In September 2017, a group of friends opened barbecue joint Tender Smokehouse in Celina, relying on word of mouth to get customers through the door.
"People just started spreading it like wildfire," says former Major League Baseball player Torii Hunter, one of the co-owners. "Word of mouth is still the most powerful source."
So it was by word of mouth, through a friend of a friend of a friend, that Hunter talked through Tender Smokehouse's new plan to bring in customers at their coming-soon restaurant in Frisco.
Shouldn't be hard. Tender Smokehouse has a strong online following, with Yelp naming it one of Texas' top 100 restaurants.
The restaurant opened in May 2019, replacing 3 Stacks Smoke and Tap House, which closed in mid-2018, on Preston Road near John Hickman Parkway in Frisco.
Hunter says it has a similar menu as in Celina, which features brisket, loaded baked potatoes, ribs and traditional sides such as beans and mac and cheese.
Tender Smokehouse is a collaboration among pitmaster Dante Ramirez ("the brains behind everything," Hunter says), Ramirez's girlfriend Audrea Weimer, Hunter's son's father-in-law Eddie Bell and Hunter's wife Katrina.
They say the Celina restaurant attracts people from Anna, Pilot Point and Sherman, but a restaurant "down south" would offer more people in North Texas a taste. A smell, too: "When you smell the smoke and the barbecue ... you remember a summer barbecue or a family reunion," Torii Hunter says. "The smoky smell actually takes you back."
Hunter's business is baseball, not restaurants. He was a professional athlete from the 1990s through 2015, playing for the Minnesota Twins, Los Angeles Angels and Detroit Tigers. He won nine Gold Gloves as one of the best defensive outfielders in baseball, and he made five All-Star teams. Though he retired in 2015, he works now as a special assistant to baseball operations for the Twins.
"I don't say I'm retired, I say I was real tired," he says. "I was real tired of baseball." He doesn't tire of cheering on his son Torii Hunter, Jr., who plays in the Los Angeles Angels farm system.
"You can retire from what you're doing, but I've never retired the way the world does, sitting nude on the beach sipping mai tais. No, I'm not doing that," the elder Hunter says, laughing.
"I love barbecue. I love being around the people. It's like my ministry."
Tender Smokehouse is located at 4226 Preston Road, Frisco.
