Hurtado Barbecue crowned MVP at MLB's Diverse Business Partners Luncheon

ARLINGTON -- Brandon Hurtado started barbecuing in his backyard during the pandemic. In his own words, it was something that takes a lot of guts and probably “being a crazy person.”

In under five years, being a crazy person has paid off for Hurtado and his family. Arlington’s Hurtado Barbecue went from cooking in the backyard and serving tacos outside of breweries to opening multiple locations in the Metroplex, along with two stands at the Rangers’ ballpark.

On Friday at Globe Life Field, Hurtado was honored with the Most Valuable Business Partner Award as presented by the Rangers and Major League Baseball as part of the 2024 All-Star Week festivities.

The honor was presented to Hurtado as MLB hosted a Diverse Business Partners Luncheon featuring representatives from four of the professional sports teams in the Metroplex: the Texas Rangers, FC Dallas, the Dallas Cowboys and the Dallas Mavericks. The event featured dozens of local, small and diverse businesses and presented opportunities for all to grow their footprints and partner with the sports clubs in DFW.

“In the span of five short [years] ... it went from a passion project with little to no food and beverage experience to serving thousands of fans at Globe Life Field with our very own stand, where we watched our very own Texas Rangers claw their way to the first-ever World Series championship title,” Hurtado said. “It's a fact that brisket tastes a little bit better in the postseason.”

The Diverse Business Partners Luncheon included a panel of partners of each of the four teams, moderated by Rangers director of community impact Ray Casas. The other panelists were Cayla Cochenour (Cowboys), Allison Lewis (Mavericks), Gina Miller (FC Dallas) and Rob Matwick (Rangers).

All four clubs have invested time and money into partnering with diverse, local businesses over the past five years.

Hurtado is arguably the most successful of the Rangers’ push for diverse small business partners. The Arlington EATS partnership, which launched in 2021, is a rotating booth at Globe Life Field that spotlights a locally owned restaurant each homestand throughout the season. It started with just weekends in 2021 and expanded to every game over the past few seasons and into the postseason.

Recent restaurants include Prince Lebanese Grill, Sugar Bee Sweets Bakery, The Tin Cup, Cartel Taco Bar, Shrimp Doc, TJ’s Catfish & Wings and Ella B’s Restaurant. Hurtado was part of the first Arlington EATS group and now has two individual stands in Globe Life Field.

Rangers executive vice president of business operations Rob Matwick said he got the idea for Arlington EATS from the Philadelphia 76ers, who began making a concession location available for minority restaurants in the community several years ago.

Matwick then worked with Delaware North -- the Rangers’ concessions partner -- to spearhead a similar idea at Globe Life Field.

“Our partners at Delaware North understand the value of this participation by our partners in the community,” Matwick said. “They could have said, ‘No, they’re going to eat our food.’ But that’s not how it worked.”

Matwick described the Arlington EATS program and Hurtado’s further successes as one of Globe Life Field’s biggest diversity achievements.

“Rob is a champion for small businesses,” Casas said. “He’s been a true All-Star in every sense of the word in our community.”