About Us

From our humble days touting around Branson, Missouri as a food truck, we've built the Big D's BBQ brand. We've now expanded into our own brick and mortar restaurant location at 1550 State Hwy 248 along Branson's RED route.

We're a local family business whose motto is "Work hard and be nice to people".

Big D (aka Dana) is our superstar Pitmaster. He learned to cook when he was 12 after he brought home his first pheasant. His Mama said, "you got it, you cook it and you eat it!"

Since then he has been delighting his family's taste buds with his passion for cooking. Some 20 plus years ago, he entered regional barbecue competitions as a hobby and took home many awards. He and his wife, Linda (aka Mama D), often entertained friends with a yearly barbecue at their home. These gatherings grew into feeding 150 guests and hiring a band for an outdoor concert.

Big D's career background is in finance. For over 20 years he managed his clients portfolios and investments. In May of 2017 he retired from investments and took the plunge into the barbecue world when he was presented with the opportunity to open in a food truck.

Through many bumps along the way, they've never looked back and tackled each hurdle head on.

"It amazes me to think that we built this business serving our barbecue from a food truck parked in a dirt parking lot and in the winter". says Big D. It wasn't long after opening, buzz quickly spread about our BBQ and Big D became known as the brisket king.

Big D's BBQ landed many catering contracts with the local resorts and became the favorite barbecue of the local enterainers who touted our barbecue to their audiences.

Here's a quick run down of our timeline:

2016 - Pre Big D's BBQ, Big D and Mamma D threw a barbecue at their home for 150 of their friends and hired a band. Our friends said "you should open a barbecue restaurant"
2017 - We purchased our Big D's BBQ Food truck and opened business in Branson at a small family entertainment center, then moving to a dirt parking lot on Hwy 248.
2018 - We were offered a restaurant space at the Starlite Theater (now known as Beyond the Lens) We won the GOLD award as Branson's Best BBQ. This relationship ended in December and we rented our first brick and mortar on Hwy 248. We went back to traveling in the food truck while our restaurant underwent renovation. We began packaging our Original Dry Rub for retail.
2019 - We opened our stand alone restaurant in May at 1550 State Hwy 248. We were nominated for Business of the Year by the Branson Area Chamber of Commerce. We won Branson's Best BBQ and Branson's Best Desserts. We also opened a satellite location inside a grocery store.
2020 - Covid hit and we were closed for 6 weeks however still able to operate out of our satellite location. We re-opened in May and again won Branson's Best BBQ and Branson's Best Burgers
2021 - Our best year yet. Winning Best BBQ from Best of Branson
2022 - Another record setting year with our amazing team. Winning Best of Branson BBQ and Best Caterer! Our biggest catering to date was 2500 people on Veteran's day.
2023 - We continue to grow and build relationships with our guests return year after year. We also continue to expand our retail product line which includes a variety of sauces, rubs and other gourmet food items. We won Branson's Best BBQ for the 6th year in a row, Branson's Best Caterer for the 2nd year in a now and added Branson's Best Appetizers to list of awards.

We have built an amazing team who is as passionate about BBQ as we (the owners) are. We couldn't do this with out them and we consider them family. We also couldn't build this business without our loyal customers!

Quality and customer service sets us apart. Our meats are smoked low and slow over pecan wood for up to 14 hours. We use own proprietary blend of seasonings to bring out the flavors of his smoked meats and sides.

If you happen to be in Branson, we'd sure love to meet you, feed you and make you feel at home.

We appreciate you supporting small, local and family owned businesses.

Love,

Mama D