Link to this article was on the front page of Yahoo this morning...


http://tinyurl.com/qxeev

Ala. barbecue restaurants spread in South By JAY REEVES, Associated
Press Writer
Fri Jul 21, 1:18 PM ET



Alabama's best export might be slathered with sauce. 'Bama-based
barbecue restaurants — known for their variety of styles — are
spreading throughout the South and beyond, slowly gaining an
out-of-state foothold in a highly regionalized business where diners
can be pretty picky about what's on their plate.

Any fan of Southeastern Conference football knows about Tuscaloosa's
Dreamland BBQ Ribs, which started in a smoky, dark building in 1958 a
few miles from the University of Alabama. It now has six restaurants,
including two in upscale parts of metro Atlanta, and each has the same
motto: "Ain't nothing like' em nowhere."

Golden Rule Bar-B-Q, which opened in 1891 near Birmingham, has 20
locations in Alabama and has expanded to one each in Georgia and
Tennessee with plans to move into more states by the end of the year.
And Jim N' Nicks Bar-B-Q has grown beyond its Alabama roots into
Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee.

With projected sales of $79 million this year, Jim N' Nicks has plans
to grow to two dozen locally owned restaurants by early next year,
with one as far away as Denver.

The trick, according to Jim N' Nicks marketing director Sam Burn, is
translating the tradition, food and fun of a backyard cookout into a
restaurant experience that sells across state lines.

"Barbecue is something people are really passionate about," said Burn.
"Barbecue is very personal and communal and local."

Other Southern barbecue restaurants have spread — the Florida-based
Sonny's Bar-B-Q calls itself the nation's largest barbecue chain with
more than 150 restaurants in nine Southeastern states. But the spread
of so many restaurants from a single state is unusual in the barbecue
world, according to Scott Jones, executive food editor at Southern
Living magazine.

Areas like the Carolinas, Memphis, Tenn., Texas or Kansas City are
known for certain styles of meat, he said. People who are used to a
certain type of barbecue — chopped pork covered with a watery,
vinegar-based sauce, for example — may turn up their noses at a spare
rib coated in thick, tomato-based sauce.

But, Jones said, Alabama barbecue restaurants are hard to pigeonhole,
serving everything from saucy chopped pork to spare ribs rubbed with
dry spices to chicken coated in white sauce. Some even serve
Texas-style beef, for heaven's sake. That just doesn't happen in most
parts of the Deep South.

That gastronomic diversity might make it easier than normal for
Alabama-based companies to cross geographic boundaries and catch on
elsewhere, Jones said.

"They only requirement for them is to turn the rest of the country on
to barbecue," said Jones. "They're not locked down to any particular
style."

Another food expert, John T. Edge, said the migration of barbecue
restaurants has quickened in recent years. He called it a "curious
phenomenon," one that goes against generations of tradition of old
Southern men, black and white, cooking meat by a pit for neighbors.

"Barbecue was once the most hyper-localized food in the South," said
Edge, director of the Southern Foodways Alliance, part of the Center
for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi.
"You built a tradition, you built a style that was honed by an
old-line pit master. They didn't move. They stayed in one place."

At Jim N' Nicks, Burn said managers have tried to craft a menu that
both attracts everyday diners and recalls the roots of old-fashioned
barbecue.

"Authentic Southern barbecue is the foundation of our business," he
said. "Ribs and white bread are the inspiration, but it's evolved
through the years."

The family-owned Jim N' Nicks has grown by finding local owners to
open new restaurants. At Golden Rule, vice president Todd Becker said
all the growth has been by franchising.

"We're going to try to grow 30 percent a year for the next five
years," he said. "Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, the
Carolinas: We've got plans to expand to all those areas, plus
Mississippi and Florida." They aren't alone.

Full Moon Bar-B-Que started in metro Birmingham and has expanded to
locations including Baltimore, where Baltimore Ravens star linebacker
Ray Lewis operates a restaurant. And in the Tennessee Valley of north
Alabama, Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q is planning to branch out.

Gibson's, which has won numerous barbecue competitions and claims to
have the world's best sauce, already sells its sauces in eight states
and more than 2,000 stores. It, too, is planning to fire up the smoker
outside of Alabama.

"We're working on a location up in North Carolina with a franchise
there," said Paul Collins, manager of one of the company's two
restaurants in Decatur.

Edge said he expects the growth to continue as people all over America
look for down-home dining experiences.

"At the same time the country is discovering local foods, companies
are learning how to export," he said. "I think it can work. Hell, the
South sold the world Coca-Cola."


-Chef Juke
"EVERYbody Eats When They Come To MY House!"
www.chefjuke.com

"Chef Juke" wrote in message
...

Link to this article was on the front page of Yahoo this morning...



I've been meaning to thank you for posting this article, Juke. I haven't
tried Jim n Nicks and was not allowed to do so on my recent visit to
Birmingham as my mother is a die hard customer of The Golden Rule.

Good read. Thanks again.

--
The Honorable Reverend Fosco Gamgee Whitfurrows
and his 6" Boner
Speaking on behalf of hisTraveling Entourage of
Rotgut Drinkin' Religious Loonies