Derek first fell in love with BBQ as a child when his father hosted neighborhood cookouts at their home in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He remembers the attendance quickly growing once his dad put food on the grill to cook. Some of my fondest memories growing up are of those times with my dad’s music blasting in our backyard and the smell of smoke from the BBQ my dad was cooking.

When Derek was older his dad eventually let him help more and more to the point he could do it on his own after several years. As an adult Derek always seemed to be an entrepreneur at heart as he had several different side hustles like dee-jaying over the years while working full-time at his job. The dream for Manning’s Hometown BBQ was born after he started selling dinners that people loved out of his home kitchen over 15 years ago.