Love is patient, love is kind, love is… in the Smokehouse! We all know good food makes for good memories, but for some, good BBQ is only the beginning of a great love story. We found 3 couples who met their sweeties at the Smokehouse and asked them to share their stories to help spread the love this Valentine’s Day!

Cayla & Michael

We met while both working at Baymeadows, and like most smokehouses our coworkers all became family and we all hung out every Saturday night and all day Sunday as a large group. After about a year of being friends, Michael asked me out on a date after my college graduation. We’ve never been apart since. We had the opportunity to move back to Orlando and work at Central Kitchen together. We helped get The Cantina running together and then when COVID hit we both helped Tommy get Feed The Need up and running! Most people think that working side by side with your significant other would put more problems in your relationship, but not us. It allowed us to better understand and communicate with each other. While 4 Rivers was supposed to just be a job to help me through college, it brought me my best friend and other half. For that, I couldn’t be more grateful for BBQ and Brisket 🐮💕

Tanisha & Aviles

Jordan and I met working at the 4 Rivers UCF Smokehouse. We have been together for 9 years! I was a front-of-house team member and he was a back-of-house team member when we first met in 2014. We found out we were expecting our first brisket baby in 2018. As We both grew within the organization, he became a manager and I joined the Restaurant Group with HR. We are so very grateful that BBQ brought us together and gave us our beautiful family!

Kiley & Josh

Back when my fiancé was just my boyfriend, I worked at the 4R in Tampa. When he would come to visit, I would take him there to eat on my days off. We would bond over our shared love of the food, the great coworkers, fun atmosphere and joked that we should both work at one in the future. Fast forward a few years and we moved up to Jacksonville, and we both ended up working at one of the 4R locations in Jacksonville (Baymeadows). He was a carver and I did POS and sides. While it might not have been where we met, 4R will always be a big part of our love story!

We hope you have a Smokin’ good Valentine’s Day! Peace, Love, 4R.