Black Bear BBQ saved our wedding!! It was a hurricane on our wedding day and it rained HARD all day and night. It was very stressful as we had to reconfigure our entire event. The staff were very professional, efficiant and kind to our guests. They really hustled and cared about the presentation of the buffet. It was not the best working conditions due to the weather but the Black Bear BBQ team took it all in stride with a positive attitude. Our friends and family continue to rave about how delicous everything was! Some standout favorites were the sweet potato biscuits, the brisket, and the oustandong smoked salmon! We highly reccomend BB BBQ for any event, thank you so much friends😍
Kelly H.
5.0
Black bear catered our mountain garden wedding and we could not have been happier! Everything from the meat to the sides were absolutely top tier, and I had guests complementing the apple, orange, and fennel salad well after the wedding! Absolutely phenomenal experience!
Michaela G.
5.0
About this vendor
AJ Gregson & Autumn Gregson
OWNER
Typically responds within 24h
AWARD WINNER
Thanks to recommendations from couples on The Knot
Located in Asheville, NC, Black Bear BBQ is a wedding catering service. This catering venture comes from the owners of Mojo Kitchen, who are excited to deliver their iconic culinary creativity to your special event. With their help, you can enjoy a diverse and vibrant spread of food for your wedding day.
Black Bear BBQ is a family-owned and operated business that has been open for over a decade. Husband-and-wife team AJ Gregson and Autumn Pittman are committed to bringing a thoughtful and personal touch to your wedding menu, catering to your exact tastes and event needs. Their award-winning recipes are sure to satisfy any and all taste buds.
Black Bear BBQ offers a broad range of menu items. They specialize in rich, soulful barbecue delicacies, designed to share. The menu also includes flavorful vegetarian options. The culinary experts can help you create a spread that is completely custom to your special day. Recipes can be altered to adhere to your dietary requirements. Their team can provide setup and cleanup for your meal, along with buffet setups complete with tables and linens.
The Knot independently assesses vendors for this award—it’s never self-reported. We base it on firsthand experiences from real couples and guests, and they must have a 4.5-star average across 7+ reviews in the qualifying year.
Join couples who chose award-winning vendors for their wedding
Meet the team
AJ Gregson & Autumn Gregson
Owner
Black Bear BBQ provides custom-built menus from elevated barbecue to seasonal Appalachian cuisine for every special occasion. You will work directly with the husband-and-wife team, who have over 50 years of combined experience. We take extreme pride and care when handling, delivering and presenting our product. We offer a wide range of menu items to please all tastes accommodate any dietary restrictions. From back yard barbecues to destination weddings, on site spit-roasted pigs to multi-course live fire bachelor/ bachelorette parties, we have you covered. Chef Gregson loves to present his “Appalachian Flair” style to down home Southern comfort food. You will receive attentive service, well-seasoned food and lots of love, from their kitchen to your guest’s hearts. We are pleased to be considered for your upcoming event. We are booking 8-14 months out at this time.
Reviews
5.0
out of 5.0
16 reviews
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Review Summary
This AI-generated summary is a snapshot of this vendor's ratings and feedback.
Black Bear BBQ provided outstanding wedding catering with consistently praised, delicious food and a wide, customizable menu. The team was responsive and flexible with guest counts and dietary needs, going above and beyond with setup, serving, leftovers, and even cake repairs. Service was timely, friendly, and highly recommended.
Review photos
Showing slide number 1 out of 7
Kelly H
5.0
Black Bear BBQ saved our wedding!! It was a hurricane on our wedding day and it rained HARD all day and night. It was very stressful as we had to reconfigure our entire event. The...
staff were very professional, efficiant and kind to our guests. They really hustled and cared about the presentation of the buffet. It was not the best working conditions due to the weather but the Black Bear BBQ team took it all in stride with a positive attitude. Our friends and family continue to rave about how delicous everything was! Some standout favorites were the sweet potato biscuits, the brisket, and the oustandong smoked salmon! We highly reccomend BB BBQ for any event, thank you so much friends😍
Michaela G
5.0
Black bear catered our mountain garden wedding and we could not have been happier! Everything from the meat to the sides were absolutely top tier, and I had guests complementing th...
e apple, orange, and fennel salad well after the wedding! Absolutely phenomenal experience!
Any questions?
Robert B
5.0
AJ was very responsive and easy to work with. Everyone loved the food at our wedding too! We received so many compliments about the food, I really wanted whole hog barbecue at my w...
edding, and this was a hit! Truly can’t compliment them enough, everyone should book black bear bbq for their wedding.
Horde B
5.0
I highly recommend Black Bear Barbecue. I used them for my son’s rehearsal dinner. The food was delicious and the staff was great and very helpful when I was setting up for the ev...
ent. The owners worked with me to get the menu just right. I highly recommend having some of their wonderful appetizers also.
Elizabeth P
5.0
AJ with Black Bear BBQ was great. He was very responsive and made sure he delivered exactly what we requested. AJ and his team were so kind and attentive. The food was great and on...
time. We received a lot of great feedback from our guests of how amazing the food and service was. I would highly recommend Black Bear BBQ one hundred percent.
