• Meet Ted Huffman, long time resident, and owner of Bluffton BBQ, located in old town Bluffton, South Carolina. A  place to relax, gather with friends, and enjoy the great food which is freshly prepared each day.   Where slow-cooked BBQ and homestyle sides are always served with a smile and is truly a “state of mind”.

Tell us about yourself and how your barbeque business got started.

When I moved here 32 years ago, I worked for a gas company on Hilton Head Island, and kind of became an expert in my field, if you will.  I’ve been in a thousand kitchens, dealt with a thousand chefs, gleaned thousand recipes, built some cookers and helped people with their cookers.  I would stick around to see if they worked and that’s how I got into the barbeque business.  It always interested me to put smiles on people’s faces with wonderful smoked pork, and/or otherwise, and that’s been about 30 some odd years ago!

My wife started out working with a real estate magazine on the island as a photographer. She evolved and started the Bluffton Breeze and did that for ten years, in which time she became really involved within the community.  When we moved to Bluffton in 1995 or so, is when I really became interested in cooking.  Business looked bleak at times with the state of the economy back then.  But a dear friend of mine Oscar Frazier, who was our Poet Laureate, Mayor Pro Tem, and Councilman, had opened a little barbecue joint in downtown Bluffton.  He was open for six months or so and died suddenly.  His partner and I held a benefit for him and I did a lot of the cooking.  His partner ultimately asked me if I wanted to take the place over, and so we did.  I took a sabbatical from my job to figure out if I could do it, and three months later I was in the barbecue business in downtown Bluffton.

However, it wasn’t an easy path.  We were there for three years and the place was sold out from under me.  So I decided that we would “bite the bullet” and become involved with the revitalization of Old Town Bluffton.  We built Bluffton BBQ in the Promenade which, at the time, was  brand new.  There was nothing there yet except for a couple of residential units, Captain Woody’s, The Garden Gate and, of course, Bluffton BBQ.   Cork’s was one of the very first successful businesses there.  The economy was terrible back then and it was something we were all battling hard with.  A few businesses did not make it, but Cork’s stuck it out and is still going strong today.

A lot has evolved since then.  I was Mayor Pro Tem for a couple of years and served a term on the Town Council and sat in on some of the development projects, one of which was working on the evolution of the Old Town Master Plan for Bluffton. That project put Bluffton on the map.  It’s getting a little tougher, but we have a good thing going in Bluffton, and I’m proud to have contributed to the revitalization.  If anyone told me 32 years that I would be in Bluffton with a barbeque business, I would have said – “I’ll do it” – but I never planned it, it just evolved.  And that is the result of being in a community which provided support, and good friends that encouraged us along the way.  So we are here to stay, and hopefully, in a good way!

 Where are you originally from?   

I am originally from Florida.  I grew up in the Tampa Bay area in a little town called Palmetto, believe it or not, and was in the family gas business there.  My career started in that respect and I was transferred to Key West in 1979-80, right about the time of the Mariel boatlift.

It was incredible.  I witnessed all of that during my time there.  I saw people go down to Key West and lose decades of their life.  As you know, there is no road through Key West, so a lot of people ended up there.

My wife Donna and I had a plan to make it work there,  but knew we wanted to move to Hilton Head when we saw it featured on a cover of Southern Living Magazine.  My mother and I would give each other magazine subscriptions each Christmas!  The cover was of Harbor Town and they were highlighting the tennis tournament.  I had lettered in tennis in high school so I thought I would check out the tournament for a weekend.  While there, I started calling numbers I found in a phone book for job possibilities and my wife and I both received job offers before moving to Hilton Head.

What are some of your favorite things to do in the Bluffton and Hilton Head area, or anywhere in the low country?

Having a barbecue business takes up a lot of time.  I pull two all-nighters a week, preparing and cooking the food which doesn’t leave a lot of time for other things other than resting and catching up, but that’s what I do on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. I sometimes pull an all nighter on Tuesday and then again on Thursday, and that’s hard, especially at my age.  But I think that it’s worth the effort because you can’t fake it and it’s got to be done. But having said that, we’ve  become “foodies” in that respect, and I totally respect the craft.  I’m not a chef, I never aspired to be a chef. But there are a lot of chefs in this area, a lot of good friends that are good cooks, and the accolades have proven it.  So we kick around, we eat here, we eat there. You know, it’s funny how Hilton Head has become kind of an overseas project.   We used to go to Hilton Head a lot but anytime you get out on the river during the season out to the Sandbar, you’re experiencing a part of the low country culture that is hard to explain.  You have to get out there and experience a few tide changes, sunburns, groundings and cocktails!  It’s what Bluffton has to offer. The river is as good as it gets. And it’s worth the effort.

