Bills' Isaiah McKenzie is Cooking Up a Winner Off The Field
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Isaiah McKenzie is determined to leave fans with a good taste in their mouths one way or another, thanks to his taste for enterprise.
The Buffalo Bills' fifth-year wide receiver was barely 26 years old by the time he started his third business this past May: La Traila, an instantly popular barbecue joint in Miami Lakes, Fla, where he grew up and still resides in the offseason. There, people come from miles around to wait in line to sample the assortment of brisket, pulled pork, spare ribs, sausage and various extras prepared by McKenzie, partner Mel Rodriguez and a dedicated staff who don't get a minute's rest until closing time at 6 p.m. or when the meat supply for the day runs out, which almost always is earlier.
This is because the customers never stop coming, seemingly on conveyor belts, to this relatively tiny establishment, which already has outgrown its digs within a quaint strip mall that also includes a convenience store and more than a dozen other businesses, including Starbucks and Chipotle.
All of them put together aren't nearly as popular as the new kids on the block, who look to be here to stay long after McKenzie's playing days are over.
"I tell people this all the time, I didn't even expect to make it to five years," McKenzie told Bills Central in an interview at his restraurant on Saturday. "But I'm here, I'm still playing, obviously I want to play more.
"But I also want to get things like this up and running every chance I get."
Because McKenzie knows he could be out of the NFL in about the same short span (13.6 seconds) it took him to zig-zag his way 84 yards for a touchdown on a punt return against his hometown Miami Dolphins last season.
"I just want to have something to fall back on," McKenzie said, "because you never know how long you're going to be playing."
The end could have come for McKenzie when he was waived by the Denver Broncos midway through his second season in 2018. But he was claimed by the Bills and has been a contributor on offense as well as special teams.
Though six teammates were targeted more than McKenzie by quarterback Josh Allen last season, the Bills brought him back with a new contract for 2021 and will give him a legitimate chance for the first time to be their full-time returner following the departure of perennial Pro Bowler Andre Roberts.
"I've been returning my whole life," McKenzie said. "It wasn't until I got to the Bills into bills that I kind of fell back from that road. Then I was just a gadget guy, a backup guy.
"But now I feel like I'm ready to take my role back, be the returner they want me to be, they need me to be, take that next step. Andre Roberts was a great returner. I learned a lot from him these past few years. So ... when I get my opportunities, I've just got to take advantage of them."
At La Traila, McKenzie is as hands-on as an owner can get. When he's not with the Bills, he works the register, prepares the food and greets people, many of whom don't realize he's a pro football player because he's only 5-foot-8, 175 pounds and sometimes still wears a mask.
If not for a Bills helmet hanging on a shelf by the ceiling near the entrance and his jersey hanging on the wall in the small dining area, most would never make the connection this place has to the NFL.
But there are amazing parallels. Just as McKenzie needs to be one step ahead of everyone as a punt returner, he must be the same in the business world.
The only thing McKenzie knew about barbecue before getting into the business was that he liked it.
Partnering with Rodriguez, a Texas native and a pitmaster with the same will to win, was that crucial first step.
Timing and locations were the next ones.
The success La Traila is enjoying has nothing to do with McKenzie's name. It has everything to do with the temporary retail pop-ups they did, some of them for free during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, before finally having a chance to get into a building permanently this year.
Some tempting La Traila offerings.
Photo courtesy of La Traila.
Those pop-ups created the desire in an area of the state that doesn't exactly offer a smorgasbord of barbecue options.
So by the time they opened the doors to their permanent location, they already had a loyal customer base craving their product and flocking to their location.
The wait can sometimes be two hours. But unlike voting lines in Florida, McKenzie and his associates are allowed to offer free beverages, which they always do, to those loyal enough to wait outside.
Barbecue, beer and civilization.
Can't beat that.
Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro. Email to Nicky300@aol.com.
