Over the past three decades, David and Sherry Williams of Indianapolis have proven you don’t need to go to a sit-down restaurant to enjoy delicious, flavorful barbecue. Their restaurant, King Ribs Bar-B-Q, established one of the first drive-thru barbecue restaurants in Indiana in 1990, and the concept took off like wildfire.
“In 1990, when my wife Sherry’s father, Theopolis Clardy, started the restaurant, he opened in an old fast-food building that was previously a burger restaurant with a drive-thru,” David Williams says. “Once he got going and people started finding out about his food, the drive-thru aspect took off. People liked it because you don’t have to sit or stand 20 or 30 minutes before you get your food – you’re in and out in maybe 10 minutes with your food. We serve people at a fast pace while still maintaining the home-cooked quality.”
Today, King Ribs has two locations in Indianapolis. The original location on Keystone Avenue operates only on the drive-thru concept, while a second location on 16th Street offers both dine-in and drive-thru options. The most popular item on the menu is the Barbecue Tips.
“The tips are the bottom part of the rib that is cut off, and it’s really meaty versus the ribs that don’t have as much meat,” Williams explains. “Some people who have never had tips before come eat here and tell us they like the tips even more than ribs.”
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Tasty Traditions
King Ribs uses recipes handed down from Sherry’s mother and father.
“My father-in-law was from Tennessee, so he grew up barbecuing, and his marinade and cooking process makes our meat nice and tender,” Williams says. “He also created our barbecue sauce, which my mother-in-law tweaked and made her own.”
Their barbecue sauce is award-winning and comes in hot or mild varieties. King Ribs is also known for made-from-scratch sides and desserts, including macaroni and cheese, baked beans, chess pie and sweet potato pie.
“I’m biased, but I think all our food is great. I like the tips with mac and cheese and baked beans,” he says. “There are times my wife and I can’t decide what we want to eat, so we just eat at the restaurant. It’s as good as anything else we might eat at any other restaurant.”
Even after three decades in the business, Williams isn’t tired of the food at King Ribs.
“I can still sit down and enjoy our food as much as any other – sometimes more,” he says. “Sometimes, when you eat somewhere else, the quality isn’t what you expect. Nobody wants to get home and be disappointed with their meal.”
While most restaurants struggled to survive the COVID-19 pandemic, King Ribs thrived because most of their business was already drive-thru and carryout.
“It worked well for us because barbecue carries home well and warms up well later, so it lends itself to carryout in the first place,” Williams says. “Our Keystone location even experienced gains during the pandemic because many dine-in restaurants were closed, so we had even more business than usual.”
Williams says the key to King Ribs’ success has been maintaining top-notch, high-quality food even when times get tough.
“In the restaurant business, people think you make a lot of money, but when you are starting out, there has to be a love for the business in order to sustain it through hard times,” he explains. “Our big challenge now is we are always looking for good employees who understand King Ribs and our high expectations. Some of our employees have been here 10 years or more, but we are always hiring.”
KING RIBS BAR-B-Q Drive-thru only: 4130 N. Keystone Ave. Drive-thru and dine-in: 3145 W. 16th St. 317-543-0841 317-488-0223If You Go
For Williams, the greatest reward of being in the restaurant business is hearing customers speak well of their food.
“When you are on a catering job and everyone is satisfied and tells you how great the food is, it makes it all worthwhile knowing your customers appreciate your product and your service,” he says. “If you get into the restaurant business for the wrong reasons, you probably won’t last. But if you have a love for it, it will sustain you.”
For more information, visit kingribsbbq.com.
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Friday night at King ribs on 16th Street the staff is very very slow it took me almost 1 hour to get from 16th Street around to the drive-thru window you might want to go find ribs somewhere else if they cannot pick up the pace I’ve already seen about four or five cars drive off tire awaiting 4/26/2024. Slow slow slow slow slow they need to get new counter people because the ones that God are not working out I’ve been sitting at the drive through window now for over 20 minutes so so far been online for 1 hour and 20 minutes and still have not been served I’m not going to close this out until I actually get served if they cannot handle the dining room and drive-thru both at the same time they need to close the dining room they have to already took my money so I can’t just drive off still waiting 10 minutes more it looks like it they’re more interesting and waiting on the people in the lobby than the people in a drive-thru still waiting then they bring me a half a slab instead of the full slab that I ordered so now I’m still waiting even longer to get the full slab they put slow in the word drive through you have four people working the counter and more interested still in the lobby than the drive-thru I hope the owner see this because this right here will make you lose business and I love your barbecue that’s the only reason I’m still sitting here and if I come home empty-handed my wife will kick my butt