Wood Fired Catering offers ‘more than a pile’ of meat
June 20, 2025
What began almost a decade ago as a hobby doing barbecue competitions has become a business for a Sioux Falls couple.
Dallas Reese and Missy Spilger turned their love for smoking meat into Wood Fired Catering, doing catering jobs, then pop-ups with a stand last season and finally moving into a “kitchen on wheels” in the fall with their enclosed trailer.
The food truck’s menu typically features brisket, pulled pork, ribs and chicken.
“Basically, we have traditional food but are branching out as far as how it’s served,” he said. “It seems like people want more than a pile of brisket or pulled pork.”
Reese and Spilger make brisket and pulled pork tacos and homemade mac-and-cheese bowls loaded with brisket or pulled pork.
“We have a custom-built wood smoker, and we have a pretty big pellet smoker that we use too,” Reese said. “We smoke overnight because we want everything fresh.” He uses hickory for the wood smoker and cherry wood pellets or a three-wood blend for the pellet smoker.
For side dishes, the couple makes coleslaw, potato salad and smoked baked beans.
“We’re very well known for our homemade coleslaw,” he said. “It’s more of a creamy style with a little bite to it.”
They don’t make their own barbecue sauces, but “all I can say is it’s high priced and very good. That even goes with our rubs; we special order them in,” Reese said, noting that while some rubs sold in big-box stores are half salt, the majority of Wood Fired Catering’s use very little salt for the seasoning.
One of the newer additions to the menu is a taco with mac-and-cheese, smoked meat and barbecue sauce.
Reese left his job driving truck for Knife River to make Wood Fired Catering his year-round, full-time pursuit. Spilger still works full time as an X-ray technician at Sanford Orthopedics.
Wood Fired Catering still has room on the calendar for public and private events.
Find locations on its website or Facebook page.
Find the catering menu on the website.
Upcoming outings include 5 to 8 tonight at the Worthing Farmers Market, 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday at Pilot Mike’s Roadhouse and 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday at Take 16 Brewing in Luverne, Minnesota.
