AgsWin2011 said:

---

That's pretty bad. Spring Creek is terrible. I've been "twice" years ago (my first time and last time ever going). It was on par with Dickies and made me feel terrible the rest of the day.

---

howdyags12! said:

---

Let me start with Killen's bbq in Pearland is great and I've been numerous times and never a complaint. However, the new Killen's location in Cypress is not up to par. My son and I went last Sunday for lunch and needless to say we will not be going back anytime soon. The brisket was okay but the beef rib was chewy/rubbery and had a weird taste and the sides were really bad. The cole slaw was not good, the beans were under cooked and tasted like they were just dumped into bbq sauce. Hopefully they will figure it out as my son said as we were leaving, Spring Creek bbq is better than this..

---

Quote:

---

Hutchins Barbeque owner sues dad and brother over name of new North Texas restaurant

Restaurateurs in McKinney and Frisco say a new business in the works in Trophy Club isn't affiliated even though its operators are family.

The president and majority owner of Hutchins Barbeque in McKinney and Frisco has launched a trademark lawsuit against family members in an attempt to protect his restaurant name.

Tim Hutchins said the Hutchins Barbeque slated to open in April in Trophy Club, a small golf community northwest of Dallas, is not related to his Hutchins Barbeque in McKinney nor his brother Tracy "Trey" Hutchins' barbecue joint and catering operation by the same name in Frisco. The Trophy Club restaurant will be operated by Wesley Hutchins and Roy Hutchins, the Hutchins brothers' eldest sibling and father, respectively.

A lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Sherman asks a judge to consider whether a new, unaffiliated Hutchins Barbeque in Trophy Club will be confusing to consumers familiar with the McKinney and Frisco restaurants.

"It's a strong name in D-FW," Tim Hutchins said of Hutchins Barbeque. The business has been on Texas Monthly's best-of barbecue list three consecutive times.

Tim Hutchins said he thinks Wesley Hutchins and Roy Hutchins are relying on the Hutchins Barbeque name to get customers to their new shop.

"I really feel like they're trying to capitalize on our accolades and achievements as a business," Tim Hutchins said. He and Trey Hutchins have been business partners since 2014.

Wesley Hutchins laughed at the idea: "It's our name."

Do they have a case?

Roy Hutchins started the family's first barbecue joint, Roy's Smokehouse, in 1978 in the Collin County town of Princeton, northeast of Dallas. All three sons grew up in the barbecue business and have worked at the family-owned restaurants since they were young. Roy and sons Wesley and Trey opened Hutchins Barbeque in 1991. Tim Hutchins was a child when it opened, but he took a majority ownership in 2002, at age 22.

Matthew Yarbrough, an attorney who represented the owner of Carbone's when he sued new Dallas restaurant Carbone for trademark infringement, said he believes Wesley and Roy Hutchins might have trouble proving they have rights to the Hutchins Barbeque name, since Tim Hutchins has been using it in commerce for more than 20 years. Wesley and Roy Hutchins both worked at the McKinney restaurant during that timeframe, though not as owners.

Yarbrough pointed to the potential for consumers to be confused by restaurants with similar names selling the same cuisine but being run by different parties.

"We're seeing an explosion in litigation because of social media," said Yarbrough, chair of intellectual property at Michelman & Robinson. In the case of Carbone's vs. Carbone, customers were leaving online reviews for the wrong restaurant or setting their cellphone maps to the wrong spot. Yarbrough suggests the same problems could happen with Hutchins.

In 2020, Tim Hutchins secured two federal trademarks, one for "Hutchins Barbeque" and another for "Hutchins Barbeque Made in Texas Est. 1978. The second specifies that the trademark is "superimposed upon an oval with the words 'made in Texas' and 'est. 1978 written below, with a pictorial representation of the state of Texas in between" the phrases, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office records state.

Wesley and Roy Hutchins' new logo uses the same Hutchins Barbeque spelling that the McKinney and Frisco restaurants use. It has the addition of Roy's name.

