THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 3
FRIDAY, MAY 22, 2015
Business & Ag
Big Chief’s BBQ has busy opening
• NEW BARBECUE
JOINT OPENS IN
FORMER ARCEO’S
LOCATION
BY MEGHAN ANDERSCH
Meghan@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Tantalizing aromas and
the prospect of fresh bar-
becue did not disappoint,
if the crowd on Big Chiefs
BBQ’s opening day was
any indication. Located at
781 Campbell Street, in the
former Arceo’s building,
the restaurant opened its
doors Tuesday at 11 a.m.
At a little after 6 p.m.,
most tables were full and
patrons seemed to be heart-
ily enjoying the food. One
diner was heard to com-
ment he hadn’t had decent
BBQ since moving out
from New York.
Steven DeLeon, owner
and head chef, said the
restaurant enjoyed a good
opening day.
He said their product
will continue to improve
as they make adjustments.
For example, the mac and
cheese didn’t seem quite
right to him on Tuesday,
so he changed it up for
Wednesday and was much
more pleased with the
results.
DeLeon’s passion for
cooking shines in his care-
ful attention to detail. He
handcrafts his own rubs
and sauces and smokes his
own meat. He says he is
at the restaurant at 5 a.m.
every morning getting
things ready to go. He has
a SmokinTex professional
smoker and can smoke 200
pounds of meat at a time.
All food is freshly pre-
pared and served.
DeLeon said he gets
everything set up so that
when his crew arrives, all
they have to do is plate
the food and get it to the
customers.
DeLeon explained he
knows people coming in
on their lunch hour need
enough time to order and
enjoy their meal, not just
gulp it down and get back
to work. After feeding
the lunch crowd, DeLeon
gets everything set up for
dinner.
Big Chiefs BBQ also
offers a children’s menu,
with entrée, side, and small
drink for $4.99. It’s not on
the printed menu yet, but
DeLeon mentioned smoked
chicken legs are available
now and will get added to
the children’s menu.
Other menu offerings
include the Big Chief sand-
wich—pulled pork, tri-tip,
bacon, and mac and cheese
loaded onto a ciabatta roll
and served with coleslaw,
as well as salads, pulled
pork, tri-tip, ribs, sausage,
and half chicken.
Appetizers include
fresh pork rinds (which can
also be ordered “loaded”)
and hot wings. DeLeon
also described his popular
brownie, which is topped
with ice cream, caramel
BY GINA K. SWARTZ
Gina@TheBakerCountyPress.com
The Small Business De-
velopment Center (SBDC)
is a national organization
that offers free face-to-
face business consulting to
those looking to start up or
grow their businesses.
Baker City’s own SBDC
operates out of a new
location in the Pythian
Castle, has revitalized its
fading inmate program,
and brought Jeff Nelson on
board to work alongside
economic development
expert Gene Stackle.
SBDCs are hosted by
leading universities, col-
leges and state economic
development agencies. The
local SBDC is overseen
by Art Hill and hosted
through Blue Mountain
Community College,
which also hosts the SBDC
in Pendleton. Recently a
SBDC opened in Wallowa
County as well.
SBDCs are funded in
part by the United States
Congress through a
partnership with the U.S.
Small Business Adminis-
tration and nearly 1,000
service centers are avail-
able to provide no-cost
business consulting and
low-cost training to help
with success of entrepre-
neurs. All services are
confidential as well.
“We take that very seri-
ously,” Stackle said. “We
will not tell people who we
are working with specifi-
cally although we may tell
what industry they are in.
The only way we divulge
information is if we get
consent from our clients.
The majority of our clients,
if not all, are very eager to
help us help other clients.”
The SBDC has bro-
chures, hosts Pub Talks
several times per year, the
last one held at Lefty’s
Tap House had a maxi-
mum capacity crowd and
was geared at community
resources.
“It’s a commitment and I
can tell you I think is im-
portant for the general pub-
lic to know about, SBDC
clients specifically under-
stand staff are not full-time
employees. We only work
part time, approximately
20 hours a week,” Stackle
said.
However, far more hours
go into the cause.
“Sometimes you go
over but you gotta do what
you’ve gotta do. We will
work after normal business
hours or go to a business
directly and work right
there with our clients. We
most definitely don’t have
a 9-5 job. You can’t when
you’re working with busi-
nesses and sometimes it’s
a family affair too. Small
businesses, sometimes
they bring their kids in, we
understand that,” he said.
The SBDC also has
many more resources they
are able to access.
Stackle said, “Because
there is SBDC in every
state, we have individu-
als who have particular
support and expertise
we can rely on. We have
access to a CAT team, a
capital access team. Those
individuals have a specific
duty to help with financ-
ing, if possible for different
businesses. We will call
them to help us. They go
through and analyze the
financials once we have
gone through and done that
portion of the plan. We do
financial projections for
our clients too. Let’s say a
Friday, May 15, 2015 — Eastern Oregon
Prices trended generally steady compared to the
same quality last week. Trade activity and demand
was slow this week. Most producers have sold all
that they plan to sell for this season.
No new sales reported.
USDA Market News Service—AMS.USDA.gov
— Weekly Sheep Report —
Friday, May 15, 2015 — Eastern Oregon
Trade activity was slow this week. Harvest numbers
are remaining lower this week as demand continues
to be low, storage space is starting to become more
of an issue and weights have increased. Consumer
demand is still the largest struggle point at this time
and packers are continuing to decrease bids.
USDA Market News Service—AMS.USDA.gov
Meghan Andersch / The Baker County Press
Teahnna Welch, manager of Big Chief’s, shows off
their new menu.
drizzle, and fresh-cut
smoked bacon crumbles.
