Shane's Rib Shack is an American

fast casual A fast casual restaurant, found primarily in the United States and Canada, is a restaurant that does not offer full table service, but advertises higher quality food than fast-food restaurants, with fewer frozen or processed ingredients. It is a ...

BBQ Barbecue or barbeque (often shortened to BBQ worldwide; barbie or barby in Australia and New Zealand) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that employ live fire and smoke to cook ...

franchise, serving slow-cooked

baby back ribs Pork ribs are a cut of pork popular in Western and Asian cuisines. The ribcage of a domestic pig, meat and bones together, is cut into usable pieces, prepared by smoking, grilling, or baking – usually with a sauce, often barbecue – and then ...

, hand-chopped chicken and pork, and Southern style side dishes. As of January, 2024, they are located in eight states, with most of their restaurants located in the state of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

Founders

In 2002, Shane and Stacey Thompson opened the first location in an old roadside

shack A shack (or, in some areas, shanty) is a type of small shelter or dwelling, often primitive or rudimentary in design and construction. Unlike huts, shacks are constructed by hand using available materials; however, whereas huts are usually r ...

on Highway 155 in

McDonough, Georgia McDonough is a city in Henry County, Georgia, United States. It is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. Its population was 29,051 in 2020. The city is the county seat of Henry County. The unincorporated communities of Blacksville, Flippen, ...

. Shane's grandfather's

BBQ sauce Barbecue sauce (also abbreviated as BBQ sauce) is a sauce used as a marinade, basting (cooking), basting, condiment, or topping for meat cooked in the barbecue cooking style, including pork, beef, and chicken as food, chicken. It is a ubiquitous ...

recipe was featured from the start. Shane serves as President of the company.

Shacks

The original

was a tin roof building complete with an

outhouse An outhouse — known variously across the English-speaking world otherwise as bog, dunny, long-drop, or privy — is a small structure, separate from a main building, which covers a toilet. This is typically either a pit latrine or a bucket ...

. The second location opened in 2004, in what used to be a small rural family restaurant. The chain has evolved the feel of its early restaurants into a new restaurant image that they call "

shabby chic Shabby chic is a style of interior design that chooses either furniture and furnishings for their appearance of age and signs of wear and tear or distressing, distresses new ones to achieve the same result. Unlike much genuine period décor, th ...

". These new locations are made to resemble a shack, in an upscale way, and began appearing in 2005.

Awards

* 20 on ''Fast Casual Magazine''s Top 100 Movers and Shakers, 2008 * ''Fast Casual Magazine''s Top Movers & Shakers, 2007 * ''Fast Casual Magazine''s Top Movers & Shakers, 2005 * Best Barbecue Ribs – Best of the Bay 2008, Pensacola, Florida * Best Barbecue Overall – Best of the Bay 2008, Pensacola, Florida * Best Barbecue, 2007 – '' Gwinnett Magazine''

Growth

Shane's Rib Shack became one of the nation's fastest growing fast casual BBQ restaurants in its first five years of business, as it grew from two locations in 2004 to 85 locations in 2008.

Locations

As of January 2024, Shane's Rib Shack has a total of 54 locations, in

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

and

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. As of October 2024, there a total of 39 locations.

National promotions

* 2007: Introduced party platters of baby back ribs, chicken wings, or chicken tenders for tailgating and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

-watching parties. * 2008: Celebrated BBQ month by offering free ribs to the first 100 customers at each location on May 17, 2008. * 2008: Offered free chicken tender meals on

Election Day Election day or polling day is the day on which general elections are held. In many countries, general elections are always held on a Saturday or Sunday, to enable as many voters as possible to participate; while in other countries elections ...

2008.

References

{{Restaurants in Atlanta Barbecue restaurants in the United States Restaurants in Georgia (U.S. state) Restaurants in Atlanta Restaurants established in 2002 Restaurant franchises 2002 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) American companies established in 2002