Dinosaur Bar-B-Que’s first “Yoga & BBQ” event will be held on April 8 in its West Willow Street location. It is being done in conjunction with Sophie Tashkovski Yoga and Lululemon Athletica aims to bring two communities — food and fitness lovers — together. The Daily Orange spoke with Jason Ryan, marketing director for Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, about the event.

The Daily Orange: Where did the idea to combine yoga and barbecue come from?

Jason Ryan: So Dinosaur Bar-B-Que came out with a new bowl, it’s a Black & White bowl and it’s kind of one of the healthier options than Dinosaur has had. So we came out with that and we wanted to wait to advertise it and get to a clientele that might not necessarily come to Dinosaur or think of Dinosaur as their first option for a lunch or a healthy meal. So one thing we talked about is yoga —teaming up with them in a way to showcase us to a different demographic — and yoga’s becoming more and more of a bigger thing around the Syracuse area. In a way, it brings the community in through a different event that shows that Dinosaur isn’t a thing that does just ribs, that we have a variety. We offer healthy options — the bowls are even available in gluten-free and vegan.

 

The D.O.: What kind of feedback have you gotten from community members about the event?

J.R.: People love it. The first event sold out in about an hour and a half so it’s definitely something big. … It kind of becomes that thing where after you do yoga you still have a wind down and there’s a little more to it, so people have been loving it. I know Sophie was sending out an email today about the second one and she said we already have great response for it, so we’re hoping that this one sells out just as fast.

 

The D.O.: Have you seen any other companies do something like this in the past?

J.R.: Not with food. Empire Brewing has done it before with their beer where they do it at the brewery and you get a beer after, but I haven’t seen anyone else offer food. We’re also for our first event tying Lululemon in. After you eat, Lululemon will be doing a pop-up shop where you can actually look at the different athletic clothes and see. They’re auctioning off a yoga package that includes a Lululemon mat and stuff, and for the second event we’re working with — we really like to, how I said tie the community in — the new body mind float center. It’s one of those float and salt places. They’re coming in after you eat and people can learn more about the floating, the salt packages, all that stuff, and then people that sign up get entered to win a $75 float and salt package, which is kind of cool.

 

The D.O.: How often does Dinosaur want to do this? Do you think it’s going to be a repeating event?

J.R.: We went into this with the first one just to see how it went — it really went well so now other locations are also jumping on. We actually just talked to a girl at our Rochester location. She wants to do it there. We’re also trying to work with a bar in New York City to do a “Bar-beque.” It’s kind of spiraled into a little bit more than what we expected. I think it’s one of those things that’s found its niche with us and fits well and I think it might be something that we’re going to keep with and partner and put a mold on the local community as well as our food. I can see it turning into a couple times a year.

 

The D.O.: What do you hope participants get out of the experience?

J.R.: The big thing we’re trying to do is connect different experiences and stuff that may not go together. People who may be comfortable at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que may not be the people that do yoga, so we’re introducing that to them. And people that do yoga might not always think that Dinosaur Bar-B-Que is the number one place they can eat … We’re trying to showcase that there’s more to us than what you always think of.

Published on March 27, 2017 at 10:17 pm

Contact Stacy: sfern100@syr.edu | @StacyFernandezB