There was a lot of tinkering, trial and error, months and months of it.<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Thus was born Barvecue, a vegetarian variation on down-home Southern food. Made from whole soybeans and textured wheat protein with sweet potatoes, apple cider vinegar, canola oil, nutritional yeast, spices, tomato puree, molasses and brown sugar\u2009\u2014\u2009all non-GMO, and wood-smoked\u2009\u2014\u2009Barvecue is designed to appeal beyond vegetarians and vegans to omnivores, carnivores and \u201cflexitarians\u201d who want to dabble in lighter meat alternatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cooper runs the business side of the operation as chief executive officer. His partner Zac Werner, a vegan chef, handles the cooking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere was a lot of tinkering, trial and error, months and months of it,\u201d Cooper says. \u201cWe\u2019re now on our third major version. We started out just in Zac\u2019s kitchen and then bought a facility and upfit it for this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Barvecue\u2019s sauce is tomato-based, and there is a naked version if you want to use a different sauce. There\u2019s also a gluten-free option. The product launched in 2018 and things have gone well enough that the company moved into a bigger production facility in summer 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As production scales up, Barvecue is expanding into retail outlets and grocery stores, some as far away as Vancouver, British Columbia. It also sells online through its own website (barvecue.com) and other retailers. Helping that growth is the impressive amounts of capital Cooper has been able to raise from investors, more than $3 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur tagline is \u2018Barvecue For Everyone,\u2019 and we want to create a great-tasting, great-textured product for people beyond just vegetarians,\u201d Cooper says. \u201cI would encourage everyone to give it a try.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Lee_Cooper_rgb-1024x683.jpg\")