DECATUR – Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q is a household name across north Alabama.
Thousands have visited the restaurant and many more have doused homemade barbecue in their legendary sauce.
However, few know the history of how the now-famous restaurant came to be. The team at Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q tells it best:
In 1925, Bob Gibson served barbecue from a makeshift table made of oak planks nailed to a large sycamore tree in his backyard. Fresh out of his hand-dug pit came smoke and smells that drew people from miles away. Weighing 300 pounds with a 6-foot-4 frame, it was easy to see why friends and other railway workers called him “Big Bob.”
It was with that, Big Bob Gibson started a family barbecue restaurant tradition that has lasted has lasted over 80 years and four generations.
“Big Bob Gibson’s storefront bobbed up and down all over Decatur, always moving to a bigger and more populated location,” said Mattie Johnson, an employee for over 50 years. “He specialized in smoking pork and chicken in his hickory fired brick pits. Word spread of his Southern Flavors and Big Bob’s unique Bar-B-Q White Sauce recipe. Three things contributed to his success; his delicious food, that tangy White Sauce, and his charismatic personality. Big Bob Gibson never met a stranger.”
The tables were always full and the lines at the counter grew longer with people placing orders, and just wanting to talk to Big Bob. Demand for his food prompted him to initiate a curb service, where orders were taken and delivered directly to a customer’s car window.
In the 1950s, all five of Big Bob’s children chose bar-b-q as their life passion. Big Bob’s daughter Catherine (Punk to friends), and her husband Coy McLemore joined the ranks. Soon customers were enjoying chocolate, lemon, and coconut cream pie, made fresh every morning. Another addition to the menu was potato salad. This added a touch of variety to the limited side items of coleslaw and potato chips, which Big Bob had always served. A new restaurant was introduced to Decatur in the ’50s, called Little Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q. A brother and sister combo of Ruth Hopkins and Bob Gibson Jr. joined their spouses to quench Decatur’s thirst for this southern staple.
In 1956 another brother and sister tandem of David Gibson and Velma Hampton, along with their spouses, introduced the bar-b-q trade to Huntsville Alabama. Soon, all of the Gibson clan was satisfying the craving for bar-b-q across North Alabama.
Increased demand for bar-b-q meant two more cooking pits were needed at Big Bob Gibsons. Bar-b-q pits in those days had a large chimney on one end, with brick walls surrounding a flat cooking grate. Burning hickory coals were shoveled under the cooking grate, through holes in the bottom of the brick wall. The floor of the pits was clay soil. The clay floors would absorb grease from the pork shoulders and chickens. Every week, the floor would be shoveled out to a depth of two feet and replaced with fresh clay.
The 1970s and ’80s ushered in a growing Decatur and a new generation at Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q. Don McLemore, grandson of Big Bob, and his wife Carolyn took control of this Decatur landmark. More people coming to the city meant more customers in the restaurant.
In 1987, a restaurant was built to house an expanded kitchen and dinning room. An advertising campaign promoting catering was devised to target a large unfulfilled market. With the new facilities in place, annual catering jobs of more than 3000 people became a routine. A veteran crew and an assembly line approach to fixing plates made serving large groups both fast and efficient. These changes provided Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q with the opportunity to grow and to be recognized regionally as the best bar-b-q restaurant.
“In the restaurant business, you never want to add a new food to your menu unless by adding that item you attract new customers,” said Don McLemore.
With this in mind, three items were added in the next decade. Pork ribs began kissing the hickory coals for a full 5 hours at 240 degrees. The entrees available now included ribs, pork, chicken and beef. Carolyn rounded out the side order options with her traditional homemade bar-b-q baked bean recipe. A huge success was the addition of bar-b-q stuffed potatoes. These giant spuds, once compared to “a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier” by Chile Pepper magazine, are filled with butter, sour cream, bacon, chives, and topped with your choice of meat.
Decatur is a city bordered by industrial parks to the west, the Tennessee River to the north, and Wheeler Wildlife Refuge to the east. The only direction that the city and the restaurant could grow is south.
In 1992, Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q opened a location on the south side of town. This new endeavor baptized the fourth generation of the Big Bob Gibson family in hickory smoke. Great granddaughter Amy and her husband Chris Lilly joined the team and helped take the restaurant in a new direction.
Big Bob Gibson chickens are split, seasoned, and laid open on the pit for 3 ½ hours on 350 degrees. A pit full of 50 golden brown birds is then dipped into a vat of that tangy, peppery white sauce. The demand for this sauce prompted the bottling of this milky white liquid.
Soon, distribution of Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q White Sauce reached eight states and over 2,000 grocery stores.
In 1996, JedMaster was hired to build a large capacity portable-cooking rig. With room for over 175 chickens, 110 slabs of ribs, or 60 whole turkeys, this pit increased the cooking capacity of the restaurant greatly. A pit on wheels enabled Gibson’s to offer a cook-onsite catering package. Instant atmosphere and advertising were obtained wherever smoke billowed from the stacks.
Unsatisfied with the flavor of the thick commercial red sauce being used at the restaurant, Don and Chris decided to create their own traditional bar-b-q sauce.
For 1½ years, sauce samples and recipes were swapped. At times the kitchens reeked of burnt sugar, boiling vinegar and incompatible spices. When the smoke settled, Big Bob Gibson’s was left with a signature red sauce that rivaled the popularity of their white sauce.
Since completion in 1997, this sauce has won the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cook-off twice. In 1998, Big Bob Gibson Championship Red Sauce was named “The Best Sauce on the Planet” over 500 commercial sauce entries at the American Royal International Barbecue Sauce Contest.
Although a red and a white sauce adorn grocery store shelves, Don said, “A blue sauce is not in the works.”
With their time-tested recipes and the confidence that the best bar-b-q in the world has always been found in Decatur, Big Bob Gibson Competition Cooking team was formed. If they could they could win contests; this would provide excellent advertising and promotion for their restaurant and sauces.
Win they did.
They have won 10 state championships and 10 world championships with their now-famous pork, chicken and beef products. Their wins included being named Grand Champion at the 2000, 2003 and 2012 Memphis in May World Championship Cook-offs, and Grand Champion at the 2004 American Royal International Invitational Barbecue Contest.
What does the future hold for Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q?
More restaurants, more sauces, and more contests would be a good guess. Only one thing is for certain, more of the Best Bar-B-Q in the world will be served today, in Decatur.
This story originally appeared on SoulGrown, a digital publication that highlights the culture, beauty, and people of Alabama,
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