Meet Harry Chambers of Harris County Smokehouse

Today we’d like to introduce you to Harry Chambers.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Harry. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My father founded Kettle Restaurants chain in 1968 and we had over 265 restaurants all along the southern states from Florida to California so I grew up in the restaurant business. At the age of 13 I started busing tables, then went on to cook, and then after college went to work for Kettle corporate as a franchise supervisor. My wife also worked for Kettle corporate as a Director of purchasing and her and I went around the country opening up new Kettle restaurants and helping them get up and started. We opened our own Kettle franchise in 1986 and due to eminent domain issues with the state taking 15 of our front row parking spots we changed our Kettle to Harris County Smokehouse in 1998. With the loss of parking we needed to regroup into a business that had more outside sales such as catering and to go and that’s how we came up with the Smokehouse. The Kettle chain was sold in 1995 and it just made sense for us to get another plan. We have 2 locations and are building a third in Katy as we speak and is due to open in fall of this year.

After turning our Kettle location into Harris County Smokehouse we endured 2 more state taking of the property and in 2014 we got notice they would be condemning the entire property. This was devastating news for us but as luck would have it we were able to purchase a piece of land across the street and build there. We have actually doubled sales there from the old location.

What makes us stand out above the rest is we serve breakfast all day. All of our recipes are from scratch and simply amazing. Our pancakes are the original from scratch Kettle recipe that my dad developed years ago. We also serve all of our barbecue for breakfast whether it be in your omelette, ribs and eggs, or just about any other combination you can imagine. You can go onto www.harriscountysmokehouse.com for lots more info.

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?
Ha!! That’s a good one. I briefly explained about the 3 state takings of property. The first one almost shut us down in 1995. We hired the top condemnation lawyer in Houston and when he came out he said you guys need to pack your bags and leave, you will never make it in this location again due to the limited parking left. There were only 33 spots left at that time. We then turned it into Harris County Smokehouse and lasted quite a few more years and 2 more state takings and did extremely well. But the move across the street has been incredible for us.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Harris County Smokehouse – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We specialize in homemade from scratch products. What sets us apart is being a Smokehouse but serve breakfast all day. We also have complimentary from scratch rolls and boiled peanuts all day for our customers at no charge.

Our decor is truly Texas with a porch that has a life size John Wayne on a horse. Pig benches with a checker board table, cow benches and horse benches. All around the restaurant the pictures are of Houston back in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We are building a new restaurant in Katy at I-10 and Hwy 99. We hope to build a few more after that.

Contact Info:

• Address: 19811 Northwest Freeway, Houston, Texas 281-890-5735
  14243 FM 2920 Tomball, Tx 77377 281-351-4060Katy location at I-10 and 99 opening late fall of this year
• Website: www.harriscountysmokehouse.com
• Email: tammy@harriscountysmokehouse.com
• Instagram: @harriscountysmokehouse.com
• Facebook: Harris County Smokehouse-Cyfair Harris County Smokehouse-Tomball
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/HCSmokehouseTX https://twitter.com/HC_Smokehouse
• Yelp: Harris County Smokehouse-Cyfair Harris County Smokehouse-Tomball