At Hutchins BBQ in Frisco, Texas, the smoke doesn’t just signal a meal; it tells a story generations in the making. Today, 28-year-old Nick Hutchins is at the helm of the Frisco location, carrying forward a legacy started by his grandfather, Roy Hutchins, who opened the family’s first smokehouse in 1978. The legacy was carried on by Nick’s uncle, Tim Hutchins, and his father, Tracy Hutchins. Nick grew up surrounded by barbecue, but it wasn’t until his teenage years that he realized just how special it was.
“Barbecue wasn’t really cool when I was younger,” he says. “It was just something my family did.” That changed in 2013, when Hutchins BBQ landed on Texas Monthly’s Top 50 list. “Suddenly, having Hutchins as my last name started to mean something.” In the world of barbecue, it means everything.
Today, Hutchins BBQ spans two bustling locations — McKinney and Frisco — with no plans to franchise. The plan is to make the best Texas barbecue. But that’s always been the plan.
Before Nick stepped into his role at Hutchins BBQ, his uncle, Tim Hutchins, had already helped guide the family business through a key turning point. For Tim, who took over the business in 2002, at just 22, the evolution of Hutchins BBQ has been personal. “It was sink or swim,” he says. “Back then, Hutchins BBQ was not what it is today.”
In 2014, Tracy Hutchins officially came aboard as co-owner, alongside his brother Tim, just as the Frisco location opened. “Getting to work alongside my family has brought its own challenges,” he says, “but it’s also been the biggest reward.”
With decades of experience watching the barbecue scene evolve in Texas, Tracy attributes Hutchins BBQ’s success to a renewed focus on ingredient quality. “We use Prime USDA briskets and have since 2012, when Tim realized what a difference top-tier meat made,” he says. “While many of our dishes have roots in our own family traditions and recipes, it’s been the subtle changes that have made the biggest difference.”
Tracy’s role has been both personal and practical. His three children now work alongside him: Nick as general manager, Lauren Hutchins in catering and Corbin Hutchins in the pits. “Family is woven into everything we do,” Tracy says. “And that keeps us honest.”
Nick’s path back to the business wasn’t direct. He played Division I football at Oklahoma State but left after his freshman year. Following a trip to New Orleans and a brief detour from academics, he returned home to McKinney. By 2019, Hutchins BBQ’s Frisco location was shifting from a catering hub to a full-service restaurant, and Nick stepped into management. “I didn’t have a backup plan,” he says. “I just worked like this wasn’t even a plan.”
Now, Nick oversees operations seven days a week. He starts most mornings at 6:30 a.m., handles brisket sourcing calls and puts in long shifts with a team that includes employees who’ve been around longer than he’s been alive. “We wet-age our briskets for 30 to 45 days,” he says. “If it doesn’t meet that window, we don’t use it.”
Lately, the team has been testing wagyu brisket. “It’s a smaller, more delicate cut, and the fat makes it better,” he says. “We’re not charging extra for it. We just want to put out the best barbecue we can.”
Nick doesn’t just talk about quality. He lives it — seven days a week. Whether he’s troubleshooting kitchen flow, double-checking smoke temperatures or coordinating with purveyors, the details matter. “We’ve got systems in place, but more importantly, we’ve got people who care,” he says.
Behind the scenes, it’s the team, not just the technique, that drives the restaurant. The longtime pitmaster at Hutchins BBQ, Vincente Santana, has been with the family business for 30 years. His sons work in the pit room, too. Most of their staff members have been around for a decade or more.
“That’s our star power,” Nick says. “You can’t duplicate that.”
That consistency is no accident. It’s by design. Every morning, before the restaurant opens, the team gathers to taste every item. “We feed a lot of people every day,” says Tracy. “We need to make sure it’s all up to our standards.”
