Kenny’s Smoke House is big on bourbon—so much so that the interior wooden walls are lined with repurposed whiskey barrels and Maker’s Mark memorabilia.

But beyond the bourbon, beef ribs and seasonal 16-ounce double bone-in pork chop, General Manager Jason Boyd said the restaurant keeps customers coming back by being flexible to cater to their preferences.

“In the past, … [other restaurants]  have been like, ‘We just can’t do that,’” Boyd said. “To stay consistent, they didn’t want one store to do it but the other store not.”

Not so at Kenny’s, Boyd said, where servers are instructed to go above and beyond a customer’s expectations. That type of service has taken shape in more ways than just friendly attitudes or being flexible in the kitchen. Boyd said the servers are tasked with being observant and attentive to the individual needs of the customers.

“A server just might happen to hear their table say, ‘Man, I sure could go for a cappuccino right now,’” Boyd said.

Kenny’s Restaurant Group, owned by chef Kenny Bowers, has concepts in the North Texas area that serve more than barbecue, including its flagship restaurant, Kenny’s Wood Fired Grill in Dallas. Having that variety of restaurants under the same brand has helped Kenny’s Restaurant Group in the past sample new dishes that would later evolve into new concepts.

“[Bowers]  would do a dollar pork rib at [Kenny’s] Burger Joint,” Assistant General Manager Sylvia Bustillos said. “So then he was smoking ribs for that, and that went over really well.”

The ribs served at Kenny’s Burger Joint performed so well, in fact, that Bowers was inspired to open in 2013 his next newest concept: Kenny’s Smoke House.

And by maintaining a high level of customer service across all Kenny’s restaurant concepts, Boyd said that has been one of the company’s most powerful marketing tools.

“[In]  our industry,” Boyd said, “you can make as many commercials and billboards or whatever you want. But the word-of-mouth is, I feel, really the most valuable marketing tool you can have out there.”