Meet "STRETCH"! He is an Artist, Entrepreneur, Restaurateur, TV Personality, BBQ Aficionado and the visionary creator of Grinders by STRETCH restaurants & franchise company; Grinders KC Concert Venue, (USA Today's #1 Pick for "Best Kansas City Nightlife") and their retail support “sister company,” STRETCH Specialties, LLC, which creates and sells Grinders Signature Hot Sauces.
STRETCH has appeared on dozens of hit television programs like: Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives, Guys Big Bite, Cutthroat Kitchen, Guy's Grocery Games, Travel Channel’s "Pizza Paradise", Spike TV’s "Bar Rescue", Animal Planet’s “Eating the Enemy”, Discovery Channel’s Monster House, Destination America’s BBQ Pitmasters, PBS’ BBQ with Franklin, BIG BAD BBQ Brawl, Man VS Food (Casey Webb), and multiple appearances on ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
STRETCH has twice toured with Guy Fieri on their national “Foodapalooza Roadshow” and the South Beach Wine and Food Festival, showcasing his custom-made 25-gallon Monster Margarita Machine live on stage to audiences of thousands. He even rocked the main stage at 2016 Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival.
In 2018, Grinders Signature Sauces launched both Grinders BBQ Sauce & Grinders Meat RUB, a BBQ seasoning (& a treat for your meat) that won top 5 honors at the American Royal, (out of nearly 600 entrants from 23 nations). While they were there, the Grinders Competition BBQ TEAM achieved a rare “perfect score” in the Chicken category.
STRETCH remains committed to entertaining and feeding US Military Personnel with Messlords, a globetrotting troop of fellow celebrity chefs in collaboration with Navy MWR, and while COVID has derailed most of their international travel, they are still connecting with fans and troops via cable TV and custom short cooking videos.
In 2019 the National Barbeque & Grilling Association tapped STRETCH for Meet the Masters, “a master class,” also featuring Myron Mixon, and in 2020 they further honored him with the coveted Legends Award - The Spirit of BBQ. After that, COVID changed a lot, so the travel was replaced with video and overnight services to appear on Triple D Nation & a special “Takeout” Edition of DDD titled “Flavortown Comes Home.”
STRETCH collaborated with the rock band BLACK OXYGEN on both a multi-festival nominated short film Life Is Beautiful as well as co-creating another award winning KC Style BBQ sauce branded as “Bangin BBQ.”
2023 promises to be a banner year, as STRETCH works to bring fresh new content to broadcast and streaming television, creating new public art, chasing after his adorable nine year-old twins (nicknamed “the Mugwamps”), developing & hosting exciting new TV shows, growing the “Grinders by STRETCH” restaurant brand, and slow-smoking some award-winning Competition BBQ on the National KCBS BBQ Circuit.
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