The family feud between Original Black’s Barbecue and Terry Black’s Barbecue began in 2013, when Terry Black, founder of the latter, and his children, Christina, Mark, and Michael, wanted to expand their family business outside of Lockhart, Texas.
Opening in 1932, Edgar Black Sr. founded the Original Blacks Barbecue business as a meat market, slaughterhouse, and grocery store. Years later, his son Edgar Black Jr. made the barbecue pits and the secret barbecue sauce what it is today.
It’s produced some of the best barbecue in the state, and for three generations, it had operated peacefully.
Kent Black, the grandson of the founder, has said what makes Original Black’s so great is that they don’t change anything, not the formula, suppliers, and most importantly, their headquarters, which has always been in Lockhart, Texas.
The nephew of Kent Black, Michael Black, was hired by his grandfather to work at the family restaurant. The two didn’t see eye to eye because of how Kent ran the restaurant; his business plan was “Don’t change anything.”
In 2012, Kent Black gained control of Original Black’s Barbecue and fired his nephew Michael and brother Terry.
When Christina, Mark, and Michael brought the idea to the family to expand the business outside of Lockhart. The siblings claim that their uncle Kent disapproved of the idea, and he claims that he was never asked.
Regardless, an announcement was made that Black’s Barbecue was opening an Austin branch. Kent Black sent a cease-and-desist letter to the siblings that forced a name change to their restaurant and claims he asked privately before taking legal action.
Kent Black stated in a local news station at the time, “We don’t want our customers confused and thinking that it’s going to have the same recipes or cooking techniques as we have here in Lockhart.” The sibling trio established the barbecue restaurant, Terry Black’s Barbecue, and named it after their father.
Once in Austin, the fighting didn’t stop. The two restaurants threw public jabs at each other, such as the hashtag #NOGASSERS that made fun of the Original Black’s BBQ gas-fired smokers.
In addition, Terry Black’s made fun of the fact that Kent Black’s side dishes weren’t homemade. Instead, they came in bags from a supplier, which many in the barbecue world would consider a sin.
The feud came to a head when the owners of Terry Black’s opened a location in Lockhart. To advertise that they were “coming home,” they put up a billboard near Original Black’s about how they treated employees.
Kent Black claimed in the 2025 documentary with KXAN that he cut down their billboard because he owned the rights to it.
After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor in Sept. 2023, the department found that Original Black’s Barbecue had withheld over $230,000 in employee tips, which had to be returned to all 274 workers.
Terry Black’s Barbecue recently opened its first Houston location in the Heights on August 18, 2026, at 1329 N Shepherd Dr.
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