Article by Maxwell Patton  and photo by Diana Jaber - The Writght State Guardian

Company 7 BBQ in Englewood has been serving award-winning barbecue to customers from across the country for the past decade, combining the aesthetic of a 1920s firehouse with well-made food.

Bill and Mary Grilliot started the restaurant with their son Will and son-in-law Patrick Murty in 2010, two years after the Grilliots sold their manufacturing company Morning Pride Manufacturing.

“We enjoyed seeing people, and a restaurant is like a huge living room,” Mary Grilliot said. “Family friends and new friends arrive all of the time.”

The name Company 7 came from a variety of sources, including Bill Grilliot’s first badge number and the number of people in their family.

Crafting a winning recipe
They crafted the menu by bringing in a variety of recipes, including some from Bill’s mother.

“She could make anything taste wonderful, and between her recipes and the fire service recipes, we developed our menu and invested heavily in state-of-the-art barbecue technologies,” Mary Grilliot said.

These technologies include wood-fire and gas-fire smokers that can cook up to 1,000 pounds of meat at a time.

“We can be cooking 3,000 pounds of meat without batting an eye all day long seven days a week, so it gave us great capacity and it gave us great control over the quality of the product,” Mary Grilliot said.