Harrison Sapp

Years of Participation

Harrison Sapp, co-owner and pitmaster of St. Simons Island establishment Southern Soul Barbeque, was born in Macon, GA, and raised in Brunswick, GA, where he developed his love of Southern food…in particular, barbeque. After a series of jobs on St. Simons and a brief resort stint in Hawaii, Sapp returned to St. Simons, where he began to climb the local restaurant industry ladder. Sapp quickly progressed from busboy to bartender, then to chef and eventually manager of a slew of local restaurants.

Sapp’s driving motivation in life is to make people happy through outstanding dining experiences, with particular focus on exceptional barbeque. In the early 2000s, after a series of hugely successful barbecue pop-up dinners, Sapp and co-owner Griffin Bufkin established Southern Soul Barbeque in the kitchen at Palm Coast in the village, and later moved to a former gas station at the crossroads of Frederica and Demere. Under his direction as pitmaster, Sapp has led Southern Soul to acclaim from such outlets as Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Southern Living, Garden & Gun, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and more.