The Infamous Franklin Barbecue Line Replaced by the Soon-to-Be-Infamous Franklin Barbecue Traffic Jam

There are two things everyone knows about Franklin Barbecue: 1) the barbecue is great, and 2) there’s a very, very, very long line usually that begins extremely early in the morning.

But that was the old line: Because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the city’s ban on gatherings of 10 or more people, it can no longer exist.

So meet the new line: the Franklin Barbecue traffic jam.

Franklin shuttered its dining room yesterday and switched to curbside pickups-only. People can place same-day orders via the website, drive over to the restaurant at their scheduled time, and receive their orders from a staffer while staying in their car.

Austin resident Layne Box captured this video of the lengthy line of automobiles at Franklin Barbecue from across the street. Cars flooded both sides of East 11th Street, waiting to turn onto Branch Street to pick up their meaty orders from the restaurant’s parking lot.

For now, these Franklin Barbecue orders can be placed starting at 10:30 a.m. sharp Tuesday through Sunday. 10 percent of sales during this time will go towards Southern Smoke’s Austin Relief Fund. The dining room closure mandate lasts through Friday, May 1.

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