Hecky’s Barbecue opened on October 13, 1983 on the northwest corner of Emerson Street and Green Bay Road where it is still located today. Hecky opened the restaurant with only $100 in the cash register.

Hecky’s quickly became famous for its barbecued foods, including ribs, rib tips, and chicken, as well as for the barbecue sauce. “It’s the Sauce” is the restaurant motto. The restaurant recipes come from his New Orleans ‘Creole’ grandmother, who passed them down to his mother and then to him.