Sanders says he’ll reopen BBQ restaurant

  • Carlton Sanders, who spoke at a recent Historic Oglethorpe presentation, said he plans to reopen his family barbecue restaurant in Vesta. It’s been closed for more than a year. (Molly Moore/The Oglethorpe Echo)
    Carlton Sanders, who spoke at a recent Historic Oglethorpe presentation, said he plans to reopen his family barbecue restaurant in Vesta. It’s been closed for more than a year. (Molly Moore/The Oglethorpe Echo)

    Sanders’ Down Home Barbecue and Soul Food, the beloved restaurant in Vesta, will reopen, family patriarch Carlton Sanders said Monday. 

     

    Sanders, whose career in the barbecue industry dates to the 1950s, said he isn’t ready to release more details, but that he will notify the public when he has more information to share.

     

    Sanders participated in Historic Oglethorpe’s presentation about the county’s Black one-room schoolhouses at the library on Sept. 23.

     

    Before the restaurant’s closure in 2024, Sanders’ Down Home Barbecue and Soul Food was open only on Fridays and Saturdays. Despite its limited hours, the barbecue joint attracted a dedicated following of soul food lovers from Oglethorpe and other area counties.

     

    Popular dishes included BBQ pork, ribs, fried chicken, Brunswick stew and pork skins.

     

    In a 2012 interview with The Oglethorpe Echo, Sanders said he took pride in making a product his customers enjoyed. 

     

    “We welcome all people,” he said. “Come and taste our down-home barbecue.”