Mack-A-Docious BBQ Continues a Family Tradition in Lake Havasu
A Mack-A-Docious BBQ pork shoulder smoking on the grill
Local First Arizona’s We Rise Business Accelerator, a six-month program designed specifically for Black business owners, has been around for three years now. It’s helped more than 100 entrepreneurs prepare for success, offering financial and operational guidance as well as invaluable networking connections.
And now, the program has its first graduate from rural Arizona.
William Mack, owner of Mack-A-Docious BBQ
Lake Havasu resident William Mack followed advice from a friend to enroll in We Rise to support his business, Mack-A-Docious BBQ, pay tribute to his father and begin charting a post-retirement life. He’s glad he did.
“It was an amazing program. I learned quite a bit,” Mack said. “It was really instrumental in helping me put everything that was going on in my head together on paper to make it into the structure of the business and the company.”
A deeply held family tradition of barbecue
Mack isn’t new to business or management.
As a district manager for the Bureau of Land Management overseeing the Colorado River District, Mack is in charge of millions of acres of public land.
Keeping an eye on multimillion-dollar budgets and activities across wide swaths of land falls within his job description.
He’s not new to food, either.
Mack was raised on a hog farm in a small Alabama town by a family that just made ends meet by slaughtering and selling the hogs they raised.
When they had the opportunity to save a hog for themselves, the preparation became a multi-day, full family event that culminated in a Sunday dinner complete with every kind of pork dish — from chitlins to oxtails to pigs feet to brisket and pulled pork.
“We couldn’t always kill a hog for us because we had to sell it for money. Whenever we had a chance to cook, we made it the best we could. We made it where everybody wanted to eat it. That was our family time to enjoy one another. That was what we did as a family. That’s my heart,” he said. “We couldn’t always have that even though it was right there.”
How We Rise helped a seasoned businessman
We Rise equipped Mack with the knowledge and guidance he needed to shape Mack-A-Docious BBQ, which is currently a mobile food business, into the franchise-worthy operation he envisions for the future.
Mack said he welcomed the camaraderie and assurance We Rise offered, even as the free classes were held online.
“I did not feel left out, disconnected or like I was someplace else at all,” Mack said. “When you’re looking to start your own thing, there is some certainty you look for and guidance and assurance when you need to know you’re going the right way or not. So We Rise brought all of that together for me. And it gave me a network of colleagues to reach out to and talk to and a circle of people trying to do the same thing I'm trying to do.”
In addition to connecting with We Rise colleagues, Mack said he’s connected with the bustling and growing mobile food scene in his hometown of Lake Havasu, a unique town that experiences big swings in population based on the events going on at the lake or on the open land.
“There’s always something going on,” he said. “From 2021 to now, we’ve probably had about 15 to 20 mobile food services start in that time. The event scene is really picking up here and there’s a need.”
A taste of home
For Mack, cooking barbecue makes him happy, without a doubt. But for him, it has an emotional tie.
He is motivated by the need he feels to share a piece of his past, a piece of his childhood and a piece of his family.
“It’s my blood pumping through my veins. That’s what it means to me,” he said, becoming choked up.
“It ain’t just food,” he went on. “It’s me doing my best to give you a taste of my family, my home and knowing who we are. That’s what it is to me.”
To hire Mack-A-Docious BBQ in Lake Havasu for your next event, visit mackadociousbbq.com.
Learn more about the We Rise Business Accelerator at LocalFirstAZ.com/We-Rise.
