Tin Hut BBQ founder Frank Diaz has fond memories cooking on the grill with his dad and feeding their fellow military neighbors. Diaz, a military brat remembers the time when his dad handed him the fork and tongs and let him take over at the grill. “I was eleven-years-old,” he said. “I was really happy.”
Diaz, a disabled Army veteran who spent 33 years serving the military, first in the Army and then as a civilian working as an Anti-Terrorism Specialist for the DOD.
It was his DOD job that brought him to Hawaii where his barbeque business took off. He serviced the bases there and found his passion for cooking and helping his fellow veterans. He liked the concept of the mobile kitchen trailer (MKT) the military uses. He also came up with the name “Tin Hut”, a pun on the military call to attention, “ten hut”. He cultivated a fleet of trucks in and around Oahu, and fed service members by the thousands at times.
In 2021, Tin Hut BBQ expanded to the state of Washington, establishing a permanent base of operation in the city of DuPont. In addition to the flagship store located at 1175 Center Drive in DuPont, WA, operations include a fleet of food trucks and our newest restaurant location at Eagles Pride, JBLM, launching in Spring of 2023.