Roger Vaughn has done just about every job in the meat business — driving no-AC box trucks for his family's sausage company, running the supply chain that fed KFC, Popeyes and Church's, brokering chicken loads from his car during COVID, even delivering pizzas on the side. Now his name is on the building at Off the Dock Foods in Nashville.

In this episode of Single Tree Nation, Roger sits down with Charlie Eblen and Derry Wells to talk about that wild career, why he calls himself "one of the wealthiest people in the world," and the BBQ philosophy that's carried him through it all: cook by feel, not by a thermometer.

It's part business story, part pitmaster masterclass, part Friday feel-good — brisket trimming and fire science, the only three Middle Tennessee joints still cooking on 100% wood, a white sauce headed to retail, and a "Dinner for Two" that lands on two awesome options.

CHAPTERS

0:00 Cold open

1:02 Show open with Charlie Eblen & Derry Wells

1:46 Meet Roger Vaughn of Off the Dock Foods

2:22 Inside Off the Dock: 70,000 lbs of poultry a week

5:19 A 1950s whole-hog sausage dynasty

6:43 No-AC meat trucks & a $20M business with no computer

8:41 GoldKist: feeding KFC, Popeyes & Church's

10:17 Going public & the Pilgrim's takeover

11:22 Butts Foods: building Nashville from scratch

12:12 The Dave story: an ex-con who built an $11M branch

16:27 Expanding across the South — and walking away (2018)

17:06 Burnout, nine months off, faith & a reset

19:09 Kelly's Foods & standardizing the chaos

20:48 Miami stories: Cuban coffee, dialects & a lost horse track

25:51 COVID: brokering chicken & delivering Jet's Pizza

27:31 The kitty litter plant in Dyersburg

29:05 The Off the Dock saga: "I don't want you"

34:41 "Every department was a Kramer"

37:15 Wealth, freedom & leaving a legacy

40:50 Sponsor: Dead Meat Society

41:51 Brisket debrief with Gary

44:22 The chicken Alfredo first date

46:17 Smoking at home on a Pit Boss (even at -17°F)

48:25 BBQ science: barometric pressure, wood & feel

51:04 100% wood vs. gas & liquid smoke

53:52 The economics of brisket: 99¢ to $8 a pound

56:17 "Barbecue is about feel, not a thermometer"

58:10 Dinner for Two: Ice Cube & Charles Barkley

61:50 Mac & cheese vs. baked beans

62:43 Building a sauce — and a white sauce going retail

65:58 Competition BBQ: Praise the Lard & Smoke on the Shores

68:16 Why a restaurant-great brisket can still lose

69:03 Roger's Friday feel-good closing

ABOUT THE GUEST Roger Vaughn is a partner at Off the Dock Foods, a Nashville-based center-of-the-plate protein supplier (poultry, beef, pork and seafood).

Off the Dock Foods: OffTheDockFoods.com | Office: 615-350-6170 (ask for inside sales)

ABOUT THE SHOW Single Tree Nation is a Middle Tennessee BBQ show hosted by Charlie Eblen of Single Tree BBQ with co-host Derry Wells. Airs Saturdays 8–9 AM on ESPN 94.9 The Fan. Get on the show or say hi: 615-307-0120 | [email protected]

Sponsored by Dead Meat Society — "join the Society, stay soft." DeadMeatSociety.com

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