Today we’d like to introduce you to Jim Buchanan.
Jim, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I became a restaurateur by accident. After my military career, I went to work in corporate America, building and managing sales teams. After some time in the corporate world, I decided to try my hand at being a small business owner and built/ran a few small businesses. During that time, I was doing competition barbeque on the weekends and met a gentleman named Wes Jurena who became a good friend of mine and would eventually become my business partner.
Wes and I had similar military backgrounds, and when he decided to buy a food trailer and sell barbeque on the weekends, it was a no-brainer for me to show up and help him out. We worked side-by-side most weekends inside the Pappa Charlies Barbeque trailer for a couple of years, and when the time came to open a brick-and-mortar, I followed along and functioned as GM and one of the guys on the pits.
In August of 2017, I was presented with an opportunity to partner with the guys from Lucky’s Pub and take over food service at their Heights location. We formed Buck’s Barbeque and worked to re-brand the Lucky’s-Heights location as White Oak Biergarten/Buck’s Barbeque. We planned our soft opening for August 26th and were forced to cancel that event because Hurricane Harvey was expected to make landfall that night. It did. And we got 15 feet of water in the building. It was a total loss, and we were closed before we even got open.
So what do you do then? Well, we became a pop-up operation (and still are). We began popping-up at breweries and bars around town trying to build our brand and introduce Houston to our product. Buck’s received much critical acclaim, and in June of 2018, we took over food service at Lucky’s Lodge in East Downtown (where we are located today).
We operate Tuesday through Sunday, from 11:00 am to midnight and are still putting out what we consider some of the best craft barbeques in the Houston market. This isn’t the end game for Buck’s. We still want to open our own location and are actively looking for the right spot.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Definitely not. There have been many, many food services that closed as a result of Hurricane Harvey. We have faced all sorts of challenges along the way, but my time in the military taught me that you improvise, adapt, and overcome. And that is precisely what we have done.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Buck’s Barbeque Co. – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We are a food service company that operates as a pop-up restaurant inside Lucky’s Lodge and does catering jobs offsite. We specialize in Central Texas-style barbeque and are known for our creative approach to traditional barbeque offerings.
I’m most proud of how we had persevered when many others did not. And for the wide critical acclaim that we have received. Nothing makes me happier than watching someone try our product for the first time and seeing the look of surprise and satisfaction on their face.
What sets us apart? The passion and pride that we put into our product and that almost every critic has recognized in their report on us.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Ah, the future. My plans for the future include the opening of our very own facility. Our relationship with the folks at Lucky’s has been great and is something that I intend to maintain going forward. But to achieve my goals for Buck’s, we simply have to be in a facility that is labeled as Buck’s Barbeque. And that is my plan for 2019.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2024 Rusk Street (Inside Lucky’s Lodge)
Houston, TX 77003 - Website: bucksbbqco.com
- Phone: 713.234.0049
- Email: jim@bucksbbqco.com
- Instagram: @bucksbbqco
- Facebook: facebook.com/bucksbbqco
- Twitter: @bucksbbqco
Image Credit:
Jenn Duncan, Duncan Artistry
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