DeLeon said he has been
doing barbecue for 12
years and that it’s some-
thing he’s passionate
about.
He explained the name
of the restaurant as well
as the names of his three
house-made barbecue
sauces poke mild fun at his
Native American heritage.
He said he’d like people
to know “I’m a funny Na-
tive.”
For example, his Shape
Shifter barbecue sauce is
made with ghost chilies.
He said it starts off sweet
and mild, and then will
surprise you with a sud-
denly burning mouth.
DeLeon opened Big
Chiefs BBQ to bring some-
thing different to Baker
City.
He said he’s not run-
ning the business to make
a huge profit, but to serve
people in the area and
provide good food.
Reviews are already
popping up on Big Chief’s
BBQ Facebook page (BIG-
CHIEFS-BBQ-LLC) and
sites such as yelp.com are
overwhelmingly positive
regarding both food and
service.
The restaurant will
open every day at 11 a.m.
Monday through Thursday.
They close at 8 p.m. and
Friday through Sunday at
9 p.m.
They also offer carry out
and accept reservations.
Their phone number is
523-5755.
SBDC revitalizes services offered
• JEFF NELSON
BROUGHT ON
BOARD, INMATES
SIGN UP FOR NEW
PROGRAM
— Weekly Hay Report —
— Cattle Market Report —
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Vale, Oregon
Cattle sold through the auction: 487
Steer Calves
300-400# Bulk N/A Top N/A
400-500# Bulk 287.00-301.00 Top 307.00
500-600# Bulk 243.00-265.00 Top 267.00
Heifer Calves
300-400# Bulk N/A Top N/A
400-500# Bulk 237.00-254.00 Top 259.00
500-600# Bulk 231.00-244.00 Top 248.00
Yearling Steers
600-700# Bulk 234.00-249.00 Top 251.00
700-800# Bulk 203.00-217.00 Top 221.00
800-900# Bulk 183.00-191.00 Top 197.00
900-1,000# Bulk 169.00-175.00 Top 179.00
Yearling Heifers
600-700# Bulk 223.00-234.00 Top 236.50
700-800# Bulk 192.00-209.00 Top 212.00
800-900# Bulk N/A Top N/A
900-1,000# Bulk N/A Top N/A
Thin Shelly Cows 84.00-96.00
Butcher Cows 113.00 top
Butcher Bulls 144.00 top
Stock Cows 1375.00-1825.00
Younger Hfrts. 117.00-151.00
Pairs B.M. - N/A
ProducersLivestock.com
541-473-3136
— Log Price Report —
Price per 1,000 board feet: Northeast Oregon
Gina K. Swartz / The Baker County Press
Gene Stackle (left) and Jeff Nelson (right) show off
some of the services SBDC offers.
client doesn’t understand
the funding processes or
employees. The client rates
themselves and then that
way we can work toward
understanding. We have
worksheets for each one of
these categories. We have a
flip chart we use when we
talk to financial institutions
or professionals that can
help our clients, have ser-
vices that our clients need.
Sometimes we go through
services that we offer with
investors. We give visual
ideas and it’s a reminder
for us also of things we are
doing, it is fairly exten-
sive.”
Stackle spoke of lending
options, which was the
main reason Pub Talk, a
registered trademark of
OEN, Oregon Entrepre-
neurs Network, began.
The idea was to bring
businesses in front of
Angel investors. An Angel
investor is an affluent
individual who provides
capital for a business that
meets certain criteria.
“We really don’t have
that many businesses that
are ready for Angel fund-
ing here so we changed
the model a bit about three
years ago to fit Baker
County. We’re looking
more at local investment
opportunities and pushing
that ideal. The Small Busi-
ness Association considers
a small business to be 500
employees or less, that’s
not us, we have five or less
on average,” Stackle said.
Nelson, a name recog-
nizable from his Historic
Baker City (HBC) efforts,
joined with SBDC in
February to head up and
reestablish a program at
Powder River Correction
Facility. “It’s going to be
something new for me, it’s
going to be quite the expe-
rience,” Nelson said.
This particular program
was a successful program
once headed by Bob Sav-
age.
Interest dwindled and
the program fell by the
wayside for a couple of
years but its reestablish-
ment is seeing approxi-
mately 22 inmates signed
up for the program that
was set to meet for the
first time on May 19 for an
orientation.
SEE SBDC PAGE 12
Doug Fir is $415.00/mbf
White fir is $365.00/mbf
Ponderosa Pine is brought sold
on diameter splits
6 to 11 inch dib $300 to $310/MBF
12 to 17 inch dib $350 to $375/MBF
18 to 23 inch dib $400 to $430/MBF
24 inch plus dib $450 to $500/MBF
DIB is diameter inside bark at
small end of log.
MBF is thousand board feet lumber, net scale.
People interested in selling logs
should call and get specific
quotes from saw mills.
Courtesy of Arvid Andersen,
Andersen Forestry Consulting
— Precious Metals Report —
Price per ounce, USD
Gold: $1209.70
Silver: $17.11
Platinum: $1,154.68
Palladium: $778.00
Bloomberg.com
— Ag Commodities —
Corn: $360.00/bu/USD
Wheat: $513.50/bu/USD
Soybeans: $941.25/bu/USD
Oats: $241.00 bu/USD
Rough Rice: $9.57/cwt/USD
Canola: $458.50 CAD/mwt
Live Cattle: $149.73/lb./USD
Feeder Cattle: $216.70/lb./USD
Lean Hogs: $83.35/lb./USD
Bloomberg.com