A little about who we are and what we do
Nina Schmidt Sells established Smitty's Market in 1999 in the building that housed her father's Kreuz Market for more than 50 years.
"It was always our intention to have the building remain a barbecue restaurant," Sells said. "We could have tried to find a new tenant, but it was a 'good 'ol Texas challenge, and we thought we could do it."
The "it" Sells referred to was Smitty's Market, which opened for business in September, 1999, and was named one of the top five barbecue restaurants in Texas by Texas Monthly in 2003.
Sells, along with her husband Jim and her son, John Fullilove, threw her hat into Lockhart's legendary barbecue ring instead of seeking a tenant for the building.
Fullilove, the manager of Smitty's Market said as a child he could remember being in the market, then Kreuz's, when Sells' father, Edgar A. "Smitty" Schmidt ran the business.
"When I was sick from school, Mom would pick me up and bring me here," Fullilove said. "I saw this business growing up. I learned what I liked and what I didn't like, and I put it all together to make my own style."
Sells credits Fullilove with the success of the business.
"I know about the business end," she said. "I'm involved with the big decisions, but I trust John to the day-to-day."
The big decisions that Sells was referring to were the decision to open on Sunday, and the decision, which ultimately turned Lockhart barbecue business on its collective ear, to serve beans.
"My dad used to cater for the fire department, and he used to cook beans," Sells said. "One day, wrote out the ingredients on a piece of pink butcher paper, and sent me to the store. That's the recipe we used when we started serving beans, and it's the recipe we still use. I thought about framing the recipe and putting it on the wall, but..."
"We don't want our recipe on the wall for anyone to see," Jim Sells said.
It's an often-questioned point of barbecue lore that the restaurant run by Sells' brother decided to break a long-standing tradition and serve sides in response to Smitty's Market's controversial decision.
"We got criticized by the media for that," Mr. Sells said of the decision to serve beans.
"But our recipe is original and it's worked out well for us."
Sells admits that she didn't expect, at first, that her business would succeed and gain the accolades it has in its first five years.
She said that her husband and Fullilove encouraged the decision, and instructed her to be patient and give it time.
"Any new business is going to experience growing pains," Jim said. "If you try to get too big too fast, there are going to be problems."
In its first five years, Smitty's Market's problems have been limited.
"We had some overturn, but we have a great team," Fullilove said. "We have people here that worked for my grandfather when he was here, and came back to work for us."
The building, according to Mrs. Sells, has been a barbecue restaurant since it was built in 1924, and the "new" dining room was added in the late 1970s.
"This building has always been barbecue, and it has a great ambience," Sells said. "We always have repairs, upkeep and maintenance, but we do our best to preserve the building without replacing or detracting from anything."
The Sells family has tried to keep their eye on the ball.
"If you can't keep a quality, consistent product, you won't last," Fullilove said. "It's important for us to keep things simple. We keep our menu to things that we know we can do. We use fresh meat from this area, and we process all of our sausage from fresh trimmings."
According to Mr. Sells, it is that simplicity and quality that allows Smitty's Market to make a positive, lasting first impression on new customers, and that impression keeps them coming back.