Wiley has grown up in the food business. His grandfather founded Atlanta’s Massey and Fair Food Brokerage in 1929. Wiley started as a retail merchandiser with the company in 1967 and stayed for sixteen years until it was bought out by Archer Daniels Midland. His first love, though, was that of a “foodie” who loved barbecue and in 1983 Wiley started Atlanta Barbecue and Catering Company. His first catering job was at a country club where he got the gunfighters from Six Flags over Georgia to stage a rootin’ tootin’ gunfight to go along with the Western theme and good barbecue. When Wiley and his wife, Janet, met in 1991 she encouraged him to participate in a barbecue contest at Stone Mountain, GA because she was tired of his excuse of “sometime I’ll do that!” When they called out his team’s name for second place in ribs there was no going back for either Wiley or Janet. They were fortunate to be mentored by Ed and Muriel Roith of Happy Holla BBQ out of Kansas City and will always be appreciative of that learning experience. Wiley and Janet have traveled the country competing in corn fields, on Pennsylvania Avenue in DC, on motor speedways and any place where a contest was being held. Wiley’s present catering business, The Q Company, features a list of well known Atlanta businesses including CNN, Coca Cola, and Bell South. Wiley originated the Southern Pride Anything But/Anything Goes contests and ran them in about twenty contests in the US and Canada. He is currently the Catering Chair for the NBBQA Board of Directors.
Janet is a certified KCBS (Kansas City BBQ Society) and MIM (Memphis in May) judge, as well as a member of the BBQ team she and her husband created, “The Q Company.” This team has captured numerous awards on the competition circuit including one of which she is particularly proud - the Georgia state championship. For several years, she wrote a popular column for the National Barbecue News focusing on the ‘quirky’ side of the BBQ world. Janet has recently retired after finishing her thirty-third year in education with most of her years concentrating on middle grade students, even though she has taught from grades five through twelve. She is a well-known speaker in the field of technology in education. In addition to the husband she adores, she lives with her two German shepherds, Mars and Radar.