Hidden Gems: Meet Chris Ryker of Biscuits Brisket Beer

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Ryker.

Chris, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin? 
Started off hobby smoking in my back yard about 7 years ago, and eventually got to a point where people were asking me to make various items for birthday parties, holiday events, etc. 

Fast forward to Covid, and I was sitting in the backyard with my buddy, and I had jokingly said one day I have a dream of opening a BBQ restaurant. He looked me right in the eyes and said do it! I laughed it off, and he said seriously, do it. You run it; I’ll help fund it. 

About 2 years later, we opened at our current location. 

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Definitely not a smooth road! We faced A LOT of challenges from the health department. We’re in Guilford County which come to find out is one of the hardest places to open a restaurant because Guilford County was one of the first in the country to have a health department, so they kind of set the standard. It took about 6-7 months just to get approved on paper. 

Once we got approval, I thought we were going to be good to go (open Feb. 2022). Then the city got involved and needed to see and have all of their requirements met which I had thought well county trumps city, so if I’m good with county, I should be good with city. Unfortunately, not the case. I had purchased a smoker (that was the one our project manager at the time had said would be the one to get; I wanted a different one), and the smoker burned wood, which the city said, if it burns wood it needs to be vented separately from every other piece of equipment, what that turned into was me purchasing a $40,000 type 1 hood, and delaying my opening by months! Not to mention just a slew of other smaller issues related to the building and the project itself that all added up to us finally opening August 2022. 

We’ve been impressed with Biscuits Brisket Beer, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We are a family owned and operated BBQ restaurant operating in 437 square feet of space. We offer central Texas style (salt, pepper is all we use for our rub) BBQ. 

Brisket, smoked turkey breast, smoked chicken wings, spicy all beef polish sausage. 

We are 100% pork-free (which for NC is pretty much unheard of since NC is pork country.) 

We offer a “smaller menu” that we feel we do extremely well. 

We slice all of our BBQ when the customer orders it and serve it up as fresh as we possibly can. 

I have very high standards, and if it’s not good enough, it doesn’t get served to the customer. Consistency is the key. If it’s consistently good people will come back, if it’s good one day and terrible the next (with the price of brisket) most people aren’t willing to take that risk. I know I wouldn’t be. 

I filter everything I do through these few things: “I’m only as good as my last dish,” and is what I’m offering the very best that I can offer? 

Our (unofficial) mission statement is: 

“We provide great customer service, with great BBQ, so the customer receives an excellent experience.” 

If one or the other is off, then nothing works. It has to be the whole package. 

My staff are some of the best around and embody that statement. 

When I hired, I hired people with customer service experience, not cooking experience, and I feel that has really helped grow the business. 

One of the questions we get the most is “is this your only location or is this a chain restaurant” and they are very surprised to know it’s our only location, so that tells me we’re doing something right. 

One of the big things that we had to kind of help people understand is that when we’re out, we’re out. Briskets take a long time to smoke, so we can’t just say give us 5 minutes, and we’ll have more ready. It was a learning curve for a lot of people early on, but time went on people figured it out, and they now know “if I want something I better get there early”. 

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you.
Great question! Honestly, I believe in creating my own luck. Which I’ve been fortunate to be able to do. Social media is a very powerful tool. I’ve reached out to bands, people of influence, and I’ve been able to not only feed them, but also build friendships along the way. 

Luck: 

Fall furniture market the band that played was BareNaked Ladies. Apparently, the singer came to the food hall and ate at our restaurant. I remember interacting with him (didn’t know he was with the band) as we normally do with our customers, and he stated that he didn’t like turkey and he was NOT a fan. We said, try ours, and if you hate it, you can slap Tommy (my manager, he agreed to it, lol). He tried it, and was blown away, and ordered it. 

The next day they did their concert, and around 9 pm my phone just starting blowing up going insane people calling and texting like crazy saying they just did a whole improv song/rap about my turkey! Thankfully, friends were able to capture most of it (it’s on our IG page), but basically said our turkey changed his life. 

We’ve had sports figures come in, Bobby Labonte (NASCAR champ and HOF) has been a multiple times, Tubby Smith (HOF college basketball coach) multiple times, William Hayes (over 10 years NFL), news personalities, and most recently (which I wish I knew it was him because I was there 🤦🏻‍♂️) Jason Priestly, his wife and daughter ate with us just this week. 

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @biscuits_brisket_beer
• Facebook: Biscuits Brisket Beer

Image Credits
Maria West photography