You’ve obviously had an interesting life.  Is there anything else on your “bucket list”?  Locally or otherwise?

You know, it’s funny. My wife and I have traveled in our younger ages.  Right now, we travel vicariously through others.  We request refrigerator magnets from anywhere anybody goes.  The cheesier the better!   We have some great ones from Las Vegas and New Orleans, with all the lights, bells and whistles!  Traveling these days is a little more difficult with security issues, etc.; however, someday I would love to experience the northern and southern regions of Italy, especially Tuscany.

 Is it the food or the wine?

It’s the origin of the wine. And a lot of food, I suppose.  But most importantly, the history. In today’s world, technology will allow you to experience all kinds of things, but I would love to see it personally, and absolutely drink some Chianti!

You’ve been in Bluffton for years and you’ve seen all the changes that have taken place.  How has that really affected you personally in your business. Where do you see it in the next five to 10 years?  What do you think you’ll be doing in the next five or 10 years?

Bluffton has had a master plan from day one.  It’s only been officially reestablished as a town since 2002.   Before that, it was a township.  Once we had our historic district established,  Bluffton decided it was worth the effort to try and steer the town to a responsible managed growth effort, which I think that has been followed and fulfilled.  Plans are always subject to change but there’s always been good vision for the town.  Bluffton has grown exponentially, but I believe the integrity of the historic district will always be upheld.  The historic district has offered a kind of land map that people can enjoy and has become a major player in what Bluffton has to offer.  The surrounding areas of Bluffton have also grown which has definitely helped our business.  I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be at it, but I’m not going anywhere right now – we’re here for the long run.

Palmetto Bluff became a jewel in our crown and that’s been a wonderful addition to Bluffton.   That had a lot to do fundamentally with the changes that Old Town has made.   Everyone is eating somewhere or doing something every night, whether it’s takeout or sit down, we all benefit from that.  We all support each other and I think our best days are ahead of us.

While visitors and new residents see the shopping outlets on Rte. 278, what are some of the other things in this area that are must sees for visitors and new residents?  Obviously, there is the Sandbar and the May River. What are some things people may not know about?

The Hayward House has become our official Welcome Center, and historic Bluffton has some major history from the standpoint of antebellum sites and post antebellum.  Bluffton was not a major battle in the Civil War, but there’s a lot of history here.  There are still remnants from the “Burning of Bluffton”.  The Church of the Cross is the reason we even have a national historic register certification.  You can learn about walking tours and trails at the Hayward House. That would be my number one recommendation from a standpoint of getting your feet wet in Bluffton and see all there is to offer.  The Garvey House, which is at the Bluffton Oyster Park, was built by a freed slave by accumulating lumber he took up from some of the burned homes and built an abode in the park that has recently been restored. Bluffton already has a little artist enclave and we’ve done our own little niche of artistry, if you will, eclectic as well as somewhat classic, but I think all tastes can be fulfilled.

 

Other than yourself, there are a lot of interesting people in the area.  Who do you find the most interesting? 

There are so many.  Jacob Preston.  He is an icon in Bluffton.  He has set the bar from a standpoint of eccentric resonance, if you will.

Amos Hummel, who has since moved to Hilton Head, but has been in the Bluffton area for so long.

Babby Guscio has been involved in the community for years and helped create the Mayfest and Christmas parade!

I’m involved now with the Arts and Seafood festival which is in October every year.  The last couple of years we’ve done a street soiree, which is right down the middle of Calhoun Street in the historic district.  It is a fund raiser for the Historical Society.  But there are a lot of people who do things under the radar, that are some of the most unrecognized people on the face of the earth.  One of those is Mary O’Neil, she’s involved with almost every single event that takes place in greater Bluffton.  She is part of the old town Merchants Society and she is also Chairman of the Arts and Seafood festival. Mary has a relentless spirit to put together fundraising events. She has her fingertips on a hundred different things that are going on that help people that you would never know about.  She’s intimately involved in all of them, and I commend her spirit and her energy and everything that she does for this community.