Buddy’s wife LaMuriel started it all. Buddy Smothers was working at a finance company downtown. He 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 her out. Hettie’s son Big John is still with Buddy’s today. 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 that she she still makes today for catering and banquet hall customers.

The first store with the Buddy’s name opened in 1972 at 5806 Kingston Pike. 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. Word spread from the 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.

The kids started working at an early age, with daughter Suzanne and her friend Virginia as well as son Mark working at the drive-in. Virginia is now a daughter-in-law working in the corporate office, daughter Suzanne Lindsey heads up marketing and her husband Reed Lindsey is vice president. Buddy’s son Mark is President, and son Mike heads up distribution. When there are events like the annual festival at the Museum of Appalachia, the family crew, including LaMuriel and the grandkids, roll up their sleeves to serve barbecue just like they’ve always done.

Over time, the awards piled up, thirty or more years passed, and millions of people keep coming home to the taste tradition of Buddy’s. There are now 12 company-owned Buddy’s, three franchises, a full-scale catering department, the Bearden Banquet Hall, Buddy’s Café and at Oak Ridge National Laboratories.

The Legacy of C.C. “Buddy” Smothers (1929-1992)

People knew him for his barbecue, and they knew him as a good businessman. But more importantly, they knew him for supporting the community. Even before Buddy Smothers died in 1992, he had established a legacy. In his memory, Buddy’s became the event sponsor of the Buddy’s Race Against Cancer in 1993 and we have raised over $4 million dollars for the TCSC outreach services . Thousands of people in rural and medically underserved areas receive cancer screenings and education that help save lives. Every cent raised goes toward fighting cancer in East Tennessee and allows the Thompson Cancer Survival Center to go to Tennessee communities that need them most.

Buddy’s has been recognized for its contributions to the community as Philanthropist of the Year and as the National Restaurant Association’s Good Neighbor awards for the state of Tennessee. Giving back is the most fitting tribute to the legacy of C.C. “Buddy” Smothers.