TASTE
Matthew ( left ) and Jonathan Burgess sell barbecue sauce , smoked sausages , premade meals and bulk products for food-service operations and run a catering company under the Burgess Brothers BBQ & Burgers brand .
PHOTO COURTESY OF JONATHAN AND MATTHEW BURGESS
case was the removal of the Burgess name from the restaurant to protect the brand , Jonathan says . BBQ & Burgers has since been “ very successful ,” Villeda says .
The next generation
The Burgesses have had better results with more traditional forms of business mentorship . They are frequent guest speakers at local schools , including their alma mater , C . K . McClatchy High School , for the business training consultancy Entrepreneurship Empowered , and nonprofits such as the Greater Sacramento Urban League and Alchemist Community Development Corporation . The virtual class they taught last spring for the Alchemist Microenterprise Academy , a training course geared toward early stage food entrepreneurs from underrepresented communities , was one of the most popular sessions of the semester , says Jacob Sacks , program manager .
“ Before we were able to finally bring the Burgess brothers and connect them with our program , they were a name that just kept coming up through so many different people in so many different places ,” says Sacks , who manages Alchemist CDC ’ s Alchemist Kitchen incubator program . Through the program ,
the Burgesses are mentoring Jasmine Bonilla , the creator of Jazz ’ s Saucy Sauce , a sunset-orange , all-purpose condiment she recommends on everything , including spaghetti and Filipino lumpia .
Alchemist Kitchen partnered the Burgesses with Bonilla because of their mutual interest in sauces — the Burgess Brothers BBQ Sauce , launched in 2015 , has appeared on HSN ( aka the Home Shopping Network ) and is available at Frank ’ s Quality Meats in Sacramento — but they have more than that in common . Bonilla also hopes to mentor other aspiring entrepreneurs , especially women of color . “ I may not have a lot of money , I may not have family members that can help with money to get this started , but I have a lot of support . And there are lots of resources out there for people to kind of tap into for that support ,” she says .
As a mentee of the Burgesses , Bonilla joins a growing network of local food entrepreneurs that includes Burgess Brothers BBQ & Burgers ’ former executive chef , Michael Harris , now one-third of the free-meal program 3 Black Chefs ; Jamie Mack , owner of the dessert caterer SpiderMonkey ’ s Dessert Studio ; and others .
But the Burgess brothers ’ ultimate beneficiaries will be their children .
Jonathan has two daughters , ages 15 and 18 , and Matthew has a son and a stepdaughter , ages 19 and 27 , all of whom grew up around the businesses . They will be able to inherit the ChurWaffle and Burgess Brothers BBQ & Burgers trademarks as intellectual property , like the descendants of Rufus Burgess might have inherited his physical property . The more the brothers can build up the brands — whether by getting their products on the menu at Harvard , setting up a chain of concession stands at stadiums across the state or hawking ChurWaffles on television while wearing matching cowboy hats — the more value that inheritance will have .
“ We ’ re just basically in the working stage of rebuilding a legacy that was taken ,” says Jonathan . “ Our goal is hopefully , at one point , our greatgrandchildren will say , ‘ You know what ? Those great-great-grandaddy Burgesses , the twins , worked their behinds off to give us what we have today .’”
Jennifer Fergesen is assistant editor of Comstock ’ s . Online at jcfrgsn . journoportfolio . com and on Twitter @ jenniferferges1 .
26 comstocksmag . com | December 2020