Originally published July 27, 2026

Butts To Go: From a Roadside Smoker to a Pell City Barbecue Favorite

Some restaurants begin with a large dining room, an expensive kitchen and a carefully planned grand opening.

Butts To Go began with a smoker beside a Texaco gas station on Highway 231 in Pell City.

What started as a small side business selling whole Boston butts and racks of ribs soon developed a loyal lunchtime following. Customers came for barbecue sandwiches, smoked meats and the kind of simple food that does not need an elaborate presentation to make an impression.

Today, Butts To Go operates from its Pell City home on Mays Drive, with another location in Moody and an expanded catering and event operation serving customers across the area.

A Side Business That Took Over

Owner Wade Reich did not enter the restaurant business without a family connection to hospitality.

According to the company’s story, members of the Reich family have worked in hotels, restaurants and catering since the early 1900s. Wade grew up around kitchens and hospitality businesses before leaving for a career in marketing and sales in Europe.

Eventually, the pull of the food business brought him back to Alabama.

The first Butts To Go developed almost by accident. Wade began cooking beside the Pell City gas station, but demand for the food quickly grew beyond a small side operation.

Whole smoked meats led to sandwiches. Sandwiches brought repeat customers. The small roadside setup became a recognized local barbecue name.

More than 15 years later, Butts To Go has permanent locations in Pell City and Moody, along with connections to The Farm of St. Clair event venue in Cropwell.

Barbecue Without the Complications

The Butts To Go menu is built around familiar smoked meats and Southern sides.

Customers can choose from pulled pork, brisket, chicken, turkey, ham, ribs and smoked wings. The meats are available as sandwiches, plates or in larger quantities for families, gatherings and special events.

The original barbecue sandwich remains one of the simplest choices: smoked pork, a bun and sauce.

Those looking for a larger meal can choose meat plates with sides such as baked beans, coleslaw, macaroni and cheese, potato salad, fried okra, collard greens, green beans and black-eyed peas.

The current menu also includes smash burgers, smoked-wing plates, vegetable plates and rotating daily specials. Desserts include banana pudding, coconut pie, pecan pie, chocolate pie and limoncello cake.

It is the kind of menu that works for several different customers.

Someone stopping during lunch can order a quick sandwich. A family can sit down for barbecue plates and vegetables. A customer planning a gathering can order smoked meat and sides in bulk.

A Restaurant That Does Not Take Itself Too Seriously

Butts To Go has built part of its personality around humor.

The restaurant’s official slogan promises “Good Food. Questionable Staff.”

That lighthearted attitude appears throughout its menu and marketing, but the cooking itself is taken seriously.

The business emphasizes straightforward recipes, good ingredients and smoked meats prepared consistently. Its story is not based on chasing food trends. It is based on continuing to serve the barbecue that helped the business grow in the first place.

That combination—serious food and an informal personality—helps the restaurant feel approachable.

Customers are not expected to dress up or understand complicated menu descriptions. They can walk in, order barbecue and enjoy a casual local meal.

More Than a Lunch Stop

Butts To Go has also developed a substantial catering operation.

The company says its team has served events throughout Alabama, handling everything from smaller gatherings to large food-service projects.

That side of the business allows Butts To Go to serve customers beyond its restaurant walls.

Barbecue is naturally suited for family reunions, company lunches, weddings, community events, football gatherings and holiday meals. Customers can order meats by the pound, racks of ribs, large containers of sides, buns, sauces and complete catering packages.

The restaurant also accepts holiday orders for whole smoked meats and larger quantities of food.

A Pell City Business That Continued Growing

The original roadside smoker could have remained a small operation.

Instead, Butts To Go became an example of how a simple local idea can grow through consistency and customer support.

The company expanded into a permanent Pell City restaurant, opened a Moody location and developed catering and event services. Yet the original story remains an important part of the brand.

It still presents itself as the barbecue business that started beside a Texaco and kept smoking meat because customers kept coming back.

That history gives the restaurant something a chain cannot easily duplicate.

It has a local beginning, a recognizable personality and a direct connection to the people who supported it from the roadside-smoker days to its current Mays Drive location.

Why Locals Keep Returning

Local restaurants become favorites for different reasons.

Sometimes it is one signature dish. Sometimes it is the atmosphere. Sometimes it is simply knowing that a dependable meal will be waiting each time the customer returns.

At Butts To Go, the appeal is a combination of those things.

Customers can order familiar smoked meats, choose from a long list of Southern sides and take home enough food for one person or an entire gathering.

The restaurant does not try to turn barbecue into something overly complicated.

It keeps the focus on smoke, meat, sides, value and feeding people—which is exactly how the business began.

For longtime customers, Butts To Go is a familiar Pell City stop.

For someone who has never visited, it is an opportunity to try a local barbecue business that grew from a smoker beside a gas station into one of the area’s recognizable hometown restaurants.

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