Tashiema (call him Beemer) Brown has always been a Man with a Plan. And opening his new Fellsmere restaurant – The Saussie Pig – a few weeks ago was the culmination of his unceasing hard work, upbeat, can-do attitude and rock-solid determination to make a good life for his family. Done, done and done!
At 14, Beemer Brown washed dishes in a Pittsburg rib joint across the street from his house. Outgoing and popular, Brown stuck with the rib joint all through school, working his way up to fry cook, then at 18, to Rib Master. Back then, the rib joint was just a way to earn money after school.
“I had the idea I wanted to be a plumber,” he says. So Brown went to school to learn the trade. Fast forward a bit. By this time Brown had a family: wife, Kimberly, daughter, Kavonna, and sons, Tashiema Jr. and Eric, and he realized that “digging ditches was not what I wanted to do.”
His brother in Florida told him he should start his own business. So he did. He passed the commercial driver’s license exam, bought a dump truck and started T. Brown and Sons Trucking, soon picking up customers, building his business.
It was 2005. The Pittsburg winter was bitterly cold and there was very little work. Hey, said his brother, come on down to Florida. There’s plenty of hurricane clean-up work down here. So Brown hopped in his dump truck and drove all the way from Pittsburg to Tamarac, Fla.
He hauled storm debris for about a month, greatly enjoying the not- Pittsburg climate. “I loved Florida so much, I didn’t want to go back.”
So the ever-resourceful Brown got a job with one of the subcontractors on the State Road 60 widening project, sending money home to his family, seeing them when he could, and thinking to himself how excited he was to be in Florida, hurricanes and all.
“Pittsburg’s my city,” he says, gesturing to the conspicuously placed Steelers banners, crying towel and large-screen TVs, “but I knew this is where I wanted to raise my kids.”
He flew his wife and children down to begin their life in a new, warm state.
The State Road 60 job was great – until it wasn’t. When the economy tanked, the work slowed to a crawl, no longer generating the money it took to sustain a growing family. Brown wasted no time boo-hooing. A big guy who played football in high school and looked it, Brown worked a second job doing security for local bars and started planning his next move.
Then he had a “Bright Idea.” He remembered how he’d enjoyed his years at the Pittsburg rib joint. And how good he had been at it. “I’ll be a cook!” he decided. He bought a portable smoker and parked along the side of the road in Gifford, selling fabulous BBQ to the same bars for whom he was providing security. Word of mouth spread. He began to work parties and found his way onto the lucrative, highly competitive event circuit.
Until local officials told him he couldn’t sell food from a mobile unit, he needed a building.
So Brown got in touch with the owner of Miller’s Chevron and convenience store on the corner of US 1 and 16th Street in Vero, and re-located his mobile business to a section of that building. It was the spring of 2011. The following year, with a thriving business inside the Chevron, Brown added a second location, on 45th Street, back in Gifford.
With more elbow room, he began catering parties, weddings, benefits. Brown is justifiably proud that he never had investors or bank loans.
“It was always just blood, sweat and tears.”
Then, the owner of the 45th street building raised the rent. The building needed work and Brown wasn’t interested in putting his hard-earned money into a place that wasn’t his and that was getting more run down by the day.
“My friend, (Sheriff’s Deputy) Teddy Floyd told me about this place.” At 12798 CR 512 Fellsmere, a spacious stand-alone building that once housed the Snack Shack had been vacant for quite a while.
Perfect, thought Brown. But the owner was reluctant to deal with another tenant. Not surprising, Brown wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Patient, polite and persistent, he continued to communicate with the owner. “Finally the owner said ‘OK, let me check you out. Then let’s talk.’”
Bingo.
The Saussie Pig opened its Fellsmere doors several weeks ago. Brown had worked hard to get the building looking new. Very visible, smack in the middle of a spacious lot, the pale cream structure announces “THE SAUSSIE PIG” in bold black caps on the east, front side, and from a good-looking sign on the 512 side. Brown painted the trim a deep, rust red and added a snazzy red awning.
Inside, the spacious, high-ceilinged dining room and order counter area is well-lighted, bright and crisp. There are seven booths, five tables inside and four red umbrella-topped picnic tables on the front patio. The interior walls are pale, the tables and bar warm wood.
Football items are everywhere (heavy on the Steelers.) Photos of local little league teams are proudly displayed, teams that Brown coached and now sponsors, with two locations swallowing up most of his time.
In back, on a slab in an outdoor, fenced-in area is where the magic happens. A huge smoker emits the most tantalizing of aromas. Now Pit Master in his own domain, Brown has created a menu starring beef, pork and chicken. There are plenty of apps, salads, wings, sides, sandwiches, full dinners, even seafood, soft drinks, beer and wine.
Many of the sandwiches are named for his kids and, of course, his team. There’s the Pittsburger, the Dinkburger, the Kimmie Dog, Lil E Dog, Sheimy Dog, the Mack Daddy and the belly-busting All That. And more. Lots.
Brown offers eat-in, carry-out, delivery and, of course, catering. And he still “does events,” such as the annual Piper Aircraft party, Vero’s Sunset Fridays, numerous churches. A recent highlight was the Blue Angels Air Show.
“The Blue Angels loved our BBQ,” he says, grinning.
Brown is currently working to assemble the perfect team for the front of the house. “You HAVE to be a people person, a team player. Whatever stuff is going on in your life, you leave it in the back.”
This is not negotiable.
Brown’s three older kids help with the business. His third son, Trevon, will be 2 in January. And his first grandbaby, Kavonna’s son, Christopher Stokes, is 6 months old.
Life is hectic but good for Brown.
“As they say, ‘be careful what you wish for,’” he says with a big grin. “I get up every day and go at it. Yep, you definitely have to be a people person.”