When Raving Brands acquired you, did you have any fears that you might lose control over your own concept?

Thompson: There was a little bit of fear, but it’s never played out. It’s always been a great relationship. The team I work with, from real estate to everything, has been wonderful. Some of my hesitation might have been a control issue. I had total autonomy over what I did, and then I had to go into letting other people come back behind the counter and see the secret and how it worked. But it was a great move for me, and it’s been a great adventure since we did that.

Did you ultimately lose any control to Raving Brands?

Thompson: No, I feel like I can have as much control as I like in it. There are some areas that obviously Raving Brands has specialty in, like real estate and marketing and things like that. Store development is so big. Franchise relations, I’m still involved with that. So, I’ve got an open door, which is really the best of both worlds, to really be as involved as I want.

Do you really think a barbecue concept can become competitive and profitable outside of the South?

Morocco: We are heavily concentrated in the Southeast and a lot of that has to do with the fact that we’re headquartered in Atlanta. We start most of our brands in the Southeast, but we have had a great deal of success out in Phoenix. The one store there is one of our top stores. We are currently developing two more. So that is very encouraging.

What’s also interesting about this brand is that not only are we doing well in suburbs and larger markets, we’re also doing extremely well in secondary markets such as Brunswick, Georgia; Statesboro, Georgia; even towns as small as Florence, South Carolina.

Those are all in the South, though. Are you confident you’ll see small-town success in other regions?

Morocco: I think we will, based on what’s taken place in Phoenix. I think we’ll definitely have it in some of the major suburbs and those markets in the West. And I think eventually we can travel to some of those secondary markets as well … I think we’re going to have a tremendous amount of success in California when we expand there.

Customers are more adventurous when it comes to taste these days. Could you have successfully executed this expansion 10 years ago, before that was the case?

Morocco: What we’re finding is that barbecue truly is more universal. It might take a little bit longer in some of these towns, but keep in mind, we have more than just barbecue ribs and pork. We have chicken tenders and other chicken products that are appealing to people who might not be the hardcore rib-barbecue eater.

Aside from barbecue being universal, what else about your concept will resonate with people around the country?

Thompson: Well, I always think that it’s food first. If the food is phenomenal then I think that’s going to be the No. 1 factor, but we’re not a traditional barbecue concept. We’re a little more hip-hop. We’re a little more shabby chic, as we like to say. We didn’t want to be your dark, smoky place. We wanted to be a place where if I wanted ribs and my wife wanted a grilled chicken salad and my kids wanted tenders … it’s kind of a one-stop shop. That’s one of the biggest things that makes us a little different. We’re not your traditional barbecue place, although that’s our core business.”