smokin' since 1972!
About us
Take a journey from 1966 to today and learn how Buddy’s Bar-B-Q became East Tennessee’s Favorite stop for delicious BBQ.
Buddy's Story
The Buddy's Family operates with our original philosophy of treating customers as if they were guests in our own home. We serve delicious, always-fresh food at a real value with good ole Southern hospitality. Come on Home to Buddy's!
Buddy Smothers' wife LaMuriel really started it all.
In 1966 Buddy invested in his wife's energy and talent by helping her become the owner of her first restaurant, the Pixie Drive Inn in Seymour, Tennessee. She hired their cook, Hettie Guffey, to help out. Soon, LaMuriel and Hettie were cooking up a storm.
People would drive for hours for their country buffet, and business doubled in a year. LaMuriel and Buddy decided it was time to find their specialty, and barbecue from back home in Alabama was what they were craving. They just couldn't find the barbecue that suited their taste. So they created their own. Buddy quit the finance business and joined LaMuriel in her new-found barbecue ambitions.
With the help of their customers, they perfected the taste that would define Buddy's. Everything was a Buddy's original, including LaMuriel's lemon ice box pie.
The first store with the Buddy's name opened in 1972 at 5806 Kingston Pike in West Knoxville.
When Dinah Shore stopped by and sampled Buddy's delicious hushpuppies, she just had to have the recipe for her cookbook. The house was packed on Friday nights to hear bluegrass bands like Ricky Skaggs and the Knoxville Grass. Local politicians knew a good thing and asked Buddy to bring his barbecue to rallies, and Buddy delivered it in his VW van. That's when the catering business got going.
Word spread from the 1982 World's Fair where people began to know Buddy's as a Tennessee barbecue tradition, and Buddy Smothers as a restaurant business professional in his own right. Buddy was recognized as Restaurateur of the Year and was elected President of the Tennessee Restaurant Association.
From 1972 to today, Buddy's Bar-B-Q has opened expanded to serve East Tennessee
2020
Hixson | 568 Northgate Mall Dr - Suite 101, Hixson, TN
2020
Clinton | 2206 N Charles G Seivers Blvd., Clinton, TN
2020
Bristol | 218 Stevens Trail, Bristol, TN
2019
Cleveland | 678 Paul Huff Pkwy NW, Cleveland, TN
2019
East Ridge | 619 Camp Jordan Pkwy, Suite 105, East Ridge, TN
2007
Kingston | 417 N Kentucky St., Kingston, TN
2004
Lenoir City | 1104 Hwy 321 N, Lenoir City, TN
1997
Athens | 1718 Decatur Pike, Athens, TN
1994
Morristown | 2271 W Andrew Johnson Hwy, Morristown, TN
1994
Powell | 404 E Emory Rd, Powell, TN
1993
Sevierville | 705 Winfield Dunn Pkwy, Sevierville, TN
1992
Farragut | 121 W End Ave., Farragut, TN
1989
Oak Ridge | 328 S Illinois Ave., Oak Ridge, TN
1989
Maryville | 2020 Bridgeway Dr, Maryville, TN
1987
South | 4401 Chapman Hwy., Knoxville, TN
1985
North | 4500 N Broadway, Knoxville, TN
1983
East | 3700 Magnolia Ave., Knoxville, TN
1982
World's Fair | Downtown Knoxville
1978
West | 8402 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN
1972
Bearden | 5806 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN