LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – During Black History Month, Trey Ellis finds deeper meaning in operating Big E\u2019s BBQ, a restaurant that has represented Black entrepreneurship in Lubbock for over two decades.<\/p>\n
Ellis took over the business after his father, Ferlis Ellis Jr., passed away in August. The transition has given him a new perspective on the significance of Black-owned businesses in the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst of all, I want to give all glory to God. My pops was one of the only black owners in the depot for awhile and it\u2019s still that way with me. I do take some pride in that,\u201d Ellis said.<\/p>\n
The restaurant has operated for 23 years, growing from a trailer into a community gathering place at 1801 Buddy Holly Avenue. Ellis now carries the responsibility of maintaining that presence in an area.<\/p>\n
His approach balances honoring the past while adapting for the future, evident in both his menu choices and customer interactions.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou good? How you doing today? What\u2019s good brother, I need a two meat plate. What two meats you want to do? Brisket and sausage. Let\u2019s do it, I got you brother,\u201d Ellis says during typical exchanges with customers.<\/p>\n
Ellis has introduced new menu items like nachos, quesadillas and lunch specials while keeping traditional barbecue offerings that built the restaurant\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a journey for me but like said if I didn\u2019t have this, I don\u2019t know what I would do. This helps me, I know my pops lives through me. I have my brothers in here with me,\u201d Ellis said.<\/p>\n
During Black History Month, Ellis honors both his father\u2019s entrepreneurial spirit and the broader tradition of Black business ownership that continues to shape Lubbock\u2019s economic landscape.<\/p>\n
Big E\u2019s BBQ offers lunch specials Wednesday and Friday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., with evening hours Thursday through Saturday from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 KCBD. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – During Black History Month, Trey Ellis finds deeper meaning in operating Big E\u2019s BBQ,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151311,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[168,170,169],"class_list":["post-151310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}