From smoking sausage, steak and chicken, to salsa, hot sauce and pickles, senior Cade Cogbill’s dedication to his business is without a doubt impressive. 

Racking in hundreds of dollars a month, Cogbill has successfully created a business from his passion of cooking great foods. He mostly sells to people he works with, or anyone who contacts him. Cogbill enjoys working by himself, as there is more room for errors and he has the ability to work freely without any rules.  

His growing demand for freshly made salsa, sweets or smoked meat has encouraged him to continue selling his food. 

“I was working at my last job and I came in with a full jar of my salsa and we made some chicken wings with it, I guess over time people have been asking me for more and more items,” Cogbill said. “My business has been expanding depending on the time of year, so like around Christmas time I made and sold so many pounds of English toffee.”

He has purchased four smokers in order to keep up with the growing demand for his products. With large orders such as 27 whole barbeque chickens, it takes time to prepare, smoke and store his products. 

“Everything that I make is pretty fast except my salsa and hot sauces. Those are all fermented and can take anywhere from two weeks to months,” Cogbill said. 

Cogbill not only runs his own business, he also spends his time working at Oklahoma’s number one steak restaurant, Boulevard Steakhouse, exposing him to top chefs in the area. Cogbill takes advantage of the professionals around him, and learns from the best. 

“I look up to my current boss, he is a ‘real’ chef and I really like the ideas he gives me. He is also helping me out a lot. He taught me how to cut my own steaks because we needed a butcher at work,” Cogbill said. “I also really like Brad Leone, he works for Bon Appetit and he focuses on all kinds of fermentation experiments. I just think his work is very interesting and I’ve definitely copied him more than a few times.” 

Not only is the steakhouse impressed with Cogbill’s hard work and achievements, but so are his parents. 

“Cade is a busy young man and is working very hard to make a name for himself and get his ‘brand’ up and running. His mother and I are extremely proud of him for finding a passion and making it profitable,” Cogbill’s father, Brian said. 

Cogbill’s parents admire his commitment to his passion, and have created a supportive atmosphere for all of his ambitions. 

“We have given him free reign in our kitchen, and our back patio is filled with his smokers,” Brian said. “Cade’s work ethic, passion, the positive family support and mentors give him a ‘sky’s the limit’ outlook.” 

As far as the future goes for Cogbill, his direction is undecided and he is open to any opportunities for his business down the road. For now, he chooses to take small steps in upgrading his business to make it more professional.

“I’m not exactly sure about that either, I like how I can just do whatever I want now. I am thinking about paying one of my friends to photoshop me a logo because I have the nice jars and all of that stuff, just no logo or a real business number,” Cogbill said. 

 With Cogbill’s great work so far, the opportunities that are available to him given his talent are endless. His opened minded mentality keeps him from settling, and will definitely lead him to be the best of the best. 

Contact Grace Swisher at [email protected]