Devon
5.0
Black Bear was AWESOME! They were so helpful, kind, and fun. All of our guests LOVED the food and were happy to get some authentic southern BBQ. No notes and no improvements needed...
because they were absolutely perfect :)
Emily C
5.0
AJ and his team catered our wedding reception at Seven Maples in Brevard, NC. They did a fantastic job from start to finish. The huge menu selection made it difficult (in a good wa...
y) to decide what we would serve but since we had a wide range of tastes it made it super easy to pick something that everyone would like.
AJ update quotes for us each time we added something to the menu or changed the guest count once all RSVPs came in.
His team provided appetizers, several main courses served as a buffet and some amazing Chex mix/ trail mix at the conclusion of the night that our guests absolutely loved!
At the end of the night, they boxed up the left overs for our families so we could eat for the next few days we were in town.
100% would recommend them! Hands down!
Ashley B
5.0
They did great and the food was wonderful! They packaged the leftovers for us as well. Would recommend to everyone! Worked out great budget-wise, too!
Brianna M
5.0
We used Black Bear to cater our wedding for appetizers, dinner, and dessert for about 70 people and couldn’t recommend more!! From the first communication figuring out the menus an...
d amounts it was such an easy process. AJ helped with recommendations based on travel and what would serve well which I so appreciated the guidance. On the day of it was absolutely delicious. We served dinner buffet style and the food was hot being served for all the guests. Also for my (bride) and my now husband’s plate they made our plate with generous servings and brought them to our table first - so incredibly kind and thoughtful. AJ also helped me work through several food allergies from our guests. Truly enjoyed working with them from start to finish - such a kind team of people with a true talent for delicious food!! Absolutely recommend any day!!
Response from Black Bear BBQ
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review. We truly love what we do and rece...
iving feedback like this is icing on the cake! It was both an honor and pleasure to be part of your special day.
Christian B
5.0
Many guests told me this was the best wedding food they had ever eaten!
Thank you Black Bear for an incredible evening. They did an awesome job helping me plan the menu and offere...
d valuable opinions throughout the experience. You want to have their food, yes--but these are also just the sort of people anyone would be lucky to spend time with.
Response from Black Bear BBQ
We are truly honored to be part of your special day and glad we could help make it enjoyab...
le for you and your guests. Thank you.
Katie P
5.0
Black Bear BBQ was amazing to work with from the beginning to end of our wedding planning journey! They were flexible in what we wanted, our guests needs, and the food was so deli...
cious people didn't stop eating! So thankful so the staff at our wedding too as they made sure to make separate platters for my husband and I, recognizing that we had not slowed down to eat yet, then they reheated it for us later when we were actually ready to eat.
Highly recommend going with Black Bear BBQ for any event and will definitely use them again in the future.
Great people and amazing food!
Alison B
5.0
We hired Black Bear BBQ to cater our wedding and not only was the food amazing, we received so many compliments from our guests, but the service was above and beyond our expectatio...
ns! They were friendly and helpful to our guests and made everything so easy for us! They repaired our cake after our excited nephew snuck a finger full of icing (lol), packaged our leftovers, and even put them away in a fridge while we were enjoying our day! Seriously could not say enough good things, they were great from beginning to end! Thanks so much AJ and Autumn!!
Patrick B
5.0
Black Bear BBQ provided the best food for our wedding day. We originally booked with them because they somehow make truly delicious pulled pork AND vegetarian pulled jackfruit, AND...
a superb kale salad, AND to die for cornbread. And I'm very grateful we did, because not only were they extremely flexible when our guest count reduced after the hurricane, but they also went above and beyond to make sure our food was delicious even though they were dealing with water shortages and recovering from the hurricane themselves. Highly recommend for anyone who is a fan of delicious food and nice people.
Haley A
5.0
AJ and his team served the absolute best wedding food I have ever had! My guests and family were raving about it after our wedding! I loved I was able to pick and choose the items ...
and the amount. AJ was very helpful and helped me get enough food based on the number of guests. The Brisket Burnt Ends are to die for!!! They came and set the buffet up during my cocktail hour and the transition to the food was seamless. I cannot recommend them enough for your wedding or event! I wish we lived closer to Asheville because I would get their food all the time!
Tiffany B
5.0
We used black bear bbq for our July 8th wedding and the food was amazing! From eating there the first time we loved their burnt ends, brisket, pork, and chicken and their sides of ...
Mac n cheese, potato salad, salad, etc! Everyone at the venue along with us really enjoyed the food and the planner said she felt it was the best catering they’ve had so thank you all very much for being there! You must try this place out!
Emily W
5.0
Wow! We had Black Bear BBQ cater our wedding at Laurel Falls in Asheville and can’t say enough good things about AJ and the team! But to start… 1) the food was incredible - everyon...
e was raving about it. The andouille sausage appetizer and deviled eggs were out of this world. 2) they were so self-sufficient! We did not have to worry about coordinating or pointing them around at all. They knew exactly what to do, brought all the supplies we could possibly need (app serving platters, tables for buffet, extra compost plates), and set up dinnerware on the tables for us. 3) they went above and beyond!! They made bride and groom appetizer and dinner plates, saved us leftovers for late night snacks, and brought out the cupcakes (that we ordered from Butterbugs bakery in Asheville) and set them up on the dessert table.
We are so thankful to have had Black Bear cater for us and would HIGHLY recommend their services!
