Hutchins BBQ Collaboration – Q&A with Trey Hutchins and John Mueller

Barbecue restaurants have been all over the place. A few examples of these types of places are the Hutchins BBQ (owned by Trey Hutchins) and Louies Mueller Barbecue joints (owned by John Mueller) in McKinney. Third-generation pitmaster John Mueller grew up in the Central Texas restaurant and had been a part of the business with his grandfather Louie Mueller. Grilling was a necessity for the Mueller family. The story for Trey Hutchins is similar, whose father opened the family's first barbecue food corner in Princeton New Jersey back in 1978.

Credits: Dallas Observer

In a sense, they both are part of the Texas barbecue patriarchy. They have recently teamed up; Mueller is famous in Central Texas as he ran restaurants there for almost 30 years. In North Texas Hutchins Barbecue joined the team.

Here is an account from a quick chat with these notable personalities in Dallas, to find out more about their new collaboration.

Credits: Dallas Observer

This restaurant in McKinney was closed for about eight months due to a fire. How is it now?

Hutchins: What the city has done, and the fact that people are still driving to Frisco is outstanding. It has been a great experience so far. As we near the end of the second week of both stores being open, business is humming along at a rapid pace. The community has rallied around us. And that feels magical.

Why are you here in the North?

Mueller: Hutchins has an excellent reputation and I was looking for a change after 30 years as a business owner. Then, I call them and asked and they immediately said yes, and see I am here in front of you.

What’s your role at Hutchins going to be?

Hutchins: Being able to work with one of the best pitmasters in the country has been a great experience for me personally. John is very talented and we enjoy spending time together.

Mueller: It is great learning from each other.

Hutchins: It is interesting to see how we can use different styles and scales. We would like to be known for our craft barbecue but our volume makes that difficult as we are also adding new things to our menu.

Are you working at the pit together?

Hutchins: In this Texas barbecue revolution, there are many newcomers, and kudos to them, but they come from corporate America or other marketing backgrounds. For the past 10 or 12 years, John and I have enjoyed that. While it puts money in our pockets, it is also giving us the option of going back to our old jobs which we love. Also, I am glad John asked for the opportunity and we could get along so well.

What’s next for you two and Hutchins Barbeque? 

Hutchins: We had a lot of big plans for this year, but then the fire in McKinney happened and we had to cancel them. John contacted us a few months later. It was hard and challenging but together we made it happen. In the meantime, we are hoping to take it easy and get back to normal.