Leonard’s Pit Barbecue has announced it is moving from its original location near the Memphis International Airport to Cordova at 1100 N Germantown Pkwy.
The company plans to move into the former home of Abner’s Famous Chicken Tenders in about three weeks, according to Memphis Business Journal. While co-owners Co-owners Mathew and Wendy McCrory, Brad Turner, and Edward LaPlant plan to make the move quickly, the new location will serve as a test run for other new sites. McCrory hopes to expand to North Mississippi and other cities beyond Memphis. Customers can expect a majority of Leonard’s memorabilia at the new location, except for one key piece.
“The truck will not be at this location,” McCrory tells the Business Journal. “It will be at our next location, and we will definitely plan for that.”
Leonard’s Pit Barbecue celebrated its centennial anniversary last year, but the Fox Plaza location had become unsustainable. Once McCrory establishes this new site in a few weeks, she will shift her focus to expanding, looking to move into “other cities that don’t have those same opportunities at that great barbecue like we have here.” McCrory spoke with the restaurant’s previous owner, Dan Brown, regarding the move, and he supported the decision.
“As we make this move, we’re learning a lot,” McCrory tells the Business Journal. “We’re not barbecue people, and we’re not trying to be barbecue people. We’re trying to be Leonard’s people and carry it on exactly as it has been. We have to [set] procedures to make sure that they’re replicable, that they can be translated into other cities and in different buildings. As we get into this, our first location with our first Leonard’s kitchen design, we’ll be able to see and learn a lot from what we’ve done wrong here, what challenges we have, and then hopefully tweak those over the next six months to a year and then look at propelling Leonard’s in the same manner as we have Gus’s.”
