JJ’s BBQ, a much-loved barbecue joint in the southeastern Alabama town of Elba, is reopening in a new building nearly 14 months after a fire destroyed its original location.

The new location is at 804 Davis St. in Elba — around the corner and about a quarter-mile from the original JJ’s BBQ on Claxton Avenue, owner Chequita Walker tells AL.com. JJ’s will reopen on Monday, July 1, she says.

JJ’s BBQ was named Bama’s Best Pulled Pork barbecue by the Alabama Pork Producers in 2020, and in 2021, AL.com included JJ’s on its Alabama Barbecue Bucket List of 50 must-try barbecue joints.

The site of the new location had previously been home to another Elba barbecue restaurant where Walker worked about 30 years ago, she says. She tore down the old building but kept the existing kitchen and built a new addition to it.

“I used to work in this same spot ever how many years ago,” she says. “And now I bought it and I own it.”

RELATED: A small-town Alabama BBQ joint and the little boy who inspired it

Walker, who learned to barbecue from her grandfather and father, started JJ’s BBQ in 2017 and named it after her adopted son, Josiah Jaron Walker – or just “JJ,” as everyone around Elba knows him.

JJ came to live with Walker in December 2014, when he was just two months old. She later became his legal guardian, and his adoption was finalized in January 2020.

She started her takeout-only barbecue business to help pay for JJ’s daycare and living expenses.

In addition to that award-winning pulled pork, the JJ’s menu featured beef brisket, smoked chicken and ribs, along with baked beans, coleslaw, potato salad, rice, french fries and fried okra.

Two of the most popular items on the menu were inspired by Walker’s parents.

Ms. Ann’s Sweet Potato — a baked sweet potato with sour cream, brown sugar butter, barbecue sauce and a choice of smoked pork or beef – was a tribute to her mother, Ann Walker, who worked at a sewing factory while also raising five children.

The Big Bubba — a jumbo pork sandwich topped with coleslaw and barbecue sauce – was named for her father, George “Bubba” Walker, who worked in a cotton mill and later as a commercial trucker.

Thankful to be back

Six years after JJ’s BBQ opened, though, Walker lost it all in a May 2023 fire that began in the pit in the back of the building.

“When the fire happened, my daughter (Amber Walker) called me crying, ‘Mama, I burned the business,’” Walker remembers. “I told her that business and all that stuff was material stuff.

“Nobody got hurt, and that was the number one thing for me,” she adds. “I was just so glad that no one got hurt from the fire because it could have easily been that way — especially in that small building with that pit in the back.”

After the fire, the outpouring of support from her hometown of Elba — a town of about 4,000 people in Coffee County — helped convince Walker to reopen, she says.

“I’m just thankful that I was able to come back because a lot of businesses don’t come back from that,” she says. “So, I’m thankful for that.”

Previously, JJ’s BBQ had been open three days a week — Thursdays through Saturdays — but the new location will be open five days — Tuesdays through Saturdays, Walker says.

The takeout-only menu — including Ms. Ann’s Sweet Potato and the Big Bubba sandwich — will be the same as before.

Meanwhile, JJ, the inspiration behind the barbecue joint that bears his name, is “doing just fine,” his mother says.

“He’s growing like a weed,” Walker says. “Nine years old now. In the fourth grade. Straight-A student. Very, very smart. He’s doing good.”

JJ’s BBQ will reopen July 1 at 804 Davis St. in Elba, Ala. The phone is 334-897-5527. Hours will be 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. For more information, go here.x