Today we’d like to introduce you to Clint Cantwell.
Thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Growing up, I have fond memories of my parents staying up all night trying to keep the fire going in a cheap bullet-style smoker, cooking my mom’s brisket recipe to serve at various neighborhood gatherings, whether we were living in Texas, Wisconsin, Kansas, or Connecticut.
Before getting completely burnt out eleven years ago and relocating the family to Memphis, I spent over 20 years working in the high-stress world of public relations in New York City so BBQ (whether in the backyard or competing at various BBQ contests) was my means of decompressing.
Then about 15 years ago, I was approached by Kingsford Charcoal to serve as editor of a new site, Grilling.com, which I did in my spare time while still working my day job. By the time we moved to Memphis, it had practically become a full-time job as the traffic to the site had grown tremendously but in 2016, the management team at Clorox (which owns Kingsford) decided to shut down Grilling.com.
At that point, I started my blog, Grillocracy, but that was short-lived as I was soon invited by Meathead, the founder of AmazingRibs.com, to join his team which I did and have subsequently risen through the ranks to my current role as President.
Over the years, I have created hundreds of my unique recipes for various websites, media outlets, and brands. While some of these are BBQ basics like brisket, hamburgers, ribs, pulled pork, etc., there is already a seemingly endless number of recipes out there for these backyard staples, so I have always sought to create out-of-the-box recipes.
Sometimes this is simply taking indoor recipes and finding ways to translate them to the outdoors, other times creating recipes that speak to different types of cuisine/nationalities, or just crazy recipes like my all bacon hot dog bun, a mac-and-cheese hamburger bun, and more! I also taught myself food photography several years back so I am also photographing these dishes to share on AmazingRibs.com, social media, etc.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I’ve always challenged myself professionally and have never shied away from new challenges. After graduating from Loyola University in New Orleans, I moved to New York and immediately began work in the investor relations (IR) field which is PR for publicly traded companies with a whole lot of SEC guidelines that had to be learned and followed.
After a few years, I decided that IR wasn’t creative enough for me so I joined a large public relations firm where I promoted companies in a diverse array of industries including car dealerships, video gaming, real estate, and many, many more. With each new client, I had to learn about their industry and what sets them apart in that field.
After a few years at that agency, I was invited to join the staff of one of my clients, a high-end online art auction company called iCollector, to run their PR and to help open a US office since they were based in the UK, I subsequently became an expert in art and antiques as I grew the company’s presence here. Then the dot com bust happened and I was instructed to fire the US staff including myself.
I then went back to work for my old PR agency for a couple of years before being invited to oversee PR for a $1.5 billion apparel company, Marc Ecko Enterprises, where I helped launch several clothing brands, a video game, a magazine, and more, in addition to overseeing publicity for some massive media stunts including “tagging” an Airforce 1 look-alike, branding Barry Bonds’ record-setting home run ball with an asterisk due to his performance-enhancing drug use, and others.
Then in 2008, the economy took a hit and the apparel industry nosedived so I went to work for another major New York PR agency where I remained until moving to Memphis in 2013 where I was able to work from home and enjoy spending quality time with the kids (something that I didn’t have much of when commuting to New York City from Long Island every day).
Through it all, I learned a few lessons including never burn bridges as you never know when you might need to cross it again, and never be afraid to challenge yourself as it almost always results in something positive over time.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Among other things, I create unique BBQ and grilling recipes as well as photograph them.
That is in addition to the day-to-day tasks associated with running the world’s leading online BBQ and grilling resource, AmazingRibs.com. You can see a lot of my creations there as well as on Instagram (@grillocracy) and X (@grillocracy).
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Never be afraid to take on new challenges and learn new things. You may have failures or mistakes along the way, but it almost always pays off in the end.
Contact Info:
- Website: AmazingRibs.com
- Instagram: @grillocracy
- Facebook: @grillocracy
- Twitter: @grillocracy
