Bear’s Smokehouse Co-Owner Cheryl Antoncic Links Business and Mental Health By Meg Hale Brunton

“In Connecticut, barbecue was nonexistent,” admits Bear’s Smokehouse co-owner and Hartford, CT native Cheryl Antoncic. While she may not have known much about food, Antoncic was eager to take a leadership role from a young age. She was the high school student council class president for multiple years and studied psychology in college with an emphasis on workplace psychology. With a father who was involved in local politics, Antoncic became fascinated by inter-office dynamics and co-worker conversations at his work. “I would listen and I could hear the stress,” she says. “People spend so much time at work; I always thought, ‘How can I make that a better environment?’” She never would’ve guessed her desire to make work a more positive place would lead her into restaurant ownership. 

Antoncic originally pursued a path in Human Resources and got a job with the public school system. She met her husband Jamie, married young, and had two children in her early twenties. Antoncic says she feels thankful to have had her children when she was young because now they are able to all work together as a team. In fact, her son is Pitmaster at one of the Asheville Bear’s locations. Starting out, money was tight for the family and the couple dreamed of finding a way to work for themselves and still support their family. They both began delving into competitive fitness and bodybuilding, through which Jamie got into competitive eating under the title of Jamie “The Bear” McDonald. Surprisingly enough, the industry proved to be very lucrative for them, and Jamie was particularly successful, earning multiple world records. They used his winnings from the 2013 Wing Bowl in Philadelphia to buy their first professional grade smoker, which they use at the restaurant today.

In Fall 2012, Hurricane Sandy hit Windsor, CT especially hard. Many people in the town suffered substantial losses, including Antoncic’s grandmother. That November, Antoncic and her husband decided to do a fundraiser for the town, including a hot dog eating contest, for which they partnered with Bart’s Hot Dogs and raised $3,000.00. Antoncic mentioned to the owner of Bart’s that she and her husband wanted to be self-employed and were thinking of opening their own restaurant. The owner offered his kitchen to them to use as a test run, and they were so successful, they never closed. Bear’s Smokehouse was born in 2012, and the Antoncic has never looked back. “It was not a plan, it just happened,” she expresses. “It’s been wild.”

Today, Bear’s Smokehouse has four locations in Connecticut and two in Asheville, North Carolina. Antoncic says she discovered Bear’s first Asheville location on Coxe Avenue after visiting the city to go hiking with her dog. “This just has such a cool vibe,” she recalls thinking about the Asheville area. “We just took a risk and signed a lease.” Antoncic says that Asheville is quite similar to their community in Connecticut, citing its emphasis on the arts, supporting local business owners, and encouraging collaboration among other small businesses. 

Antoncic thinks it was actually an advantage that neither she nor her husband had a background in the restaurant business before they started Bear’s. “We didn’t come in with any bad habits or preconceptions,” she explains. “We literally built it from the ground up ourselves based on what we thought was going to work.” Antoncic says Jamie researched and learned everything related to barbecue, and tested rub and sauce recipes until they found just the right flavor. She feels that whatever she and Jamie lacked in industry knowledge, they made up for with their determination and competitive natures.

Sadly, in 2019, the couple filed for divorce. While Antoncic finds that she and her ex still work well together, protecting her team and making sure they felt stable was paramount to her. “Bear’s became like a third child,” she explains. “We’ve had upwards of 200 employees, so you have a major responsibility at that point.”

Antoncic acknowledges that, while Bear’s has always had a terrific team, they never really had a mission statement, nor did they really do any team building until 2019. That year, the company created their own rowing competition called Rock and Row to raise money for the Jordan Porco Foundation. Bear’s had lost one of its former managers to suicide earlier in the year, so the Porco Foundation’s goal of preventing suicide and promoting mental health in young adults was particularly close to their hearts. “It really became vividly clear that people wanted to talk about mental health and needed an outlet for that,” Antoncic explains. “And we had provided that space.” After that experience, Antoncic and her team came up with a way to continue to provide that space. In 2019, Bear’s formed an organization called Linked 4 Life in the effort to encourage people to speak openly about mental health, and to fight the stigma that accompanies mental health issues. The group pledges to speak up, listen, and share their experiences related to mental health, so that other people feel safe sharing theirs. Antoncic feels that everyone at some point in their lives has been affected by issues related to mental health. “It is the one thing that we all share,” she says. “It’s not political, it’s not religious, it’s not about your socioeconomic status. It just crosses all lines.” 

Linked 4 Life’s first event was held on October 10th, 2020, World Mental Health Day, at Dunkin’ Donuts Park in Hartford, CT. To symbolize the strength that people have when they connect with one another, the group joined 13,800 carabiners, winning the Guinness World Records title for longest chain of carabiners. The idea for the event came when Antoncic was discussing with her team how many young people they knew who suffered from depression, substance abuse, and other mental health problems. She proposed the idea to her team, and they worked together to make it a reality. 

For the event, Linked 4 Life had three muralists create art installations live on the field during the linking. To connect with the artists, the organization partnered with RiseUp for Arts, a non-profit aimed at creating inclusive and accessible public art. “I remember thinking, ‘I feel like we could take this on the road,’” Antoncic says, “and spread hope across the nation because the whole nation needs it.” This year, Linked 4 Life is doing just that. They have partnered with RiseUp again to create an Art 4 Hope Tour with the goal of creating 50 murals in all 50 U.S. states over a period of five years. During this tour, they will work with communities across the country to find local artists, and develop and guide the concepts for the murals. Bear’s Foundation will also bring in mental health support resources to the individual communities as needed.

At the same time, Linked 4 Life is also sponsoring a step challenge from January 1st - December 31st, 2022 called Stepping Up for Mental Health. They are hoping to get 1,000 people to join their cause by downloading their app and committing to walk, swim, etc. 800,000 miles this year to raise suicide awareness (approximately 800,000 people commit suicide every year worldwide). “There’s this enormous challenge in front of us,” Antoncic says, “but if we all work together, if we connect with others, if we just take it one step at a time, the goal is not insurmountable.” 

Antoncic says that, as much fulfillment as she gets from providing her customers with phenomenal food at her restaurant, she really loves the opportunity that Bear’s gives her to bring awareness to bigger issues. She takes pride in setting a standard for creating a great work environment in which she has complete faith in her team. She says this faith allows her the opportunity to shift her view more towards her charity work while still adding value to the Bear’s team. “I love working with a team. I love seeing our ideas develop together,” she expresses.

In the near future, Bear’s Smokehouse is also launching a partnership with the National Park Conservation Association to raise money for bear-themed projects, such as wildlife preserves, grizzly reintroduction, and safe passage efforts through the sales of their Bear Attack sandwich. Antoncic says that physical and mental health, community awareness, and environmental conservation are all interconnected. “I truly believe that until people care about themselves, they can’t care about others, and if they don’t care about others, they don’t care about their communities,” she explains. Antoncic hopes that her efforts through Linked 4 Life, as well as Bear’s, will continue to create a sense of oneness among her customers, employees and one day, extend around the world.   

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK or www.SuicidePreventionLifeline.org

For more information on Linked 4 Life, visit: www.Linked4Life.org

For more information on Bear’s Smokehouse, visit their website: https://bearsbbq.com/asheville