MINNEAPOLIS — The man known as America's Rib King has held a prestigious presidential appointment, appeared on "Oprah," and seen his name on a stock ticker (Nasdaq: DAVE). But "Famous Dave" Anderson was once plain-old Dave Anderson, son of a Choctaw from Oklahoma and an Ojibwe from Wisconsin, who struggled in school and didn't know what he'd do for a career.
An inspiring sales training transformed the shy teenager into a confidant pitchman. After selling all sorts of products — oil and gas conditioners, terrariums, Dixie cups, silver-and-turquoise jewelry he'd made — Anderson turned to food.
Though his restaurant experience was limited to cooking venison fry bread sandwiches at powwows, Anderson's first barbecue shack, Famous Dave's, outside Hayward, Wisconsin, was an instant hit. The detail-oriented restaurateur curated the playlist from his massive blues collection and classed up the bathrooms with crown molding. And diners lined up to feast off garbage can lids, an homage to Anderson's first homemade smoker.