The logo is displayed in the shape of an oval but uses a slightly different phrase: "Texas made since 1978."

Wesley Hutchins, the oldest brother, called Tim Hutchins greedy for trying to keep the Hutchins family name to himself.

"I think people forget who brought them to the dance sometimes," Wesley Hutchins said.

How did the feud start?

All three Hutchins brothers say they were a close family who worked together, on and off, for years. Trey Hutchins lives across the street from Wesley Hutchins, though they haven't spoken much in the last year.

"We've always been super close," Trey Hutchins said. "The last couple of years, we've definitely disagreed on a lot of things."

Tim Hutchins is the current president of the company, which includes Hutchins Barbeque in McKinney and Frisco. Trey Hutchins is vice president. Wesley Hutchins worked at the restaurants from 2018 to 2021 but currently isn't involved. Roy Hutchins gets a percentage of gross sales from the McKinney and Frisco restaurants, but he isn't an owner.

Roy Hutchins went on to open multiple Randy White's Barbeque restaurants in Texas. In 2014, Trey Hutchins turned Randy White's in Frisco into the Hutchins Barbeque location that remains today.

"It's been pretty odd for me, going from a real close, tight-knit family, to kind of estranged," Tim Hutchins said.

Wesley Hutchins sees it differently: "It's horrible disrespect toward Mom and Dad," he said of his two brothers as they engage in a lawsuit against family.

In 2002 and 2003, members of the Hutchins family filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Tim Hutchins took over the McKinney barbecue joint from his family members. He eventually made "big changes" to the recipes and the brand to make them relevant in a new craft barbecue era, he said.

"I was backed into a corner at a young age, with a huge financial responsibility," Tim Hutchins said. "I didn't have a college education. I had to make it."

Since then, the restaurant has closed twice due to fires: once in 2012 and again on New Year's Eve in 2020.

The COVID-19 pandemic was another hurdle, but the McKinney and Frisco restaurants survived. In another difficult turn, in 2021, Tim Hutchins hired famed Texas pitmaster John Mueller, who died a few months later.

Tim Hutchins doesn't want his company name to be used by two "quite inept" restaurant operators, the lawsuit says.

"We can't stop them from opening a barbecue joint," Tim Hutchins said in a Dallas Morning News interview. "But we can protect our brand."

Wesley Hutchins said their dad started the businesses and that his last name is fair game.

"It's my dad's recipes. It's all my dad," he said.

The Trophy Club restaurant has been under construction since October.

An attorney sent a cease-and-desist letter on Nov. 8, alleging that Wesley and Roy Hutchins were infringing upon Hutchins Barbeque's intellectual property

Tim Hutchins' attorney filed the trademark lawsuit 10 weeks later, on Jan. 17, 2023.

Wesley Hutchins said he and his dad don't intend to change their restaurant name. And they're already planning to expand.

"We're tickled to death," Wesley Hutchins said. "We're moving forward. We want to put several of these in."

He said he "won't ever go to McKinney or Frisco" where his brothers operate Hutchins Barbeques "because we don't want to hurt our own pockets."

"But we would definitely like to go to Houston, San Antonio and maybe Austin," he said.

For now, each faction of the family says they'll keep on keepin' on: Tim and Trey Hutchins are moving forward with the lawsuit, and Wesley and Roy Hutchins are getting closer to opening their restaurant. We'll update you with progress on both.

---

BurnetAggie99 said:

---

Usually Sunday at Valentina's BBQ not much if a wait or line. Also pretty easy to get a table inside. LA BBQ you might have a couple people in line on Sunday but it usually moves fast on Sunday.

---

Beef Cheek said:

---

Has this been discussed?

HOWDY, AGGIELAND! 🤠

We're bringing Troubadour Festival to the brand new Aggie Park at Texas A&M University on Saturday, May 20. We'll have 34 of the best BBQ joints in Texas plus live country music on two stages for a day you'll never forget. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/3IW6uNGbTi

— Troubadour Festival (@troubadour_fest) February 18, 2023

---

La Fours said:

---

What happened? Why did they close?

---