It’s official: Wright’s Barbecue to set up shop in Little Rock

Central Arkansas followers of Wright’s Barbecue will now not should journey to Johnson, Bentonville, or Rogers to take pleasure in a few of Arkansas’ finest barbecue. On Oct. 21, Jordan Wright, proprietor, operator, Little Rock native, and namesake of Wright’s, closed on a property in Little Rock’s Riverdale neighborhood. This will likely be Wright’s fourth location and first outdoors of Northwest Arkansas.

Wright’s new digs will likely be situated at 1311 Rebsamen Park Highway within the Quonset hut behind City Pump and Rebsamen Liquor. The massive open area is right for a Wright’s Barbecue location given its fierce buyer loyalty and knack for attracting lengthy strains. The present constructing will endure a full renovation, slated to start within the coming weeks, with seating to accommodate 80-90 clients. All of the meat will likely be smoked on-premises by way of 5 Moberg People who smoke, that are in supply. Wright hopes to be open by the late first quarter or early second quarter of 2023.

I lately caught up with Wright and requested why he selected Little Rock for his subsequent enterprise:

“It’s a terrific metropolis. It’s the place I grew up, it’s the state capital, and I’ve obtained a ton of household and associates round Central Arkansas. I’m excited to get again and spend extra time down right here and make investments in the neighborhood that’s Little Rock. We’ve obtained nice people who find themselves set to come back down and run the shop which have Little Rock connections. We’re actually excited in regards to the constructing area, in regards to the Riverdale space, and actually about all the pieces that Little Rock has occurring for it proper now.”

Wright began Wright’s Barbecue in Fayetteville as a meals truck in 2016. I met Wright someday round then once I was a pupil on the College of Arkansas, following his rolling barbecue stand throughout city from Joyce Avenue to the Fayetteville Farmers Market and all factors in between. Being a local Central Texan myself, Wright’s little meals truck was the one place I might discover a correctly ready plate of brisket in my newly adopted state.

“It’s actually simply getting again to the roots, about planting our flag in my dwelling metropolis. What we’ve seen in Northwest Arkansas is every metropolis we’ve opened up in we are able to create an enormous quantity of jobs. We will construct these relationships throughout the group to serve clients and have staff members that wish to serve their group and be capable to give again. It’s really an superior privilege.”

Wright was born and raised in Little Rock and graduated from Central Arkansas Christian Excessive Faculty in 2004. Quickly after, he was off to Fayetteville, the place he graduated from the College of Arkansas. A late bloomer to barbecue, he was making a snug wage as a wholesale meals consultant at Tyson when he determined to open the meals truck. It wasn’t lengthy earlier than Wright attracted a religious following that triggered him to outgrow his little meals trailer. In 2018 he purchased the previous Golden Kolache on Predominant Avenue in Johnson and, after a short transform, remodeled it into considered one of NWA’s hottest eating locations. He opened a second location in Bentonville in 2020 and earlier this 12 months a 3rd in Rogers.

Wright’s rise to the highest as probably Arkansas’s finest barbecue joint is partly attributable to the truth that he was the primary to supply a comparatively distinctive product in Arkansas: brisket sluggish smoked with oak wooden. However it’s not simply the product itself — he’s rattling good at making it. He’s even attracted publicity from Daniel Vaughn, Texas Month-to-month’s barbecue editor, who traveled as much as Northwest Arkansas again in October 2019 to put in writing a characteristic about his barbecue. On this characteristic, Vaughn claims the brisket at Wright’s to be “the most effective brisket I’ve ever present in Arkansas,” which is fairly excessive reward coming from the brisket authority of Texas. Regardless of the reward and continued success, Wright stays humble.

“The one factor that issues is the subsequent meal,” Wright mentioned. That’s the one factor we’re centered on. Doesn’t matter what we did in Johnson, doesn’t matter what we’ve carried out wherever else — the one factor we’re ever centered on is cooking the subsequent meal to serve to our clients. We’ve obtained that degree of focus going into each prepare dinner. We’re simply excited to have the ability to present that kind of fixed enchancment that makes a superb barbecue expertise. It’s an actual privilege to have the ability to share that with Little Rock.”