Texas barbecue empires are few. Small operations have traditionally far outnumbered the corporate ones. We have our share of chains, but our most beloved joints—spots like Louie Mueller Barbecue, Franklin Barbecue, and Stanley’s Famous Pit Bar-B-Q—are one-offs. But a few legends have branched out recently. Lockhart’s Kreuz Market had a short-lived second location in College Station, and the oldest barbecue joint in the state, Southside Market, will open its fourth location later this year. Still, none of those hallowed names took on expansion as boldly as Terry Wootan has over the past few years with Cooper’s Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que. The “original” Cooper’s started in Llano in 1962, but the first one was actually opened almost a decade earlier, in 1953, by George Cooper in…View Original PostThe post Cooper’s Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que Has Grown a Llano Legend Into a Texas Empire appeared first on Texas Monthly.