BBQ Fever Sweeping Branson

When Brad Leighniger got bitten by the competition BBQ bug, his infectious enthusiasm for smoked meat spread quickly. Before long, several of his friends had BBQ fever and the rest is history.

“All of us have a passion for eating, cooking and creating,” Tammy Roberts said. “Brad wanted to do something fun with his family. It ended up being competition BBQ. He took a standard smoker grill and went to his first competition. He cleaned house.”

Flash forward a couple of years and the four old friends new Branson BBQ restaurant, Gettin’ Basted, is impressing BBQ fans all around, and Brad is still cleaning house on the competitive BBQ circuit.

Tammy, her husband, Jason and their friend, Derrick, handle the restaurant side of the operation and Brad keeps busy winning competitions. One day, while enjoying a couple of drinks and watching some football, they started discussing the idea of opening a food truck. Soon the four decided a BBQ restaurant was the way to go. “One of the guys approached Brad about buying a Gateway Smoker Drum, which is the same we use in the restaurant now,” she said. “Brad said, let’s take the Gettin’ Basted competition team’s name and open a BBQ restaurant. We actually prepare the meat just like he does in competition. We use a Gateway Smoker Drum to cook everything. We use the same Wagyu beef he uses in competition. We really wanted to keep everything as true to competitions as we could.

”Word of Gettin’ Basted has spread. “We were voted BuzzFeed’s Missouri Restaurant to Try for 2018,” she said. “Our BBQ is not going to be like any other you will ever have. We cook hot and fast. That really changes the flavor of the meat. It’s something people need to give a try. It’s a different spin on BBQ.”