Calvin (aka “Boots”) and Beverly Payne opened the doors to their first Cousin’s Restaurant in 1983 with the help of son, Cliff and daughter, Corby, on McCart Avenue in Fort Worth, Texas. They didn’t realize it at the time, but this location would continue to thrive and has become the flagship of their growing family of restaurants.

Over the last 25 years Cousin’s has experienced wonderful growth thanks to our loyal customers and built an extensive clientele that is still growing generation to generation! This clientele is fondly referred to as “Distant Cousins,” in keeping with the Cousin’s belief that new friends are just old friends in the making.

In addition to a growing clientele, the Payne family has grown their operation. Cousin’s currently has 6 Cousin’s Bar-B-Q Restaurants throughout Tarrant County including two locations in Terminals B and D at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. This growth has resulted in a Commissary that was opened in 2005 to support the 6 restaurant operations and poise Cousin’s for growth that includes future presence in stadiums, malls, and airports, in addition to their catering business.

One of the many highlights in the storied Cousin’s history includes being selected by Euro Disney as the best representation of real, authentic American barbecue. In 1990, the Payne family was hired by Euro Disney to open Texas Bar-B-Q concepts in their extremely popular theme park in Europe. Cousin’s staff were flown to Paris to instruct the folks at Disney how to prepare and cook real, authentic Texas barbecue.

Another feather in our caps was the opportunity to serve President H. W. Bush and his family on several occasions.  And in 2008, Texas Monthly named Cousins's Bar-B-Q as one of the Top 50 BBQ Joints in Texas!  Now, our wonderful customers have nominated Cousin's as one of four top barbecue restaurants in Good Morning America's Best Barbecue Challenge.  We are more than honored and grateful to our wonderful extended family of customers.  They are the greatest!