Meet Adrienne Johnson | Business Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Adrienne Johnson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Adrienne, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
My family is from Arkansas. We moved to Colorado when I was 5 years old for my dad to attend Colorado State University in Fort Collins Colorado. My dad, Brother Mel, has been an entrepreneur for as long as I can remember before it was a popular trend. He owned several businesses before opening Brother Mel’s Southern Style BBQ restaurant. Our barbecue restaurant kept customers coming back for over 30 years. Brother Mel retired in 2013. I started exploring bottling his sauce in 2015 because I wanted to carry on his legacy even though I was not in position to take over the restaurant.

What should our readers know about your business?
Brother Mel’s BBQ sauce is unique because it is created from an original recipe from my parents Melvin and Helen Johnson. Our sauce is All- natural and does not have any high fructose corn syrup and has no additives. We have a clean, simple, ingredient list and there and there are not any words you cannot pronounce! Brother Mel’s Southern Style BBQ sauce – goodness you can taste! I am still learning as I continue the BBQ Sauce business. There are a lot of details that need to be considered and finalized when you going to business for yourself. For example what size bottle will you use? Will it be glass or plastic? Will the lids for the jars be metal or plastic and what color? Then there’s label design and printing.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would definitely take my friends to the Colorado Rocky mountains! They are incredible and vast. I would take them to do a little shopping in Silverthorne Outlet stores and then continue up the mountain to Vail Colorado. Back in Denver I would take my visitors to the Colorado biscuit company, the Blazing Chicken Shack II, a Denver soul food restaurant. I would then do a road trip to Southern Colorado and the Western slope and take my visitors to the Royal Gorge, Colorado Sand Dunes, Mesa Verde, Telluride and the lovely natural steam baths in Ridgeway.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to dedicate this session to my father, Melvin Johnson, lovingly referred to as Brother Mel. He is an amazing father and mentor!

Website: www.brothermelsbbq.com

Instagram: @brothermelsbbq