Tim Hutchins said he was 14 years old when he started working at his family’s restaurant, Hutchins BBQ. After high school graduation, Hutchins went from part-time to full-time employment, and he started working in the barbecue pits. He became assistant manager, and in 2002, he took over the business. Over the years, he said the menu has provided traditional barbecue offerings, such as beef, brisket, ribs and sausages, but he has found himself fine-tuning the process.
“The longer I’ve done it, I’ve noticed if you shift certain aspects of the technique, you’ll get a better and more consistent result,” Hutchins said. “Cooking time, rack time, how long to season before putting on the pit, what temperature you build it up to ... we tinker with different things on that level.”
Another change he implemented was serving a higher-quality product, which was a decision based in part on what he saw his competitors doing.
“We’re in the golden age of barbecue,” he said. “It has changed tremendously from 15 years ago. ... Other guys started moving their products to prime brisket [and] prime meats. I was on that curve as far as bettering the product.”
