For Mike Wilson aka SAW, growing up in North Carolina meant a whole lot of good times BS’ing and backyard barbecuing with friends. In high school, he earned himself the nickname, Sorry Ass Wilson, for assorted reasons that shan’t be revealed here. Despite the moniker, Mike went on to the hospitality business by earning a degree in Restaurant and Hospitality management from the University of Alabama in 1996.

Following this, continued his studies in the culinary school at Johnson and Wales University in Vail, Colorado.

Back home in Charlotte, North Carolina, Mike went to work as a sous chef – a great starting point – at Dean & Deluca. This multi-channel retailer of gourmet and specialty foods was a great place for Mike to hone his craft. Over the next ten years land while Mike was working as a test-kitchen chef at Cooking Light in Birmingham, word was spreading among his co-workers that Mike made some pretty awesome barbeque. His email list grew to more than 200 people.