Lewis County residents looking for some delicious smoked barbecue catered for their next event can now do so thanks to Chehalis residents Jeremy and Lynn Hearn, who opened J&L BBQ last fall.
The husband and wife duo both cook for the business, with Jeremy overseeing grilling and smoking meats, and Lynn whipping up the hearty side dishes to go along with them.
“It’s all her homemade recipes,” Jeremy said.
As for the meats, while the Hearns do offer barbecue sauces for customers who want them, they concentrate on using dry rubs and spices during the smoking process to make the meat flavorful and delicious without the need of sauces — with a few exceptions depending on the menu items.
“The only kind of sauce that we put on the pulled pork is a finishing sauce,” Lynn said.
The Chronicle recently got the chance to sample some of J&L’s smoked tri-tip steak along with mashed potatoes, gravy and a side salad at the annual World War II dinner at the Veterans Memorial Museum, and visited the Hearns at their Chehalis home on Dec. 22 to learn more about the new catering business.
With family out in the Adna and Curtis areas, Jeremy was born and raised in Chehalis. He is a Winlock High School graduate who joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1999 and deployed as a part of the initial invasion force during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
A bulk fuel specialist helping set up fuel supply lines, Jeremy’s Marine career was cut short from injuries suffered during a mortar attack in 2003 in former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, Iraq.
“I got out of the Marine Corps and came home, did some odds and ends jobs,” Jeremy said. “Then I got into driving trucks. I had my CDL already and it’s the family business. Everybody in the family pretty much drove, so I started driving and have been driving for over 20 years now.”
It was Lynn who convinced him to go ahead and purchase his own logging truck and start J&L Trucking LLC, and she also had a hand in the barbecue catering business’ birth.
“She’s been a rock behind me, pushing me to do what I want to do,” Jeremy said. “I love cooking. I love barbecuing. I do it all the time, every chance I get, so she was like, ‘Why don’t we do this?’”
Although he still operates his trucking business as his main source of income, he now gets to grill and smoke up meats catering local events together with Lynn. Aside from several events at the Veterans Memorial Museum, J&L BBQ has also catered events for Cosmic Tattoo’s Club Cosmic event in downtown Centralia.
Jeremy and Lynn hope to grow their catering business to the point where they can afford more of a food truck-concession trailer setup, allowing them to sell food during multi-day events like the Mossyrock Blueberry Festival or Morton Loggers Jubilee.
Currently, their meats come from a supplier up in the Tumwater area, but Jeremy and Lynn are looking for more local suppliers. They invited Lewis County farmers and ranchers to reach out to discuss details for supplying J&L BBQ.
The Hearns also thanked the local businesses who have used their catering business so far for their support, including Veterans Memorial Museum Executive Director Chip Duncan.
“Chip’s been amazing. We did our grand opening there and what not,” Lynn said. “He’s been a great support.”
To reach out to J&L BBQ about supplying meats, schedule a catering event or ask for more information, message the Hearns on the business’s Facebook page at https://tinyurl.com/3k5dmhf8.
