Rudy’s Bar-B-Q: The Guys Behind the “Sause”

We want to thank all of you who submitted their top ten pizza lists as part of our Pizza Wars 2014 feature from last week. It was easy to tell that a lot of thought went in to your lists. And thanks to the many foodies who took the time to read our lengthy story in its entirety. Hope you enjoyed it!

Rudy’s Country Store and Bar-B-Q has long been one of my favorite BBQ spots in central Texas. They literally sell tons of smoked meats and along with their co-owned Mighty Fine Burgers, the locally-owned and operated businesses won the prestigious and highly coveted Baldridge award for excellence several years ago.

Founder Ken Schiller along with partner Brian Nolan had no formal preparation for success in the hospitality industry. In fact, Ken and Brian wanted to be commercial pilots and were studying at several schools to achieve that goal. But life, as we all know, has more than its share of twists and turns. And soon, Ken found himself at an insurance firm instead of in the cockpit. But insurance wasn’t really cutting it for Ken and Brian, and they decided to try something different. A meeting with fellow insurance partner Mitch Elengold sealed the deal. The something different turned out to be Rudy’s.

A chance meeting with serial restaurant entrepreneur (Macaroni Grill, Fuddrucker’s, Johnny Carino’s) Phil Romano was the catalyst. Romano had a store on Research, and the partners rolled the dice and took over the operation. Not only did they conduct a virtual tour de force of research on the preparation of smoked meats, but they decided to have some fun with the concept as well: hence ,”the worst BBQ” slogan, and other interesting marketing ideas. Who can forget the TV spots of local celebrities (Mark Henry, et al.) chugging the bottle of “sause.”

Today the partnership owns four local stores on Research, 620, 360 in Westlake and in Round Rock. They sell gazillions of pounds of smoked meats not to mention truckloads of breakfast tacos. They then launched Mighty Fine with the first store at the Arbor Walk. The same sound business principles were applied there as well. No wonder the Baldridge Committee took notice.

This business is also about the employees. They are well-trained and motivated. Three chaplains are available for counseling for any employee who needs a sympathetic ear. And the buck always stops right at Ken Schiller’s huge desk. He is engaged and most importantly, he’s available.

Is Rudy’s the best BBQ in Austin? Some say it is, while many others are fiercely loyal to Franklin’s, Mueller’s, Style Switch, and the dozens of other good BBQ places that populate the local scene. But they are really good at customer care, and they never, ever, run out of anything. Not bad for some would be sky pilots, huh?

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