Alabama Barbecue Restaurant Celebrating 100 Years

DECATUR Ala.
By Southern Living
January 27, 2025

An Alabama barbecue restaurant celebrating 100 years in business plans to honor their centennial all year long.

“Big Bob” Gibson BBQ has been an institution in Decatur, Alabama since 1925 when L & N railroad worker Bob Gibson began honing his cooking skills on the weekends in a hand dug barbecue pit in his backyard.

Gibson’s nickname “Big Bob” wasn’t hard to understand since stood six feet, four inches tall and weighed 300 pounds.

He also had a big personality, was a “free spirit” who “did what he wanted to do,” his grandson and current Big Bob Gibson owner Don McLemore said.

“He never met a stranger,” McLemore added.

The smoke and the smells from the pit drew neighbors and BBQ lovers from miles away to eat off a makeshift table made of oak planks nailed to a large sycamore tree in his backyard.

Gibson eventually upgraded to an old fashioned pit built up off the ground and quit his job at the railroad to pursue his BBQ business full-time. The storefront locations moved as the business grew, getting bigger and in more populated areas of Decatur each time.

In its 100 years, Big Bob Gibson BBQ remains the family business it was when it started, though it has ventured into catering and cookbooks. The restaurant has won numerous awards for its recipes and in 2023 was named Food Network’s Best BBQ restaurant.

Big Bob Gibson BBQ also takes credit for inventing the North Alabama staple of white sauce – a mixture of mayonnaise, vinegar, salt and pepper that Executive Chef Chris Lilly “baptizes” the chicken in after it cooks for hours.

Accolades aside, McLemore said Big Bob Gibson BBQ is a place for people in Decatur to fellowship and to run into people they haven’t seen in a while.

“It’s more than a restaurant. It’s a tradition,” Lilly said.

Celebrations for the centennial are already underway with monthly giveaways, discounts and a party are in the works for the spring.