Sonny Conrad (1938–2013) bought The Barbecue Center in Lexington from his brother-in-law in 1967. The business had started as a dairy and ice cream stand that added a barbecue pit in the 1950s. Called a barbecue icon, he was one of six restaurant owners who agreed to take part in the first Lexington Barbecue Festival in 1984, which became one of the largest festivals in North Carolina. He ran the restaurant until his death in June 2013 at age 75. His sons, Michael and Cecil, then took over.
Technique
The Barbecue Center cooks pork shoulders over hickory coals: hickory slabs are burned down in a firebox and the coals are shoveled under the shoulders (as described by his son Michael in 2018).