{"id":206744,"date":"2026-03-16T12:42:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T12:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/206744\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T12:42:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T12:42:07","slug":"a-fort-worth-bbq-powerhouse-feels-the-ozempic-effect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/206744\/","title":{"rendered":"A Fort Worth BBQ Powerhouse Feels the \u201cOzempic Effect\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than a century ago, the first Pig Stand<\/a> opened in Dallas. The barbecue chain that pioneered the drive-in restaurant quickly expanded, opening dozens of locations across the country, but the last of the official Pig Stands closed when the company folded in 2006. (The San Antonio location<\/a> that was run independently closed three years ago.) It symbolized inexpensive food served efficiently, so when Heim Barbecue<\/a>\u2018s managing partner Will Churchill was searching for a name for the joint\u2019s new food truck with the same goal, cofounder Travis Heim suggested the Pig Stand. Now Heim Pig Stand is parked in Fort Worth Wednesday through Friday, serving barbecue sandwiches for lunch.<\/p>\n

Heim Barbecue is in the midst of a major transformation. It closed a year-old location in Burleson in 2024 and opened a six-thousand-square-foot location in Weatherford late last year. Last month the brand closed its original restaurant, on West Magnolia Avenue in Fort Worth, and it will turn over its Dallas location to a franchisee. The future, says Churchill, is the newly launched Heim Pig Stand, whose aim is to \u201cdeliver a premium product at a lower price point.\u201d<\/p>\n

I visited Heim Pig Stand, in west Fort Worth, on its third day of operation, last Friday. Stepping up to the ordering window, I saw that my options were few: a pulled pork or chopped brisket<\/a> sandwich and a side for $13. The sides\u2014all well executed\u2014are limited to a mayo-based coleslaw, the signature loaded baked potato salad, and banana pudding. \u201cThe number of people choosing banana pudding is surprising,\u201d Churchill said.<\/p>\n

Both sandwiches were satisfying. The meats are smoked at the River District location of Heim Barbecue, and the whole briskets and pork butts are loaded into warmers on the truck. When a customer places an order, the staff butters and griddles the same sweet sourdough bun<\/a> used at the restaurants and adds about a third of a pound of chopped barbecue before wrapping it all in wax paper. Small cups of chopped white onion, dill pickles, and barbecue sauce come alongside, so you can add as many or as few condiments as you want. I preferred the brisket to the pork, and Churchill said beef outsells pork by more than two to one.<\/p>\n

Less than a minute after I had paid, my name was called. Though the sandwich had less meat than you\u2019d get at a Heim restaurant (Churchill said the target is 0.44 pounds at the restaurants and 0.33 pounds at Heim Pig Stand), it didn\u2019t feel skimpy. The sides are also served in cups smaller than the paper boats at the restaurants, but having the portion sizes match the lower price is part of Churchill\u2019s strategy.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"A chopped brisket sandwich.Photograph by Daniel Vaughn<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have never said we short them on food,\u201d Churchill said. The number one complaint the Heim Barbecue staff hears is about price, and Heim Pig Stand\u2019s meal deal beats the $22 price tag for something similar at one of the restaurants. Churchill also noted the demand for smaller portion sizes, citing the \u201cOzempic effect<\/a>.\u201d He said customers are ordering less, and he\u2019s currently searching for a smaller bun to add a junior-size barbecue sandwich to the menu.<\/p>\n

The truck is parked across the street from JD\u2019s Hamburgers and next to the fictional Patch Cafe from the Landman television series<\/a>. Heim Barbecue already owned the land, making it an obvious choice for the launch, but Churchill said that side of Fort Worth is underserved when it comes to barbecue options, and the construction on two nearby interstates has shifted traffic to Spur 580 (a.k.a. Camp Bowie West).<\/p>\n

Bud Kennedy of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram also noted the historical significance of the site in an article<\/a> from 2024. It was once home to the Jenny Lind Club, which touted the \u201cWorld\u2019s Largest Car Hops\u201d after it employed the Six Tiny Rosebuds, which Kennedy described as \u201ca theater dance troupe of plus-sized women hired to wait on 1930s drive-up customers.\u201d For now, you\u2019ll have to walk up to Heim Pig Stand on your own to order.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plan is to test this one here for a couple months,\u201d Churchill said. After that, the company will use the food truck to scope out promising locations for future Heim Pig Stand buildings with small footprints. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to figure out where demand is,\u201d Churchill said, but it won\u2019t be for another big Heim Barbecue location. \u201cExpansion will be on the Pig Stand size.\u201d<\/p>\n

Churchill described future Heim Pig Stand outposts as walk-up burger stand meets Raising Cane\u2019s. The menu will remain small, the service will be fast, and the prices will be low, thanks in part to smaller portion sizes and a smaller staff. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to listen to the market,\u201d Churchill said, and the market is telling Heim Barbecue to offer a less expensive alternative to the big trays that made it famous.<\/p>\n

Heim Pig Stand
9912 Camp Bowie W. Boulevard, Fort Worth<\/a>
Hours: Wednesday\u2013Friday 11\u20132
Year opened: 2026<\/p>\n

Read Next<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than a century ago, the first Pig Stand opened in Dallas. The barbecue chain that pioneered the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1960,7659,3569,116,118,117,6931,1459,81162],"class_list":["post-206744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-bbq","tag-bbq-joint-reviews","tag-food-trucks","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news","tag-heim-barbecue","tag-sandwiches","tag-travis-heim"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206744","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=206744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}