“Since we’ve opened, our team has always been an extension of the Hutchins family, and it shows in our customer service,” says Tracy. “Anyone can have great barbecue, but it takes more than that to create a top-notch dining experience for our guests. As much as guests come back for a delicious meal, they’re also coming back because our extraordinary team welcomes them in with open arms, time and time again.”
The menu reflects that same approach. Hutchins BBQ is known for the Texas Trinity — brisket, sausage and ribs — served with sides rooted in tradition. “There are plenty of definitions of Texas barbecue,” Tracy says. “For us, it means keeping things simple and letting the ingredients shine.”
The briskets are seasoned with only salt and pepper, with yellow mustard as a binder. The sausage is made in-house from prime beef trimmings. And the famous Texas Twinkies — jalapenos stuffed with brisket and cream cheese, wrapped in bacon — were born out of a late-night card game among staff.
“We created them in 2014 as a way to use up leftover brisket,” Tracy says. “Now, they’re a household name.” They even declared October 16 National Texas Twinkie Day.
Tim credits much of the restaurant’s success to a culture that values effort and accountability. “Faith, family and food — the three Fs — go hand in hand,” Tim says. “When we’re aligned on what’s most important, that’s when the business shines.”
Faith has long shaped the family’s values. Sundays were reserved for church and family meals. Roy’s Smokehouse, the original restaurant, operated out of the family home. It was part house, part restaurant. “The game room was the old dining area,” Nick recalls. “We’d go after church and watch the Cowboys lose on the big tube TV.”
Expansion looks different here. Instead of opening a third site, they’re doubling down on what they’ve built. The Frisco team owns nearly six acres next door. Plans are underway for a new building.
“We’re not building something fancy,” Nick says. “We’re building a better version of what we already do.”
The current building, retrofitted from a lease signed in 2019, isn’t equipped to meet demand. Nick points out the long summer lines and lack of covered space. “It’s brutal working here in the heat,” he says. “The ambulance has been called more than once.”
Service is taken just as seriously as the food. “Customer service is not optional here,” Nick says. “It’s a demand.”
That standard is enforced through training and accountability. Many of the staff have been with Hutchins BBQ for years. Their pitmaster’s sons are now full-time employees. Multiple cooks and servers have worked their way up from dishwashing.
The loyalty goes both ways. When the McKinney location suffered a fire and was shut down for nine months in 2021, Hutchins transferred all its staff to Frisco and kept them employed. “We couldn’t afford to lose them,” Nick says. “They’re the backbone of this place.”
That tight-knit environment is one reason the restaurant has weathered the industry’s toughest storms: the pandemic, rising food costs, labor shortages. “We’re very proud of the team of staff that we’ve brought aboard over the years, and they’ve been key in building the Hutchins BBQ fanbase,” says Tim.
“There’s no Hutchins BBQ without the support of our friends and neighbors,” Tim says. “In the early days, it took some convincing. Now we see families come in week after week. We’ve seen children grow up and have families of their own; we’ve seen birthday parties, promotions and so much more.”
The new restaurant will offer more room for guests, a more efficient kitchen layout and, importantly, relief from the heat. Still, the team insists it won’t lose its character. TVs won’t return. Alcohol remains BYOB.
“We want people to focus on the food, the product and their family,” Nick says. “That’s not going to change. Especially in this generation, where people are so glued to their phones, it’s nice to see people eat, have a conversation, enjoy the barbecue, enjoy the service and just get away from the rat race of life.”
Tim’s proud of how far they’ve come — and what’s ahead. “We’re a multigenerational business now. I’ve got my niece and nephews working with us, my pitmaster’s son shadowing his dad in the pits. That means everything.”
For Tracy, that legacy is the priority.
“We’re not chasing trends,” he says. “We’re not worried about being the biggest. We’re focused on being the best at what we do.”
And for Nick, it all comes back to purpose. “We’re not trying to reinvent Texas barbecue,” he says. “We’re just trying to do it better than anyone else, every single day.”
This article originally appeared in Local Profile magazine. Check out the issue here.
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