Hey Foodies!
Grab your car keys and some wet wipes because we know which barbeque joint you're heading to after this. Jenkins Quality BBQ has four generations of Jenkinses that've been making homemade barbeque over an open flame for 63 years.
"October 11th, 1957," said Wilhelmina Brown about the day the restaurant opened. "That's my eighth birthday."
"What people do love about us is that we slow cook our ribs over an open pit daily and we make our own sauce daily," said Meltonia Jenkins May. "People love it."
This Jacksonville staple was started by Melton Jenkins.
"He had this recipe and he wanted to see what he could do," said Brown.
It turns out what he could do has lasted generations! It's all about family and...
"Sauce!" said Javon Brown. "Sauce! That's the main thing is the sauce."
"How would you describe it?" asked First Coast Foodies.
"Ah wonderful," said Javon Brown. "Awesome."
It's sauce that changed all of their lives.
"I started with Jenkins BBQ when I was 14 years old," Jason May said. "My mom locked me in the back of the car, kind of forced me to get going."
This story and so many others are usually followed by a room full of laughter. Every family member has a story to tell.
"When I was a little kid I remember at the end of the night when people used to be getting paid, I'd be like, 'well granddaddy I didn't get paid,'" said Javon Brown. "He just gave me $5. And I'd be like 'that's it?' Everybody else is getting all this money counted out. All I was getting was $5, but you know that's all I needed."
With restaurants on Emerson Street, North Pearl Street, and New Kings Road, this family isn't stopping.
"A friend I know who wants to open up a wing shop in Thailand, he asked me if there's a way we can get the sauce over there for him," said May.
"I had an order from Greece, Canada," said Jenkins May. Quality is in the name."
"Come to see us!" said Javon Brown.
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