Shane’s Rib Shack coming to north Veterans Parkway in Columbus

Columbus already has a rich barbecue history. But it’s about to expand with a Shane’s Rib Shack on north Veterans Parkway.

The new restaurant — part of a chain founded in 2002 with a secret sauce recipe — is pushing toward completion at 7533-2 Veterans Parkway, adjacent to the Valley Rescue Mission donation and retail center. Fruit and vegetable store Marvin’s Market is across the parkway from the new eatery.

Travis and Christy Wood, residents of McDonough, Ga., near Atlanta, are the franchise owners of the new eatery, which has a tentative opening date of Feb. 23. It will have about 70 seats and a small patio outside.

“We looked in a lot of areas and got to know Columbus pretty well as we were looking for a home for our Shack,” said Christy Wood. “We were guided to this site and we feel very strongly that God led us there because we’re going to get to team up and work with Valley Rescue Mission.”

Wood said her family lives about a mile away from the original Shane’s Rib Shack in McDonough, which was launched by Shane Thompson and his wife, Stacey, 13 years ago. It has grown to about 70 locations, mostly in the Southeast, but with three outlets in Arizona and one each in Maryland and New York.

“We always say it’s good food, it’s good service and it’s a family friendly atmosphere,” said Wood, noting the concept is fast-casual dining. “It’s not fast food because we cook our stuff everyday. But we’re not a come in and sit down and be there for an hour place. It’s not going to take an hour to eat there.”

Wood, whose family attends church with the Thompsons, said her favorite item on the menu is the sampler, which includes baby back ribs, chicken tenders and a choice of pork or chicken barbecue.

The overall menu is fairly standard fare that diners find in many barbecue restaurants — rib plates, smoked chicken, fried and grilled chicken tenders, smoked wings, barbecue pork salad, barbecue baked potatoes and pork dishes and sandwiches. That includes the “Bid Dad” pork sandwich named in honor of Shane Thompson’s grandfather, who came up with the secret sauce years ago.

“‘Do what you love, and do it better than anyone else,’” was Big Dad’s advice. And it was true of BBQ too,” the company’s website says.

Wood said this is her family’s first Shane’s Rib Shack, and they will digest getting this one up and running before considering others. But her husband, Travis, will be working full-time at the Columbus restaurant, while their oldest daughter, Nikki Scoggins, is moving here and will be the general manager.

Work on the eatery began in early December, with a city building permit showing construction alone cost $180,000. The work is being done by David Thompson Construction.

This story was originally published February 6, 2015 at 4:16 PM with the headline "Shane’s Rib Shack coming to north Veterans Parkway in Columbus."