After getting what he called “an offer I couldn’t refuse,” Fat Boyz Barbecue owner Jarael Holston-Jones has changed course and says he will keep the Deerfield Beach flagship open for the foreseeable future. And he says he still intends to open a new Fort Lauderdale location at the former Hickory Sticks BBQ site by year’s end.
“So much anticipation, it’s hard to turn back now — a lot of people are excited for the new site,” Holston-Jones says.
Holston-Jones says he agreed to a new five-year lease extension at the Deerfield Beach site, at 204 S. Powerline Road, after getting favorable terms in a Wednesday meeting with his landlord. Among the inducements to stay: the landlord agreed to fix a deteriorating wooden floor in the cramped aging building, a double-wide trailer.
When Holston-Jones announced the decision to shutter the Deerfield location last month, he said he was at peace with the move after procuring the Hickory Sticks site about 10 miles south.
He says he hopes to get the new Fort Lauderdale site, at 899 E. Cypress Creek Road, open by Thanksgiving.
Holston-Jones says he didn’t intend on reopening lease negotiations. But he says the landlord reached out to him last week, and Holston-Jones says he owed it to his loyal Deerfield Beach customers to hear out the new offer. He also was hesitant to leave because Deerfield is the best-performing Fat Boyz site, with a steady lunch crowd.
The lease extension in Deerfield and takeover of the Hickory Sticks site mean there will soon be four Fat Boyz locations: Deerfield Beach (which opened in February 2017), Coral Springs (July 2018) and two in Fort Lauderdale, including one that opened in April in the former Red Cow site at the big bend of Federal Highway and East Sunrise Boulevard, across from the Gateway Cinema.
Holston-Jones, a U.S. Army veteran and Ely High graduate, and wife Yolanda, a former postal worker, started Fat Boyz earlier this decade as a food truck after getting positive feedback doing barbecue fundraisers for their church.
Fat Boyz has expanded rapidly in recent years, with a fleet of food trucks leading to multiple brick-and-mortars. Holston-Jones and Yolanda also opened Crazy Cajun Crabs, a seafood restaurant, in Pompano Beach this year. Crazy Cajun Crabs recently debuted a food truck. Fat Boyz also still has one food truck.
Fat Boyz Barbecue (no relation and not to be confused with Phat Boy Sushi) specializes in Southern-style barbecue, with ribs, pulled pork, brisket, chicken, burnt ends, baked beans and collard greens. Its monster sandwiches featuring meats piled with mac-and-cheese have been popular and specialty items such as smoked pastrami and beef rib are also offered occasionally.
