Hog Father's eatery chain ferries barbecue to workers at gas well pads

Frank Puskarich knows best how to feed folks hungry from 12 hours of work. It's a shift he has worked many times.

As a miner, mealtime for him meant a cold ham and Swiss sandwich while sitting on a pile of coal. Those he serves, whether they're eating from one of his food trailers at a gas well pad or a booth in one of his Hog Father's Old Fashioned BBQ restaurants, have it better.

Hot pulled pork, smoked ribs, homemade macaroni and cheese and brimming cups of sweet tea are the trademarks of Puskarich's eateries. Sales have grown eightfold since he opened in Washington, Pa., in 2007 and expanded to five locations across Western Pennsylvania.

“Barbecue was something I wanted to do, something I wanted to put my name on,” said Puskarich, 61, of McMurray.

Barbecue at Hog Father's is about the sauce that juices out with each bite. It's about the mud on boots that he's fine with being tracked onto his eateries' floors. He says he built his business around what he likes and knows his customers want: flavorful barbecue, welcoming and friendly service and accommodations for the blue-collar worker.

About 40 percent of Puskarich's business is from the oil and gas industry. As gas production boomed, so did his restaurants.

“It was a fit; it was definitely a fit,” he said. “It was just like I fell into it, and it just worked. It really, really, really just fell together.”

In 2007, Hog Father's did about $10,000 a week in sales. Today, it's doing about $82,000, he said. He started with 10 employees and now has 80.

Hog Father's supplies meals to gas drilling and fracking site workers around the clock. Puskarich has four trailers, each tied to a brick-and-mortar location, where food is cooked. Workers smoke 44 racks of ribs every four hours.

Fort Worth-based Range Resources Corp., Pennsylvania's most prolific shale gas driller, considers Puskarich part of its team, said Shawn Hodges, the energy company's operations manager. Hog Father's supplies food for Range operations twice a day. The meal changes daily, chosen by Range from a catering menu.

“He has been on location during some of the milestone achievements we have accomplished,” Hodges said.

Hog Father's has a location inside Range's corporate office in Cecil, as well as in downtown Washington, Washington Town Center Mall, Canonsburg and Monongahela.

Puskarich said he has not missed a feeding for anyone since 2011. Rain or shine, in all temperatures, he's there with his trailers.

“That's what sets me apart,” he said.

Jennifer McKnight of Washington has been visiting Puskarich's first restaurant nearly weekly since it opened. The food reminds her of barbecue she gets when visiting family in North Carolina.

“The ribs actually taste like authentic Southern barbecue,” she said while eating a plate of ribs. “It's hard to pick a favorite because everything is so good. That's a rare thing to find at a restaurant.”

His barbecue rib recipe began as a last-minute, winning entry to the Allegheny County Rib Cookoff, and is now the centerpiece of his menu. Hog Father's does a dry rub, then smokes the ribs after they've been sauced so they are caramelized coming out of the broiler, Puskarich said. More sauce is added when they are ready to be served.

“Everything's that's used ... isn't from out of a box. It's changed,” he said. “It's altered, the flavor profile's enhanced. I like a lot of seasoning. I like a lot of flavor. I think that's what the guys from Texas are used to. They're used to spicy.”

Puskarich caters to the gas industry because its workers have been good to him.

“They don't say, ‘Thank you.' They'll say, ‘Appreciate you, appreciate you,' ” he said.

He said he spends $2.5 million a year on supplier costs for his food, some of which he sees as part of the trickle-down effect of the industry.

“There's quite a bit of other work that's created because of the business I do,” he said. “One business feeds off another business.”

That's clear in good times but also in downturns. Puskarich, like the oilfield service companies he serves, says he has cut his prices to help out gas companies squeezed by low oil and gas prices. He has not cut portions but has adjusted the menu for his oil and gas clients to keep costs down, he said.

“I'm still a luxury on the pad site. I should be the first to go,” he said.

But he hasn't been. All of his clients, despite some layoffs, have kept him on, he said.

A little bit of barbecue helps those 12-hour days at the well go down a little bit easier, he said.

Katelyn Ferral is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-380-5627 or kferral@tribweb.com.