Several weeks ago, the Arizona Silver Belt learned that a pair of popular food trucks were making the transition to brick-and-mortar restaurants. This is the story of one of those businesses (watch for the other in next week’s edition).

Near the corner of Broad and Hackney Streets in downtown Globe, next door to the former Jammerz Bar, Gila Hogs BBQ is preparing to open for business as a sit-down restaurant. “We’re hoping to open in the next two or three weeks,” co-partner Anthony Puskaric said in an interview last week.

“Gila Hogs started probably 10 years ago,” said Puskaric, who grew up in Payson and relocated to Globe from Round Valley this January. “It went from butchering hogs for FFA kids and 4-H kids to butchering for other people to doing a barbecue at my house; everybody said how great it was.”

A roadside tent was the business’ first iteration, followed by a restaurant in Rye, Arizona that was open for about a year. That, Puskaric said, merged into the food truck he has operated for the last four years.

While living in Round Valley, Puskaric operated his own butcher shop. “I know all the cuts of meat. I love cooking; I grew up in the kitchen with my mom,” he said.

About a year ago, he and Josh Asanovich became partners in Gila Hogs BBQ. “Josh gave me the chance to do this,” he said. “His company are actually realtors for the house we're selling in Payson. His sister mentioned to me that he had a brick-and-mortar, and she'd talk to him and see what he wanted to do with it. I never heard back from him.

“We were leaving an event one day and I was driving right by here with my trailer. I saw Josh and his sister standing out front of the restaurant. I turned around and stopped; I talked to Josh and that's when it all began.”

“He didn't hear from us about the building because the answer was originally no,” said Asanovich. “We were in the process of potentially selling this building. We own this, the building next door and the land in back, and we were about to sell it all. We talked that day for 35 or 40 minutes, and then we met again about a week later and a week after that and the decision was made.”

Puskaric said that after the Broad Street location’s first couple of months in operation, Gila Hogs would probably return to setting up the food truck daily. “We’ll concentrate on trailer food there and restaurant food here, try to divide it up.”

Puskaric’s barbecue is not based on any regional style; rather, it is his own. “I put a twist on my barbecue, and everybody seems to love it,” he said.

He said moving into the new location has been a slow process. “It’s being able to find the people to do the work and the time to do the work.”

Puskaric said the business currently does a lot of catering in addition to setting up at such community events as Globe’s First Friday. He added that Gila Hogs gives back to the community as well, through endeavors like a Christmas 2023 toy drive. “We set up boxes all over town in October and picked them up about a week before we did our event. We went out to the Train Depot, handed out 500 toys and fed dinner to whoever wanted to come in,” he said. “We want to make it bigger this year.”

The new Gila Hogs BBQ, he added, will be a fast casual restaurant. Future plans for the location include selling fresh meat and expanding into the former Jammerz, which they intend to bring back as a sports bar. “We don’t want it to be a bar bar; we won’t be open until 2 a.m. We’re going to be a family-oriented environment.” Puskaric hoped that expansion could happen by the beginning of 2025. “It’s all about how business goes,” he said.