Most small towns have a local barbecue joint and a place to go for a sweet treat, but in Wedowee, Boondocks BBQ & Creamery offers customers the best of both worlds and is winning plenty of awards while doing it.

Boondocks BBQ & Creamery co-owners Tracy Berry, who is originally from Ohio, and Kim Hicks, who is originally from Georgia, said they both moved to Wedowee after visiting the small town and being lured in by its scenic lake, friendly residents and easygoing lifestyle.

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While the longtime friends previously worked together with their husbands, Denny and Ed, in a home-building business, they decided to explore a new industry—the restaurant industry—following the COVID-19 pandemic. Inspired by a similar eatery Berry had fond memories of visiting as a kid, Boondocks BBQ & Creamery opened its doors for the first time in 2021.

“Denny [Hicks, Kim’s husband] had said, ‘Well, I’m going to open a barbecue restaurant,’ And I said, ‘well, if you’re going do barbecue, can I do ice cream?’ Like, I know a great restaurant where I grew up that did barbecue and ice cream, and it was amazing. So that’s how it all came to be.”

(Read all the stories from our Unsung Alabama series.)

The menu at Boondocks has all the barbecue classics — from pulled pork and smoked brisket to chicken wings, ribs and more served along with sides like mac and cheese, baked beans and potato salad. (And that’s without mentioning the specialty items like a brisket grilled cheese or the handmade eggs rolls with a barbecue twist known as “piggy rolls” that aren’t on the main menu.)

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Though neither Hicks nor Berry had any professional experience in the culinary world beyond waitressing in college, they didn’t let that stop them from trying to create meals that would keep customers coming back, and they started that process by making sure everything served on the Boondocks menu was something they would want to eat again too.

“Kim had a lot of great recipes,” said Berry. “So we just started exploring and trying them out. We spent lots of hours together just sitting down, taste-testing, tweaking things and deciding what we liked the best. And that’s kind of how we do everything now, going forward.”

The most popular item on their barbecue menu is the sampler platter, and it’s easy to understand why as it lets you try a little — or should we say a lot given that Berry said customers often ask for an extra plate and share it — of everything, including pulled pork, smoked brisket and wings as well as two sides and Texas toast.

While the co-owners spent plenty of time perfecting their menu, Berry said she thinks it’s the attention to detail and care that goes into its preparation by Boondocks’ staff, from start to finish, that makes it stand out.

“I think what makes ours different is the quality and the care from every person that touches it,” said Berry, “from the person that puts it on the pit in the morning to the person that takes it off, the meat cutter that slices it and the food runner that brings it out. I feel like every person that touches that product cares about what that product looks like and tastes like, and that shows.”

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Of course, the hardest part of dining at Boondocks BBQ & Creamery is not getting so full on barbecue that you can’t enjoy their award-winning ice cream afterward.

The creamery offers a variety of flavors daily, including chocolate, vanilla and strawberry as well as cotton candy, peanut butter cup and lemon sorbet. It’s best-selling butter pecan ice cream, made from a top-secret recipe even Berry’s own mother isn’t privy to, uses fresh pecans from nearby Futral Farms in Woodland.

In addition to the usuals, Boondocks adds special limited flavors, like pumpkin cheesecake and toasted coconut, from time to time, which Berry said they often get ideas for from…well, just about everyone.

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“The way we come up with our recipes is Kim and I will bounce a lot of ideas off of each other,” said Berry. “Our staff will say ideas, our husbands will say ideas, our customers and our families are always trying to send ideas. And then we get ideas from the industry.”

It’s that same industry that recognized the quality of the ice cream served at Boondocks, which has taken home Excellence awards from The North American Ice Cream Association for many of its flavors over the years.

“We really take it seriously,” said Berry. “[The judges] do blind tastings on all of it, and every year, every one of our ice creams have ribboned, and we’re the only creamery in Alabama that has done that. We’re pretty proud of it.”

Another part of their business Berry and Hicks said they take seriously is the welfare of their staff. In a small town like Wedowee, Boondocks offers a place for its staff to get help when needed, whether it’s education scholarships — one of its staff was able to get a scholarship from the North American Ice Cream Association after working there — or money management skills.

“These kids are really putting their money, their tip money, away,” said Berry, “A lot of them don’t come from the greatest economic situations, and we guide them. We provide free tutoring if they’re not making grades. We also provide financial guidance to them, like we sit down and tell them all the time ‘let’s talk about your finances. Let’s talk about your future.’ We push them to apply for different scholarships. We really try to help them the best we can and hope that, you know, they use a little bit of that guidance.”

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Ultimately, Berry said they’re hopeful that Boondocks BBQ & Creamery serves as a place where its customers, whether they’re locals or just passing through, and its staff feel like they’re getting more than just a meal or a job, but a place to make memories too.

“We get a lot of compliments on our restaurant as far as being a great family atmosphere,” said Berry. “You see people laughing and just having a good time, and that’s what we love about it. We just want people to bring the family out, get a great meal, enjoy some award-winning ice cream and make some cute memories.”

Boondocks BBQ & Creamery, located at 20201 Highway 431 in Wedowee, is open 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Sundays. You can find out more through their Facebook page.