Matthew Miller, owner of Miller's BBQ and Cafe

How Matthew developed his love of smoking meat

Miller’s BBQ in Salem Oregon is owned and led by passionate chef, Matthew Miller. From its humble beginning back in April of 2022, Miller’s BBQ has grown steadily since and has been making a mark in the local community. Miller leads by example and is known for his huge heart, engaging smile, and high class catered BBQ for events and special occasions. When asked how he got his start smoking meat, Matthew chuckled and said that he learned to smoke meat when he and his wife, Janita, worked as the caretakers at Drift Creek Camp, a small Christian camp located in the Coast Range Mountains just outside of Lincoln City, OR soon after they were married.

Matthew said, “We accepted the job offer and moved on site and then we were told, ‘Oh by the way, part of the caretaker’s responsibility is smoking the meat for the kitchen,’ and I had never done that before.” At that point in his life he had very little restaurant experience, which included little to no cooking.

Fortunately, “they had a few recipes from a previous caretaker whose dad was a butcher, who had put together some recipes with step-by-step instructions,” Miller shared. “For the first few cooks, that’s what I did, step-by-step on the instructions, the rub and everything. After I got comfortable with it and comfortable with how it cooked and the time, I started to experiment with it and played with it, because that is what I discovered I liked to do. While living at the camp I caught my first salmon and cooked it on the smoker, and then got my first deer and cooked that on the smoker. I saw how the different meats cooked and what I could do with them and I fell in love with smoking meat. And so when we moved back to Salem, the first thing we bought was a smoker.”

Owning a business wasn’t initially on the radar, but God had other plans

Prior to opening his catering business, Matthew worked in the corporate world as a supervisor over 16 employees doing shipping, receiving, logistics and material handling working for a small company in Albany that did over 5 million monthly revenue with 180 employees. During that time, he did a catering event for his church because he loved cooking meat for people and helping out with parties and events as a fun hobby. Miller fed 532 guys at the event, including Justin Martin from Duck Dynasty. And for Martin to say to him, “Man, your brisket is so good,” Matthew thought, “Yes! I nailed it!”

The event was on a Friday, and the following Monday, thirteen of the employees of the company where Matthew worked were pulled into HR and ended up being let go, including Matthew, leaving him uncertain as to what he was going to do for a job. Having been given severance pay, he took some time to regroup. In the interim, Pastor Leon, one of his pastors from Salem First Baptist church, started lining up some key connections for Matthew. Through one of the connections, Matthew was encouraged to go into business cooking his BBQ and was offered guidance to do so if he was willing to step out and put in the work. That was the push he needed, because he’d never thought he would own his own business and given his upbringing, it wasn’t something that he initially thought he wanted.

The dream and the ultimatum

Being a man of faith, one Saturday morning in March of 2022, Matthew woke up and felt led to do some further research. He ended up deciding he wanted to focus on catering. When he woke his wife up and told her about his plan she said, “Tell you what, if you really feel like this is where God is leading you, you have until the end of May to make a profit. If you don’t, you need to find a real job.” Matthew said, “Okay, deal!” And it took off! He ended up doing 13 jobs in May, 16 jobs in June, 17 jobs in July and it just kept growing. And he hasn’t looked back since.

The dawn of something new

In addition to event catering in Salem, OR and surrounding areas, on September 5, 2023, Matthew hosted the grand opening of Miller’s BBQ & Café located at 4600 25th Ave NE, Salem OR 97301 inside the Capitol City Business Center in Salem. To find the Café, turn onto 25th Avenue at the light by the 45th Parallel Building on Hyacinth St NE, then turn left at the end of the street. Follow the clearly marked signs to the parking area and to the Café inside the building. It is definitely worth the trip.

Miller’s BBQ & Café is open the following hours:

Monday-Wednesday 7 AM – 3 PM
Thursday-Friday 7 AM – 8 PM
Saturdays 8 AM – 8 PM
Closed on Sundays

Miller’s BBQ & Café offers a wonderful place to gather for business lunches, one-on-ones over coffee and a sweet treat, or hanging out with friends on a Saturday to root on your favorite sports teams on the large screen TV. Their delicious BBQ is a crowd favorite and will leave you craving more.

Q&A with Matthew Miller

In December 2023, you hosted a Foster Family Christmas Event that was hugely successful. Why was that event so near and dear to your heart?

Matthew: “Having graduated the foster system back in 2008, having been in foster care two times in my life, once when I was young (6-8 1/2 years old) and then I was adopted. Then I was back in the foster care system again from ages 16-18. So for me it’s always been a piece of my life that I’ve tried to figure out how can I take the bad that happened in my life and use it for good. Being that the Café is in the same building as the DHS office, and I have the past of being a foster kid, and I am now have the reputation of being really networked in the community, DHS now comes to me about needs they have to see if I know someone in the community that can help fill the need of the kids in the community. I had the idea to have a Foster Family Christmas and ended up partnering with DHS and other organizations within the Salem community that serve families to throw a huge party for foster families. The goal was to help the entire families feel loved and included and more connected to each other. Not just focusing on the foster children, but including the other children in the families as well. Businesses and individuals in the Salem and Keizer communities also jumped on board and donated the money to cover the cost of the event. The event was a huge success and I am already thinking about how to make it better for next year.”

What do you love most about the Salem community?

Matthew: “I think for me, the thing I love most about the Salem community is when you actually dig into community, what it really means to be in community, which is being with each other – going to other restaurants, supporting other businesses, meeting other owners and learning their stories – actually being in community, they become family. For me it’s been more than what I’ve had before. So having the level of support and love and encouragement almost every day is unfathomable to me. To almost go so far to say that I wish I would have had that growing up, because I didn’t. And to have that now is overwhelming. When you actually do community right, it’s family.”

When do you sleep? What is your work/life balance?

Matthew: “Really there’s not much balance. I pretty much work all the time. There is not a lot of home life. But what’s nice is that my wife works with me so I get to see her a lot so that helps. Otherwise it would be really tough if she worked a different job and we never saw each other. Because I do get to see her and I do get to talk to her, it allows me the grace to do more. There are times when I need to make extra sacrifices. Like when I need to sleep in the café because we have a catering event coming up the next day and the meat needs to smoke overnight. So I pull my cot out and sleep on the floor. That is happening less now than in the beginning because I am training my team up to do more of the prep work.”

What is a fun way that you have been able to connect with other business owners?

Matthew: I have been able to use my love of singing to connect with other business owners by meeting at different locations around town and singing karaoke together. Whether it’s at the Old Zen Wine Bar in West Salem, or Venti’s Downtown, or Wind Jammers depending on the night of the week. It’s fun way to connect with other business people outside of business hours.

How do you define success?

Matthew: I don’t know. I don’t think I’m there yet. I had a person ask me recently, “How did you become so successful?” I looked at them and said, “I don’t know, really.” Everything that’s happened with this business so far aside from saying “God did it,” really has been the support of the community. I wouldn’t be where I am today if people didn’t buy the food. I would not be where I am today if people didn’t hire me to cater events. I wouldn’t have employees if people didn’t buy the food so I could pay them. This business wouldn’t be be anything other than me cooking food if people didn’t come to support it. For me, people can say I’m successful, but I have a big dream of where I want to go and I’m still going.

Visit Miller’s BBQ & Café today for breakfast or lunch and remember to give them a call for your event catering needs: