Edley's owner celebrates 10 years in business with some tough talk about Memphis barbecue

Will Newman reveals how a long line for ice cream launched his business career — and why Nashville is the new home to Tennessee's best barbecue joints

Ever see "best of" lists online and think, How in the world did THAT win?

Will Newman has.

A Memphis native who grew up eating world-famous barbecue, Newman was shocked at what kept topping Nashville "best barbecue" lists.

"I became obsessed with the question, 'Why doesn't Nashville do better?'"

So Newman did something about it.

An entrepreneur who'd opened a couple of Marble Slab Creameries around Nashville, Newman launched Edley's Bar-B-Que ten years ago on 12 South.

In the first year, Newman surprised himself by getting $2 million in gross receipts — $800,000 more than he projected. Newman and his wife, Catharine, grew Edley's into four restaurants in Middle Tennessee that together have annual revenues of about $14 million, he said. 

And it's growing — there are plans to open three more Edley's in the next few years.

Newman spent an hour with The Tennessean at his original location on Carl's Patio — so named for a longtime Edley's dishwasher who passed away two years ago — giving us hot takes and history of his family and his restaurants.

Nashville barbecue is better than Memphis barbecue

The hottest of his hot takes, Newman, 43, says his hometown of Memphis has fallen behind Music City Q in part because Memphis is "stuck in tradition."

Nashville's two best-known pitmasters, Pat Martin of Martin's Bar-B-Que and Carey Bringle of Peg Leg Porker, both have West Tennessee roots, Newman concedes.

But those two have innovated beyond what they learned from the Bluff City pitmasters.

"We're not stuck," he said. "We have a big open sandbox and we get to innovate and have a lot of fun with barbecue.

"Nashville is dominating."

What's with the long line for ice cream? In the winter?

Newman may be the only barbecue restaurant owner in the state with a law degree. For a while, he wanted to follow the footsteps of his daddy, attorney Robert Newman of Galligan & Newman in McMinnville, Tenn.

So after getting a history degree from University of Tennessee in Knoxville, the younger Newman went to University of Alabama law school.

While in Knoxville one day, he dropped his then-girlfriend off at her job at Marble Slab in Knoxville — and was surprised to see a long line of customers waiting outside on a snowy day in February.

He got a job at Marble Slab and started learning about how to run a business, which led him to be an entrepreneur, before and after getting his law degree.

Newman's fave Nashville BBQ places not named Edley's

1. Peg Leg Porker

2. Martin's Bar-B-Que

3. Jack Cawthon's Bar-B-Que

Edley's is named for Newman's grandfather

After living in Memphis for a few years, Newman grew up in McMinnville, Tennessee, where his grandfather ran the Caney Fork Electric cooperative.

His grandfather, George Edley Newman Jr., died when the Edley's owner was just one. But he grew up with local townsfolks telling him how much impact his grandfather had on their lives, bringing power to places where there was none.

"And I apparently looked strikingly similar to my grandfather," Newman said. "People of his generation would stop me, sporting events, catfish fry, community events, and tell me about him."

12 South or bust!

Newman had no plans at first to create his own barbecue empire. He knew and loved the Moe's Original BBQ chain that has stores in several states.

So Newman wanted to bring Moe's to Nashville. In 2009, he secured the 12 South spot where Edley's now stands, sensing that neighborhood would thrive. 

But the Moe's corporate folks wanted to be in Cool Springs instead. "We didn't want to be in Cool Springs," Newman said simply.

So Moe's found someone else to open a Cool Springs store, and Newman started a competing barbecue company — in 12 South.

"It was painful and scary," Newman said, "but a great decision for us."

"I had no concept, I had no credibility," he said. "We had just enough money to be dangerous, not enough money to be good. I was able to convince property owners here to take a chance on me."

Reach Brad Schmitt at brad@tennessean.com or 615-259-8384or on Twitter @bradschmitt.