Lucille Buchanan may be the face of our restaurants, but her experiences all belong to real-life founder Craig Hofman. Prior to opening the first Lucille’s in Long Beach in 1999, Craig spent several years on a tour of Southern barbeque of his own, taking him from the Carolinas to Kansas, Texas to Tennessee, and just about every other place in between.
In addition to picking up culinary inspiration from some of the best barbeque shacks in the South, Craig also discovered the secret ingredient that all of his favorites seemed to share: friendliness. And when he finally made his way back home to California, Craig distilled everything he learned into what became Lucille’s driving philosophy, “Serving the best Bar-B-Que with the finest southern hospitality.”
Many years and restaurants later, this philosophy is still at work in every aspect of the Lucille’s experience, ranging from the way we prepare our food (from scratch, of course!) to the way we value our team members (like family, how else?).
And if Lucille were real, we’re pretty sure she’d approve.
