Pete Warner, Rick Pasch & Dave Weiss

Teaches at Southern Thunder Cooking School of BBQ

Pete Warner Pete's long quest for BBQ knowledge began in Topeka, Kansas on October 11, 1982 when his next door handed him a rib over the fence. He was cooking on a 50 gallon drum. How could anything this delicious come out of a wood fire burning in a rusty barrel? Unfortunately, his neighbor was not the secret sharing type. Pete spent the next decade trying to find out how he did it. In those days, there were no books, no blogs or websites, no TV shows – only one frustrating failed cook after another. Finally, he stumbled upon the Atlanta BBQ community, they took him in and opened their ancient books of BBQ cooking. It didn't take long before Pete was competing-- and winning! By day, Pete is CEO of Linkup Technologies, a doting husband to his wife of 37 years and their 4 grown kids. Rick Pasch A professional musician for 30 years, Rick was born and raised in central Michigan with ties to Texas where we acquired a taste for good BBQ. Since moving to the Atlanta area eight years ago, he followed his passion by entering into the competitive world of BBQ. With numerous top-ten finishes, including several grand championships, Rick is always looking for opportunities to share his craft with others. Rick is a system designer with Magnolia Home Theater in Atlanta. He enjoys entertaining and spending time with family and friends. Dave Weiss Dave, having attended more cooking classes than he can count, is the only one of us that really knows how to cook. Despite that, we decided to let him join the team. He has proved to be a great addition, plus he loves teaching and talking BBQ as much as we do. Here he is "grilling off" BBQ chicken thighs that went on to win first place at Pigs and Peaches.