MCLENNAN COUNTY, Texas — Helberg Barbecue is back in business after a fire damaged their building causing more than $200,000 worth of repairs in November.
“It was kind of uncharted territory for us," said Helberg Barbecue co-owner, Philip Helberg.
"We didn’t know what to expect, but we had some great help from some friends at Chick-fil-A.”
The barbecue staple is now running as a drive thru only.
“In a lot of ways, I like it better than our old pre-order system," Helberg said.
"I think it’s a good experience for the customers."
With help from the community, they set up trailers, rerouted all electrical and plumbing and are using tablets to take orders.
“We've got to get back, open the insurance paperwork, had to take a backseat to all of that," Helberg said.
"Now that we’re back open, we can start filling out the spreadsheets and answering all the questions."
For the past two years, co-owner Phillip Helberg said they’ve been cooking up plans to open a second location.
“We plan to have a full-service meat market here,” he said.
After the fire, they’re planning to make that their new location.
“We’ve needed a lot more space to do prep work and cook the actual food and get stuff out the door," Helberg said .
"It’ll be nice to have a little elbow room."
The 6,500 square foot building will sit on five acres nearly three quarters of a mile up the road from their current place.
Phillip said the place will have more parking and other upgrades. However, it will still have the same old feel as their original restaurant.
“We really love the environment we had here for our guests, and we really want to preserve that in the front of house in the dining room and all that," Helberg said.
"We really want to preserve that we don’t want that to change all it’s more about creating a better experience for our team on the back side of things, so we can work more comfortably and efficiently."
They’re hoping to break ground on their new restaurant next month.
The drive thru is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 8532 N Hwy 6 in Woodway, Texas.
