As Founder Megan Coffey was closing out her last semester as a Communication Design student at Texas State University (Go Bobcats!), she sold her first billboard for $700 and endless BBQ. Well, sort of.

Coffey’s roommate, who worked as a waitress at the nearby, now world-renowned BBQ joint, The Salt Lick BBQ, got her senior class project in front of restaurant managers. The original classroom sketch shown below, designed as a billboard, was purchased for $700 for usage on t-shirts and hats. Better yet, the manager promised free meals for Coffey and all her guests, which ended shortly after management changed a few years later. There’s no complaining from Coffey; this was a dream come true for an aspiring creative, BBQ-loving student.

The tagline was purchased a few years later for exclusive rights beyond t-shirts and hats. Reminder creatives: keep your contracts, even small ones; they can work to your advantage!

Twenty years later, “You can smell our pits from miles away.” still stands as the tagline for the world-renowned Salt Lick Bar-B-Que in Driftwood, Texas.

BBQ cover image source.