After 19 years in business, Buz and Ned's Real Barbecue is expanding to a second site in a former Fuddruckers building at West Broad Street and Parham Road, with an opening planned in December. "We can't physically do more with our current location with the quality and level of service that I insist we attain," says owner Bruce "Buz" Grossberg. "So we are making everything bigger and better with our new location." He bought the former Fuddruckers building for $1.2 million in 2010 and began renovations.
The new restaurant was designed to create a raw, "old industrial building look," Grossberg says. With 7,300 square feet, there is more seating than at the Boulevard location, including a banquet room and outdoor tables, as well as a display kitchen, a bar and a carnival-style shooting gallery with pigs. The 15-foot bar will carry about 50 kinds of tequila, 50 bourbons and other American whiskeys, and 18 beers on taps. There will even be a landmark on top of the building: a 2,500-gallon reclaimed water tower that will collect rainwater for use in the restaurant.
"We'll be adding chicken pieces and/or half chickens to the menu," Grossberg says. "My intent is to do something like what the Krispy Kreme stores do with their sign for hot doughnuts. We would have a ‘hot chicken' sign during lunch and dinner hours."
And with three barbecue pits outside the new restaurant, customers will be able to see how the meat is cooked. "Anyone can walk outside and watch the process," Grossberg says. "We will then take the barbecue right through the doors and into the kitchen, all the while being completely visible to the public. They will be able to see the entire process that goes into cooking their food."