First Bite: Papa Turney's Old Fashioned Hickory Smoked BBQ

When Mike Turney first opened his barbecue business back in 2009, it was little more than a trailer with a smoker behind it parked next to a gas station on Old Hickory Boulevard in Hermitage. His hours were long on the days he was open, but irregular. Lucky diners who found the smoker smoking and the window open at the front of the trailer were rewarded with some of the best barbecue on the east side of town.

You may recognize Papa Turneys's last name from Mama Turney's Pies , a side business that grew out of success of the pies that Turney was selling out of his restaurant's previous location in Whites Creek. A true entrepreneur, Turney has grown the pie company into a million-dollar business supplying stores such as Kroger, Publix, Piggly Wiggly and convenience stores, as well as Robert Orr Sysco and several restaurants like Swett's and Jack's Bar-B-Que.

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