THE HOLE STORY

In August of 1992, we moved from Arizona back to Oregon where we grew up. One of the things we brought with us was a hankering for good barbecue, which we were unable to find in Eugene.

In order to satisfy our barbecue cravings, we decided to open our own restaurant. On July 1,1993, we signed the papers on the property at 3200 W. 11th in Eugene.

Our lives, as we knew them, changed forever; and so did the existing building. We renovated, changed the entrance, scrubbed, painted, carpeted, re-tiled - and scrubbed!!

On August 2, 1993, we officially opened our door for business. To start, we were only open Monday through Friday, 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. Our menu was limited to three sandwiches, chili, BBQ beans, potato salad and coleslaw - all made from scratch. The business was growing and guests kept asking us to extend our hours. So we did! We added Saturday, 11:00 am to 3:00 pm. Later that year, we changed our hours again. Monday through Thursday, 11:00 am to 2:00 pm; and Friday and Saturday, 11:00 am to 8:00 pm. We also expanded our menu to include St. Louis style ribs and a BBQ chicken.

Finally, in 1995, we "bit the bullet", and are currently open Tuesday through Saturday, 11:00 am to 8:00 pm. We figure that as soon as our guests get used to the hours - change them. It works for us. Our menu has also expanded to include hot links, French fries and sweet tea, as well as other seasonal items.

Over the years we have constantly upgraded, added to and improved our home-away-from-home. We enlarged the outside deck, enclosed and heated half of it for the cold winter months; and maintained a totally open area for the warm summer days.

We have replaced our two Cookshacks with three Southern Pride Smokers; and now have a commercial GMC van and two box vans to accommodate our growing catering business.

We seem to have done everything that the experts say is the wrong thing to do with a business; but hey, we're still here, going strong and growing!