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Dana Caron is one of the best-loved and well-known expat restaurateurs in Thailand. Roadhouse, his smokehouse and grill, recently became a CanCham Thailand member and played host to the very popular October Canuck Connections.

Born in Portland, Maine in 1955, Dana went to a catholic school where he was an altar boy and a keen sportsman playing tennis, football, baseball, basketball and later golf when he was old enough to do so. His ambition was to be a golf pro, so he knew he would eventually have to move south to do that.

During high school, Dana took many jobs in the restaurant business starting as a short order cook, then a first cook and then a company called Restaurant Associates put him in an apprentice program to learn how to run a kitchen. This was during his first summer out of high school while he was working at Portland International Airport. When the head chef there suddenly became ill, Dana was quickly put in charge of running the kitchen.

Chasing his golfing dream, he then moved to Dania, Florida, between Miami and Ft Lauderdale, to work as the concessions manager for Dania Jai-alai, which is an incredibly fast gambling sport played on concrete that originated in Spain. Dana was only 19 at the time but had 35 people working for him. The next couple of years summers were spent in Maine (where he was also working at an English pub), with winters in Florida. In Maine, he would play nine holes of golf every morning between 6-8 am and he became a one-handicap golfer. Then they opened a new Jai-alai facility in Milford, Connecticut, so Dana would summer there as did many of the Dania Jai-alai employees.

Back in Florida, Dana took a job as a first cook at a 500-seat restaurant called Tropical Acres in Ft Lauderdale; he quickly became manager. With a partner, at the same time he also opened RJ’s Italian restaurant in Dania, which focused on take-out pizza and sandwiches. Although Dana had always been good at multitasking, there just wasn’t enough time to seriously golf anymore.

Then through serendipity, he met Jack Boyle of Cellar Door Concerts, the second largest music promoter in the US. He focused on the East Coast, while Bill Graham covered the West. Jack asked Dana to do provide backstage catering at the 4,000-seat Sunrise Musical Theatre with his new catering company. His first show was James Taylor, it was a tough job because as caterer you were always the first one there and the last to leave. You are feeding 20-30 people breakfast, lunch and dinner and whatever snacks they want before and after the shows in the dressing room.

Jack had to fire his earlier caterer because she was selling drugs to the band, and he told Dana he could buy them anything they wanted except cigarettes, condoms and girlie magazines. Other Cellar Door concert events including the Rolling Stones, U2, Who, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Metallica & Jimmy Buffet (at least 40 times). Jack also made Dana the executive chef for a swanky restaurant he owned called Poets on Las Olas Boulevard in Ft Lauderdale. At that time, Dana was catering to nine major venues in southern Florida including Miami’s Orange Bowl, Miami’s Marine Stadium, the Hollywood Sportatorium, the West Palm Beach Auditorium and the Sunrise Musical Theatre, which Jack Doyle eventually bought.

As time went on Jack arranged for Dana to be General Manager of Food Services for the Sunrise Musical Theatre with its 4,000 regular seats and a 400-seat classical dinner theater restaurant and lounge. Featured entertainers included Elton John, Frank Sinatra, Robin Williams, Rodney Dangerfield, and Neil Young.

Although Dana has rubbed shoulders with many celebrities over the years, he has a particularly fond memory of playing golf with Roger Waters, a good golfer who with rented clubs and shoes shot a 78. Dana narrowly beat him and gave Roger a ride back to the hotel in his VW van. Roger liked to imbibe so let’s just say it was like a scene out of Fast Times at Ridgemount High when they arrived back at the hotel.

In 1989, with Jack’s blessing, Dana changed jobs joining the Fine Host Corporation becoming their Operations Manager at Pro Player Park, home to two professional teams, the Miami Dolphins and the Florida Marlins. He became responsible for the hiring and training of 60 non-profit organizations with 1,300 employees. He also had complete daily control of purchasing, inventory and F&B costs. The stadium features 215 executive suites and 10,000 club seats with a total stadium seating capacity of 74,000. “It was great to be in the stadium on game day,” Dana recalls, “nothing like the excitement leading up to kick off.”

Three years later, Fine Host offered him a position in Louisville, Kentucky, as the General Manger of the Kentucky Kingdom Amusement Park. With a yearly attendance of over 1.5 million guests, it opened seasonally from April through September and had 250 employees. Dana oversaw twelve themed F&B locations featuring a KFC outlet and three Papa John’s Pizza franchises within the amusement park. He also organized catering for corporate picnics for up to 10,000 guests per day. The majority of Dana’s employees were college kids, and it was their first job – he loved their enthusiasm and the vibe that came from running an amusement park.

In 1994, Fine Host moved him to Sioux City, Iowa, where he oversaw catering at the Sioux City Convention Center, the Sioux City Auditorium & Expo Hall and the Lewis & Clark baseball park. He was responsible for five unique venue locations with over 600 events each year. He opened the new 4000-seat professional baseball stadium home to the Northern League’s “Sioux City Explorers”. Sioux City Auditorium Events included the U.S.A. Jr. hockey team “Sioux City Musketeers” college basketball, concerts, WWF and professional ice shows.

Then Bangkok came calling. Ironically, Dana had never been to Asia. Fine Host ran the food service at the Queen Sirikit Conference Centre and earned the contract to run the food service in BITEC, which opened in September of 1997. Dana was put in charge - BITEC has six main halls measuring 400,000 sq. ft. Its convention space includes 20 meeting rooms and a Grand Hall Ballroom. Food service outlets include the Pacific Rim Bar & Grill featuring Thai/western cuisine with seating for 400 guests. There’s also an international food court with seating for 2,500 guests and banquet and catering services for up to 11,000 guests.

Dana’s company had a contract with BITEC for three years from the date of its opening (6 Sept 97). Dana was also supposed to open an amusement park in Bali at the same time but the ’97 Southeast Asian economic crisis scuttled that. When the BITEC contract ended, Dana’s company was going to send him to Tucson, Arizona. Just before he was to leave, Dr Prasong Buri, the owner of BITEC, called him in and offered him a five-year contract to stay. He was impressed with the way that Dana had integrated himself into the community, including being the Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce Travel & Tourism Committee from 2001-05; the President of the Food & Beverage Association Thailand “FBAT” from 2001- 04; and the Vice President of the Thai Trade & Exhibition Association from 2003-05.

Dana additionally, was Chanceler of the Chaine de Rotisseurs (six years). When that contract expired, he signed another two-year contract giving notice halfway through that he was going to pursue his dream of opening Roadhouse. So, in 2006, he opened Roadhouse BBQ, a four-story 220-seat restaurant, smokehouse & grill. It’s a distinctive American-style dining experience that is family friendly and specializes in premium barbecued, grilled and smoked foods. It features an exhibition-style kitchen centered on an open-flame BBQ grill and three wood smokers (open every day 11am-1pm). Cooking had always been Dana’s passion, and he recommends the eatery’s wings and ribs though the burgers, beef brisket and Guinness pie get thumbs as well and there’s a great draft beer system and large selection of Craft beers as well.

Looking back Dana credits learning his work ethnic from his diligent father, who was born in Richmond, Quebec. Btw, Dana’s mom is alive and well at age 95 and living in Tennessee. Dana also has a Thai wife Khun Aom, who is the Roadhouse Office Manager and hails from Nakhon Si Thammarat (www.roadhousebarbecue.com).