News

Commercial Appeal posted “One & Only BBQ to open a new location in Southaven” featuring One & Only BBQ.

One & Only BBQ has announced plans to open its fourth location in spring 2019 in Southaven at 6575 Airways Blvd. It will be the company’s first location outside the city of Memphis.

“We are always looking for markets where there is not a lot of barbecue being served, ideally where there is a two-mile radius of no barbecue restaurants,” said Alan Katzen, who owns One & Only BBQ with his business partner, Joel Banes.

Katzen said the company had been looking for a spot in Southaven, as they felt that city was underserved in the barbecue category.

“Memphis BBQ Co. has pretty much had that area to themselves,” Katzen said. “I think there is room for more barbecue in this busy part of town.”

When looking for a location in Southaven, Katzen and Banes wanted to find an existing building.

“We built the Germantown Road location from scratch. That was a three-year process we knew we didn’t want to do again,” Katzen said.

When they learned about the location on Airways Boulevard, the partners knew they had the ideal spot for their next restaurant. Formerly a Newk’s Eatery, the more than 4,000-square-foot location is along a busy restaurant corridor between a Red Lobster and an Olive Garden. One & Only BBQ bought the building, and the partners plan to start renovations immediately.

Memphis restaurants:One & Only BBQ plans new restaurant near Agricenter

Southaven residents can expect the same menu, which includes award-winning baby back ribs, smoked turkey and famous Millie’s banana pudding.

Katzen and Banes took over One & Only BBQ in 2010, and it all started over a poker game.

“I was at poker night with my friends and we all took a poll to see which barbecue restaurant was our favorite. Both Joel and I had the same vote — One & Only,” Katzen said.

Not long after that conversation with friends, Katzen learned that the original owners of One & Only might be interested in selling, so he decided to take a gamble.

“We basically bought the assets — the name, recipes and lease,” he said of their purchase of the original location at 1779 Kirby Parkway. “We knew the barbecue was good, but we knew we had to create something more guest friendly.”

The duo was successful, doubling their business the first year they owned the restaurant.

In early 2011, they opened their second location at 567 Perkins Ext. A third location just off Germantown Parkway at 153 Timber Creek Drive opened in February 2017.

“The company is doing over 300 percent more than what the original restaurant was doing when we bought it,” Katzen said.

Read the full article here.

Memphis Business Journal posted “One & Only BBQ fires up new location” featuring One & Only BBQ.

The owners of One & Only BBQ are building their first ground-up location and introducing their smoky, signature flavors to Cordova, Bartlett and the Wolfchase area.

Grinder, Taber & Grinder Inc. filed a $1.2 million building permit last week for a new One & Only BBQ at 153 Timber Creek Drive, across from Agricenter International in Cordova.

The area is pretty much untouched, said co-owner Alan Katzen, as 90 percent of One & Only’s business comes from East Memphis and Germantown.

“By positioning ourselves on the south side of the Bartlett, Cordova and the Wolfchase area, we really feel there is an opportunity to introduce our product and continue to grow,” Katzen said.

The latest location will be the company’s third. Katzen and co-owner Joel Banes bought the first One & Only location on Kirby Parkway about four-and-a-half years ago and expanded to Perkins Extended about a year later.

Katzen says the Perkins location has seen a 120 percent sales increase over the past two years, and company revenues are on track to fund the new location.

“I’ve always had a dream of opening my own restaurant from the ground up,” Katzen said.

One & Only is working with architectural design firm Tree House Design out of New York, which helped redesign the former diner on Perkins, and local engineering firm Barge, Waggoner, Sumner and Cannon Inc.

The new location will have about 98 seats and a full drive-thru. Katzen says site plans are complete, and the company is in the bidding process.

“We hope to start construction in March and be open in September or October of 2016,” he said.

Read the full article here.

Memphis Magazine posted “One and Only BBQ Repurposes CK’s in East Memphis” featuring One & Only BBQ.

The freestanding vintage sign is the only trace of CK’s Coffee Shop left at the corner of Perkins and Southern, but even the sign is altered with this promise: “Coming Soon One and Only BBQ!”

Brown paper covers the windows, but co-owner Alan Katzen says contractors have gutted the front of the restaurant, updated the back kitchen, partially enclosed the front kitchen and painted the building’s exterior a color he calls barbecue sauce. He expects the restaurant to open November 1 with the same menu offered at the first One and Only BBQ, located on Kirby Parkway just north of Poplar in the Orleans Place Shopping Center.

“The menu will be exactly the same for the first six months, but we are prepared to do other foods,” says Katzen, who purchased the original restaurant about a year ago with co-owner Joel Baines. “We want to make sure we are taking wonderful care of our customers before we add to the menu.”

The new restaurant will serve beer (the Kirby restaurant does not) and seat about 90 people.

“We think this is a perfect location for us,” Katzen said. “We’re not too far from our first restaurant, and we’ll be right in between Corky’s and Central BBQ.”

Much loved for its pulled pork, smoked chicken and house-made banana pudding, One and Only BBQ also smokes sausage, turkey and beef brisket. The restaurant serves dinners and sandwich combos, along with meat and sides sold in bulk.

1779 Kirby Parkway, 901-751-3615 (oneandonlybbq.com)

Read the full article here.