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BBQ Stand With A Plan

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By STEPHEN HAMMILL

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 16, 2008

KEYSTONE - On weekends, travelers from as far away as New Port Richey and Orlando trek to a little stand on Race Track Road called Fred's BBQ.

It's easy to miss - just a small sign adjacent to a mailbox lets passersby know they have arrived - that and the rising smoke. Its aroma typically does the trick.

Two years ago, John Fedrick and his wife, Deborah, opened the stand inside a mobile trailer parked in front of their home at 16731 Race Track Road, where they've lived since 1991.

"But we have 15 or so years cooking experience," Fedrick said. "One day, some family members told us, 'You need to start selling this.'"

When they built a kitchen atop the trailer, selling barbeque sandwiches, collard greens, cornbread muffins and potato salad to locals, word began to spread.

"Soon, people from as far away as Atlanta were saying they heard about us," said Deborah Fedrick.

"I took it home one day and I ate it, and I think I swooned," said Kaye Coppersmith of Keystone, who now stops by the stand nearly every weekend with her husband. "It's the best barbeque I've ever had."

Specializing in ribs and pulled pork, the business relies on 20 to 30 repeat customers, the couple said. Occasionally they go on the road, catering to large functions.

"Recently we did an entire apartment complex," Deborah Fedrick said, adding they can currently accommodate 500 people for a catering event.

They advertise sparingly, relying mostly on word of mouth. Some famous local guests, such as Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Carnell "Cadillac" Williams and Derrick Brooks, helped get the word out.

It's a strictly family business. Their 16-year-old granddaughter, Sickles High School student Dominique Gambrell, lends a hand during summer vacation.

A Web site is forthcoming, Deborah Fedrick said, as is their ultimate dream: a standalone restaurant in Keystone. They hope to reach that goal next year.

"We didn't want to get in debt; we wanted to build up to it slowly," Fedrick said.

When it does happen, Fedrick said they will be in debt to those who dined with them from the beginning. "We'll have to do something special for them."

FRED'S BBQ

WHERE: 16731 Race Track Road

OPERATING HOURS: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday

CONTACT: To place an order, or for catering services, call (813) 920-1653

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