The line at Franklin Barbecue is legendary; people wait for hours to try the famous brisket joint in Austin, Texas. But the wait is about to get a little easier—or at least a little tastier, if not any shorter—with the addition of a Franklin BBQ food truck right outside the restaurant.
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The restaurant, owned by Aaron and Stacy Franklin and considered some of the best barbecue in Texas, has been the subject of great speculation this week after a podcast claimed that it was likely the popular barbecue joint was on the verge of losing its founders and shutting down. Texas Monthly talked with Aaron Franklin and got the real scoop on what's going on with the business, including the announcement of the new taco trailer.
When the 1971 Airstream trailer, where you'll be able to get breakfast tacos and coffee, joins the ranks of Austin food trucks, it won't have a separate name. The new addition to the restaurant is set to open before the end of this year, and, to be fair, we expect that there will be a line for the trailer, too.
It's been an eventful 12 months for Franklin Barbecue, with a massive early-morning fire last August that resulted in a new pit room for the restaurant, and some more recent major staff changes such as pitmaster Braun Hughes moving to Stiles Switch BBQ.
The James Beard Award winner also collaborated with chef Tyson Cole to open a new restaurant in the form of an Asian smokehouse and bar. Plus, Franklin has several new projects in work, including a steak-focused cookbook that's already the #1 new release in barbecue books on Amazon (and the book doesn't even have a title yet) and a line of backyard barbecue pits.
All of these happenings apparently contributed to the conclusion from the hosts of the Tales From the Pits podcast that the Franklins were planning to step back from their restaurant. In response, Stacy Franklin told Austin360, "We have no plans of selling or not operating Franklin Barbecue. That is simply not true."
The restaurant is closed through August 9 for its annual vacation and you can bet that the line for smoked meats on August 10 will be epic.
