Jim ‘N’ Nick’s Community Bar-B-Q is set to open its first Triangle location in Holly Springs on Wednesday, bringing the Alabama-born chain’s slow-smoked pulled pork, brisket and banana pudding to a new quick-casual spot at 115 Grand Hill Place. A grand opening celebration follows Thursday, complete with photo opportunities and a check presentation benefiting the Holly Springs Food Cupboard.
A New Quick-Casual Spot in Holly Springs
According to The News & Observer, the Holly Springs restaurant marks the chain’s first foray into the Triangle, joining existing North Carolina outposts in Charlotte, Concord, Hickory and High Point. The company is also developing a location in Fayetteville, per the same report. Jim ‘N’ Nick’s already operates across Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Mississippi.
The menu lined up for Wednesday’s opening includes pulled pork, fried catfish, beef brisket, chicken tenders, loaded mac and cheese, smoked wings, nachos, onion rings, ribs, sandwiches, burgers and desserts, the newspaper reports. The chain describes itself as specializing in slow-cooked, hickory-smoked barbecue and scratch-made trimmings with recipes passed down through generations, per a company press release cited in the article. Jim ‘N’ Nick’s has said it loves barbecue, preparing and serving it, and believes it brings people together.
Leadership and a Charitable Kickoff
Thursday’s grand opening is expected to draw Holly Springs community leaders along with Brian Lyman, who became president and COO of Jim ‘N’ Nick’s in 2017 after starting with the company as an owner and operator in the greater Atlanta area back in 2006. The event will include a check presentation to the Holly Springs Food Cupboard, according to the report.
Jim ‘N’ Nick’s was founded in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1985 and has grown into a multistate chain offering dine-in, takeout, drive-through and catering options, as well as traditional and digital gift cards. In 2023, Newsweek named it one of America’s favorite restaurant chains — a distinction rooted in an independent survey of more than 4,000 U.S. restaurant-chain customers and employees conducted from July to August 2022, according to Statista. To qualify for that ranking, a chain needed a minimum number of recommendations, an overall score of at least 7 out of 10, and at least three locations across different cities, Statista’s methodology notes.
Triangle’s Barbecue Scene Already Turning Heads
The new arrival lands in a Triangle barbecue landscape that has already caught the attention of the Michelin Guide, which has honored The Pit Authentic BBQ and Sam Jones BBQ in Raleigh, Dampf Good BBQ in Cary, and Prime Barbecue in Knightdale. Jim ‘N’ Nick’s now joins that crowded, well-regarded field as it makes its regional debut.
Elsewhere, Jim ‘N’ Nick’s opened its first High Point location in a newly constructed, 4,880-square-foot building with a drive-thru, according to a report from Yahoo. A separate development plan proposed in 2025 described the Holly Springs site as a 6,276-square-foot building, per a report from the Holly Springs edition of Suburban Living Magazine, though that figure reflected the proposal stage rather than confirmed, as-built details.
Other Local Openings Making Headlines
The barbecue debut comes amid a flurry of other Triangle restaurant news. In Durham’s Five Points, M Nikkei opened over Halloween weekend in the former M Pocha space at 101 E. Chapel Hill St., serving dinner Thursday through Monday starting at 5 p.m. and combining Japanese techniques with Peruvian ingredients including aji peppers and citrus, per the News & Observer’s reporting.
Meanwhile in Raleigh, the dive bar Sadlack’s is returning at 913 W. Morgan St. under new owner Henry Goodall, more than a decade after it closed in 2013 following 40 years on Hillsborough Street. The reopened Sadlack’s will initially serve drinks only, with food possibly to follow, according to the same report.
