By Aaron Tanner
In 1925, a railroad worker turned his passion for cooking mouthwatering barbecue into a business. A century later, this passion is still going strong in one north Alabama city as a restaurant that has won numerous awards and spawned a condiment that became synonymous with Alabama barbecue.
Today, this dream is known as Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q in Decatur and is a heavyweight among the state’s barbecue joints.
Bob Gibson received his nickname due to his large stature. While working on the L&N Railroad that ran through Decatur, he cooked barbecue chicken and pork shoulder for friends and family before starting a side business on the weekends selling his smoked meats to customers. His barbecue became such a hit that Gibson quit his railroad job and opened his own restaurant, which set up shop in temporary locations based on population movement.
In 1952, a permanent building opened on U.S. 31. The current location on 6th Avenue opened in 1987, with a second location opening on the south side of Decatur on Danville Road in 1992.
All five of Gibson’s children went into the barbecue business. Today, a fifth generation of the Gibson family runs the daily operations at both Decatur locations with help from an energetic staff of employees, some of whom have been there for decades.
Head pitmaster and chief operating officer Chris Lilly, who has been with Gibson’s since 1991, married into the family; his wife, Amy McLemore, is Big Bob Gibson’s great-granddaughter. Lilly’s father-in-law and Gibson’s grandson, Don McLemore, is
the owner.
Thanks to constant business growth under the direction of Lilly and McLemore, the menu is more extensive than a century ago. Originally serving only barbecue chicken, pulled pork shoulder and a few sides, the number of meats smoked and served today include barbecue ribs, chicken wings, brisket and turkey, along with stuffed potatoes and salads. To accompany the expanded choices of barbecued proteins are additional delicious sides like baked beans, redskin potato salad, turnip greens, green beans, and macaroni and cheese.
For dessert, the homemade pies are made from scratch daily before the barbecue gets cooked. “The ladies get there about 5:30 a.m. before the pit guys get there to make the pies,” Lilly says. Some pie flavors made daily include chocolate, lemon ice box, pecan and coconut.
The choices of sauces to top its meats include original barbecue red sauce and vinegar sauce. But it is Gibson’s tangy white sauce made of vinegar, mayonnaise, black pepper, lemon juice, salt, and other secret ingredients – created to moisten the chickens while barbecuing – that became its most popular menu staple and introduced an international audience to Alabama barbecue.
“When I travel around the country and the world cooking barbecue, I have seen white sauce in places such as Ireland, Guam, Australia, California, Miami, and New York, and it makes me proud to see Alabama white sauce that goes back to what Big Bob Gibson started in 1925,” Lilly says.
Recipe for success
Gibson’s white sauce and barbecue were well-known throughout North Alabama for years. When Lilly entered the restaurant’s legendary barbecue and sauces in national cook-offs in the 1990s and appeared on the Food Network in 2000 to tell the story of Gibson and his techniques, the operation grew to nationwide prominence.
“It was my goal to let the whole country know what we were doing in Decatur, Alabama, and how good our barbecue is,” Lilly says. To date, Lilly has won hundreds of awards from competitions, including Memphis in May and the American Royal World Series of Barbecue in Kansas City in such categories as best pulled pork shoulder, chicken, ribs, brisket, sausage and sauce.
Thanks to television and internet exposure, customers from across the country and the world stop at Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q. Along with finding the restaurant’s condiments in grocery stores across the South, customers can order their famous meats, sauces, and rubs on the restaurant’s website and have them shipped anywhere in the United States.
Despite its growth in popularity, nationwide catering business, and being busier with more workers than in the past, consistency of the food, robust community support, and family atmosphere are the secret to its hundred years of success. The barbecue is still cooked and prepared the same way Big Bob did it 100 years ago over hickory wood. “We are still using the techniques and traditions Big Bob Gibson started in 1925,” Lilly says. As a result, customers can expect the same flavor of the meats in 2025 as in the past. “People who ate here in the ‘50s can taste the same profile of the barbecue today.”
Despite its national prominence, Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q still does a robust local business with those who grew up in north Alabama and from transplants who love its legendary barbecue.
In November 2024, The National Barbeque Hall of Fame in Kansas City inducted Big Bob Gibson for his work bringing Alabama barbecue to the culinary forefront. Lilly describes the honor as “realizing how much time and work he (Big Bob Gibson) put into the barbecue and how good it was.”
To ensure Gibson’s legacy continues, Lilly is teaching his adult sons how to cook barbecue on the pit using the same methods Gibson used all those years ago. “You have to emphasize to the next generation how important it is to carry on their family traditions,” Lilly says. In addition, his sons help him run the day-to-day operations of the business, ensuring longevity of the family operation.
To celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2025, Gibson’s Bar-B-Q will run specials throughout the year, including promotions featuring 1925 prices and monthly giveaways. There will also be special 100th anniversary gift cards for sale, online stories highlighting long-time employees, and a community picnic this summer.
To keep up with the anniversary news, promotions, and giveaways, visit Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q online at bigbobgibson.com and on all their social media platforms including Facebook and Instagram.
