Brent Brashier currently works as the chief barbecue officer at Doc’s Smokehouse in Dyer, Indiana, but his experience in the restaurant industry spans a lifetime. His career has taken him around the country and back on the mission of good food and great service.
“I’ve loved it from a young age. I loved going out to eat, and we had family friends in the restaurant business. I worked for some great people when I was young and I developed a passion for it. It's really all I've ever done,” Brashier said.
He attended Auburn University and worked his way through college as a cook and bartender. His first job out of college was a sales position with a wine distributor. Although it was still technically in the restaurant industry, Brashier missed the joy and commotion of working in a restaurant.
“In a restaurant, you really feel a part of a team, especially if it's a high-functioning restaurant. It's a lot of people working in conjunction with one another to achieve a goal, and that's something that really appeals to me,” Brashier said.
Most of Brashier’s career has been spent opening restaurants across the country. After graduating from college, he moved to Austin, Texas, and worked for companies including Hillstone Restaurant Group, Del Frisco's Restaurant Group, and White Lodging.
Brashier has been everywhere from Seattle to Boston, but Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has stood as a favorite ever since his brief time living there. He feels it has everything good that Chicago has to offer with the added bonus of a much easier commute. He moved from Austin to Milwaukee in 2012 and greatly enjoyed his time in the city before moving to Northwest Indiana.
Ten years prior to moving to the Region, however, Brashier was introduced during a work event for White Lodging, which was hosted at the Radisson Hotel in Merrillville.
“I just thought, ‘Wow, it's crazy that there’s this little town outside of Chicago where there's always stuff going on,’” Brashier said. “I would have never thought that 10 or so years later I would be living here and operating my own restaurant. It's been neat to get to know the Region. It's been almost 10 years at this point, but I still feel like I'm the new guy.”
Brashier and his wife set deeper roots in the Region when he opened Doc’s Smokehouse in Dyer, Indiana with Dr. Himanshu Doshi in 2016. Since then, Doc’s has become a Region staple for those looking for southern-style barbecue with a side of southern hospitality.
Hospitality is a major part of Brashier’s business model, and he works tirelessly to serve the community in the best way he knows how: barbecue and community service.
“When you start your own business, you have to think about what you want that business to be. We obviously want to be profitable and I want to be able to support my employees, but there needs to be some greater purpose to what you do,” Brashier said. “The world is more important than barbecue and beer. If we can take a little time out of our day or week and make it better for somebody else, that's a big part of the culture.”
One of the ways Doc’s gives back is through an annual Thanksgiving dinner for first responders who work through the holidays. The team at Doc’s serves around 400 hard-working first responders from towns across the Region and into Illinois.
“It's just a way that we at Doc’s can give back and say thanks to these people during a holiday when everybody else is at home with their family. With just a little sacrifice from us to go in that morning and make food, they can all have a good meal while they're at work,” Brashier said.
In addition to his community service efforts at Doc’s, Brashier is involved with several programs that work to provide resources and opportunities for the Region. He is heavily involved with the Northwest Indiana Information Sharing and Security Alliance (NIISSA), which provided personal protective equipment (PPE), hand sanitizer, and other safety equipment to first responders and healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The organization is largely supported by Munster Chief of Police Stephen Scheckel and local businessman Nick Popovich, and it hopes to expand its presence in the Region in the future. Eventually, Brashier hopes it can act as a headquarters for aid in times of crisis in the Region.
Brashier also sits as vice chairman of the Lake County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“I think it fits hand in glove with what I do at Doc’s. We have worked very closely with the convention and tourism groups in Milwaukee and in our other cities, and to be in a position of leadership is a very exciting opportunity. There's a lot of really great stuff on the horizon,” Brashier said.
Whether he’s smoking some killer brisket or making serious changes in the community, Brashier is not known to sit still for too long. Since opening the original Doc’s Smokehouse in 2016, Brashier and Doshi have opened two more locations in Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin – and the future is still evolving for Brashier and his legacy in the restaurant industry.
Despite his packed schedule, Brashier makes sure to set aside time to spend with his wife, Aimee, and their two kids – Harper and Bart. They enjoy spending time outdoors whenever possible, and as the kids grow up, Brashier hopes to share his love of hobbies like hunting and fishing.
To learn more about Doc’s Smokehouse, visit docsbbq.net.