Brooks’ House of Bar-B-Q in Oneonta is set to celebrate 75 years of operation Wednesday, June 24.
From 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday, the business will celebrate with free refreshments, raffle prizes, a cash bar, old uniforms and the Brooks’ chicken mascot, an event flyer stated. A large tent covering tables and chairs will be in the parking lot along with antique cars. John Thompson and The Driftwoods are scheduled to perform from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The anniversary marks 75 years since Frances Brooks and husband Griffin Brooks opened their Stamford poultry farm for Saturday night chicken barbecues in 1951. The farm was founded decades earlier in 1912 by Frances Brooks’ parents, John and Lena McClelland.
Frances Brooks and Griffin Brooks’ son, John Brooks, ran the business with his wife, Joan Brooks, from 1975 until 2005. Then came the next generation, when his son Ryan Brooks and daughter-in-law Beth Brooks took over operations.
Over the years, the menu has expanded to include items like brisket, Cajun catfish, baby back ribs and other barbecue food items and won awards. Brooks’ became a recognizable name for barbecue food in the region and beyond.
When he began buying out his parents after leaving the Air Force, John Brooks said Monday, he knew catering would be key. Once he got access to refrigerated trucks, he said, “we started doing catered jobs (in) a hundred-mile radius of Oneonta.” That included meals for thousands of people at IBM and the New York Power Authority, as well as events like weddings and county fairs and a trip down to Long Island for a Lionel Hampton and the Ink Spots concert.
“The catering got to be 50% of our volume, of our income,” John Brooks said.
“That was the way of life,” Ryan Brooks said of growing up as part of the family business, “so you really don’t know really anything different.” He said the experience prepared him for how to lead and operate the business. It also taught him “how to sneak food as a young kid.”
The restaurant also is where he met a SUNY Oneonta student who would end up staying for longer than the meals she enjoyed there with her parents.
Beth Brooks said she was working at the SUNY Oneonta children’s center one summer and scheduled a tour of Brooks’ House of Bar-B-Q for her first and second graders. John Brooks wasn’t able to make that August 8, 2002 tour — but Ryan Brooks was, she said. The two married in 2004 and have two children.
Amidst the business’ success the family considered but opted against franchising.
The business has expanded, however, into sauce production and bottling, including brands like Oneonta 51 and Kitchen Creative. Ryan Brooks said the business does private label bottling for Price Chopper’s PICS brand among others. Brooks’ will be releasing a new Patriot Series, “which will be probably pretty monstrous for us,” he said, and will have a portion of its profits donated to the “Veterans Affairs offices that we work with.”
Between it all, Ryan Brooks said, the company employs “over 120 (people) right now.” The family has attributed much of the business’ success to hiring and retaining good employees.
The company offers a 401k 4% matching program and health insurance to employees who work full-time for a year, Beth Brooks said. “It’s kind of unique to a restaurant, but given our size and history, that’s something that we’ve offered,” she said.
In addition, “I think it’s just the family” that attracts employees, she said.
“It’s that whole atmosphere,” Ryan Brooks added.
Brooks’ is located at 5560 state Route 7 in Oneonta. For more information, visit https://brooksbbq.com.