Heim Barbecue
Heim Barbecue's third location will open in Dallas early this summer at 3130 W. Mockingbird Lane.
Five years ago, Travis and Emma Heim started their barbecue business with $100 in the bank and a food truck. It was just the two of them working 20-hour days, slaving over brisket and banana pudding.
Now, with two permanent locations, one on the way, and dozens of staff members, business is looking better than ever.
Their newest location, which will open in Dallas early this summer at 3130 W. Mockingbird Lane, wasn’t originally in their plans.
“We weren’t really looking that way, to be honest,” Travis says. “There was probably six or seven times that people approached us to look at spots out there, and it was never anything particularly great. It never felt like something we could actually do.”
For the Heims, growing as organically as possible has been something they’ve relied on. They never planned on having multiple restaurants when they first started, but went with what felt right for their family and their business.
“We never really pursued much of anything, even with the second restaurant,” Travis says. “It’s just something where if it is a cool opportunity, we could get into the place and be a part of the community, then we could try and make it happen.”
When the newest location on Mockingbird Lane fell into their lap, they knew that it was finally time to expand, to give customers coming from the metroplex what they’d been asking for years. They had a vision for what they wanted out of the space when they saw it, and that’s how they knew it was finally time to expand.
“A lot of people are excited we are headed that way because it’s a hike to come to Fort Worth,” Emma says. “When we first posted something about expanding to Dallas, it was almost like a bomb went off with how excited they were. It’s been an overwhelming amount of love.”
Now, Dallas residents will have more opportunities to feed their barbecue addiction, and the Heims can continue to grow a loyal fanbase.
They opened their first restaurant to better serve customers after the food truck took off, but never expected to have the kind of impact on the community they’ve seen so quickly, just by doing it the “Heim way.”
For now, the Heims are focused on their Dallas opening, and don’t really have an idea for how big they want to grow eventually.
But as long as they’re serving the best barbecue possible, they’ll continue to follow where their business leads them.
“We have some really good people that we rely on to help us with this,” Travis says. “To continue with our goals and our values for what we want the restaurant to be, we are very fortunate for that.”
