The small town of Whitney will no longer be home to a Texas Monthly Top 50 barbecue joint after Super Bowl Sunday. February 3 will be last day for Flores Barbecue, which will be moving an hour north to Fort Worth. Owner Michael Wyont said he hopes to be serving barbecue from a trailer in Fort Worth by April while they wait for a new building to be constructed. Their new location will be at The Trailhead at Clearfork, along the Chisholm Trail Parkway on the southwest side of town.

Flores Barbecue began in San Marcos in June of 2016, but they hauled their food truck up to Whitney by the end of that year to be closer to family. Whitney is the hometown of Hali Wyont, Michael’s wife. “We’re sad to leave Whitney because we have so many great loyal customers,” Michael said, adding, “It’s really hard for us to make this decision, but I thinks it’s what’s best for the business.” He also recognizes that it was the Whitney locals who helped the business blossom. “They gave us our big break,” Wyont said. “They were the ones buying our food before anyone else.”

This new venture comes with new partners. Lou Lambert, of Lamberts and the new Lou’s Bodega in Austin, is working with Wyont on the new concept, but Wyont says he’ll have creative freedom when it comes to the menu and the cooking equipment. “They’re all going to be Moberg smokers,” Wyont said when I asked him what will be in the pit room. Wyont is certainly excited about what the future holds for his barbecue joint, but he’s not crazy about the idea of moving back into a trailer. “This one will be bigger than the old one,” he said with a laugh. For the time being, the menu in the new trailer will remain just as it is in Whitney.

The new building, which is currently still in design, will give Flores Barbecue more room to operate and allow them to offer new menu items like smoked barbacoa, al pastor tacos, and pollo asado, chickens grilled directly over wood coals. “It’s gonna be the same traditional Texas barbecue,” Wyont said, “but we’re going to expand the Tex-Mex side of it.” And for fans of the tacos on their current menu, Wyont promises, “we’re definitely looking at how we can expand our tortilla-making capabilities.” He’s also hoping to open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner seven days a week, but that won’t be until January 2020. That’s when Flores Barbecue expects to open the doors of their new building.

With Flores Barbecue coming to town, Fort Worth continues a recent string of notable barbecue news. Heim BBQ is working on a second location, and Panther City BBQ is planning a brick-and-mortar, both to open this year. Derek Allan’s Texas Barbecue says they’re getting close to opening, and Joe Riscky of the Riscky’s BBQ family just opened a Saturday-only barbecue joint of his own. This is shaping up to be a big breakout year for barbecue in Fort Worth.