetitive work. That's half the battle in a commercial kitchen.
And here's what nobody tells you: people with records who find stable employment don't want to screw it up. The recidivism data backs this up. But more than that, I've seen it. Marcus wasn't loyal because I was such a great boss. He was loyal because he knew how hard it was to get that first job, and he wasn't going to throw it away.
The Concerns Are Real - And Manageable
I'm not naive about this. You've got liability questions. You've got customer-facing positions to think about. You've got other employees who might have concerns.
Let me take these one at a time.
Liability: Most states have some form of protection for employers who hire people with records, as long as you did reasonable due diligence. That means checking references, being honest about job requirements, not putting somebody in a position that doesn't make sense given their history. You don't hire somebody with theft convictions to handle your cash register. That's common sense, not discrimination.
But back-of-house? Pit work? Equipment maintenance? Prep? Those positions are about reliability and skill, not customer trust.
Customer-facing roles: Start people where it makes sense. If they prove themselves - and they usually do - you can move them around. I had another second-chance hire who started breaking down whole packer briskets and eventually became our lead catering coordinator. Customers loved him. But that took two years of trust-building, and we didn't rush it.
Other employees: This is where leadership matters. You don't announce somebody's background to the whole team. That's their business. But if questions come up, you handle them directly. I've found that most employees care about one thing: is this person going to pull their weight? If the answer is yes, the rest usually sorts itself out.
How to Actually Do This
A few practical notes from running a 12-unit catering operation where I've hired probably a dozen folks with records over the years.
First, partner with local reentry programs. In East Texas, we've worked with several - some through churches, some through the workforce commission. They pre-screen candidates and often provide support services that help with stability (housing assistance, transportation, that kind of thing). You're not doing this alone.
Second, be direct in interviews. I ask about the record. I ask what they learned. I ask what's different now. Some people give me rehearsed answers. Some people are genuinely reflective about what happened. You learn to tell the difference.
Third, set clear expectations from day one. Same as any employee, but maybe more explicit. Here's the schedule. Here's what I need from you. Here's what happens if you don't show up. No ambiguity.
Fourth - and this is important - give them real work. Not busy work. Not the jobs nobody else wants. Real responsibility. That's how you find out what somebody can do.
The Equipment Connection
You might be wondering what any of this has to do with commercial smokers. Fair question.
Here's the connection: running quality equipment means you need people who can be trained on it properly and who'll treat it right. A Southern Pride smoker is built to last - I've got units that have been running hard for 15 years - but only if somebody's managing the fire correctly, keeping the rotisserie system maintained, not letting grease build up where it shouldn't.
The guy who's grateful for the job? He's going to take care of your equipment. He's going to notice when something sounds off with the blower motor. He's going to keep your smoker running because he knows his job depends on it.
I've seen the opposite, too. Hired a guy with a clean record and a culinary degree who thought pit work was beneath him. Left the SP-500 unattended for four hours while he went to smoke cigarettes and check his phone. Nearly lost a whole cook. He didn't last a month.
Background doesn't predict work ethic. Attitude does.
What You're Really Betting On
Look, I'm not running a charity. I'm running a business. When I hire somebody with a record, I'm making a calculated bet that they're going to work out - same as any hire.
The difference is the talent pool. When you're competing with every other restaurant, every warehouse, every delivery gig for workers, you need an edge. Being willing to look at candidates others won't consider gives you that edge.
And there's something else, too. Something harder to quantify.
Running a BBQ operation is a craft. It takes time to learn, patience to master. The people who stick with it tend to be people who've been through something. Who understand that good things take time. Who don't expect shortcuts.
Some of the best pit guys I've ever worked with had records. Some of the worst had spotless backgrounds. That's just the truth of it.
A Final Thought
There's a LeBron James foundation that just opened a restaurant in Ohio with a whole second-chance employment model built in. Celebrity involvement aside, it's a sign that the industry is starting to take this seriously.
But you don't need a celebrity foundation to do it. You just need to be willing to judge people by what they can do, not only by what they did.
That catering job back in 2019? The 400-person one I was worried about? Marcus and I ran it together. He handled the overnight smoke while I got four hours of sleep. Everything came out perfect - bark like leather, smoke rings you could measure with a ruler.
Best decision I almost didn't make.
If you're running commercial equipment and struggling to find reliable people, think about it. The Southern Pride of Texas team is always happy to talk through operational challenges - staffing included. Some problems don't have easy answers. But this one might be simpler than you think.
Resources: Southern Pride of Texas �|� Southern Pride commercial smokers �|� Restaurant Business
#CommercialSmoker #KitchenEquipment #SmokehouseEquipment #SouthernPrideSmokers #SouthernPrideOfTexas #SouthernPride
Photo by Los Muertos Crew on Pexels.
About the Author: Earl has been competing in sanctioned BBQ events since the early 1990s and operates a commercial catering operation in Southeast Texas.