Chip grew up in the sand hills of eastern North Carolina where he was introduced to the lost art of stick burning. This style of barbecue cooking is the art of using only 100% oak and hickory firewood as his heat source. He lives by the stick burners creed, “if you want good food, cook with wood”, and he still cooks his barbecue that way to this very day. Whether it was for his legendary parties in high school or college or for the local church fundraiser, he knew that some kind of spark had lit the fire in his soul that would eventually lead him to produce some of the finest barbecue around. After moving to Atlanta in 1996, Chip would work construction for 3 years ’til he found a small ad in the local paper that simply stated “small BBQ stand for sale”. Chip called the number on Wednesday, set up a meeting for Thursday, where he would make a hand shake deal and then promptly quit his job on Friday. He would start working the stand on September 19th, 1999. After working a few days and adding in his own recipes, he knew it was time to name his new business. It would hit him like a bolt of lightening, see Chip lost his father and his brother at a young age, so he thought it was only right to name his business after the ones he had lost, his brother Jeff and his Father David. After a few years of people asking if he was J.D., and him getting tired of telling the story, he finally said YES, I am J.D.