OUR STORY

In The Beginning

Barnyard Buffet was founded by Nancy Nelson in Saraland, Alabama in April 2005.

Nancy grew up serving tables and bartending at The Fox Hunt in Mobile, Alabama. Skipper Nelson was a regular at The Fox Hunt, and he fell in love with the bartender. Nancy and Skipper got married and opened Sweet Peppers' Pizza & Pasta in Perdido Key, Florida in 1986 with the help of Nancy's parents, Joe and Kitty. Skipper and Nancy had one son named JJ, who grew up playing with coloring books in the corner booth while the servers brought him plates of pickles and black olives. Papa Joe bought JJ a hat that said "The Boss," and little JJ took it very seriously. Sweet Peppers' did well for over a decade, but Nancy and Skipper closed it in 1999 when a hurricane ripped the roof off their building and insurance denied their claim. Skipper became a food distributor for Sysco Foodservice, PFG and Merchants', and Nancy became a manager for Quincy's Steakhouse in Daphne, AL.

Nancy was promoted to General Manager and then District Manager for Quincy's Steakhouse. As District Manager, she met an Assistant G.M. at their Moffett Road location named Eleanor Rudder, who had been with the company since 1989. Ms. Eleanor had a reputation for being the best and toughest manager in the company. She was the store opener and arrived before sunrise every morning to prepare the yeast rolls from scratch. Nancy also got to know several employees at various Quincy's stores including Chef Deloris, Darla, Barbara, Cleo, and Laurie. Quincy's was bought by Western Sizzlin', who in turn was bought by County Fair Buffet and then Barnhill's Buffet. Nancy, Ms. Eleanor, Chef Deloris, Amino, Ashley, Darla, Barbara, Cleo, and Laurie all remained with the company throughout.

In 2005, Nancy acquired what was left of Barnhill's. She changed one syllable of the name to keep things simple. She hated traveling and wanted to focus on one store, so she closed all of the locations except for the most profitable one in Saraland. She fired all food distributors and replaced them with her ex-husband, Skipper. Then she recruited the best of the best employees from each store, including those mentioned above and Teresa, Val, Sandy, and Karen McDonald. They hired a cook named Chef Eugene (who fell in love with Chef Deloris and is still with her to this day), a Bar Runner named Alicson, some servers named Ramona, Madilyn, and Karen King, and five teenaged high school girls named Renee, Crystal, Savannah, Brittany, and Erica.

Things went really well until their landlord suddenly sold the building. The new owner wanted to open a Chinese buffet and gave Nancy a 30-day eviction notice. With nowhere to go and insufficient capital to buy or develop property, Nancy told the staff they were probably going out-of-business. The next day, Ms. Eleanor brought Nancy her life's savings and told her to keep Barnyard open. Word got around to some of the regular customers, and some of them also brought Nancy thousands of dollars. "Save Barnyard," they told her. Nancy still had no location in mind until someone introduced her to Mr. Harrison and Mr. Bell from Gulf Dirt, Inc. They offered her a lease on an old auto parts store across the street and very generously agreed to remodel the structure into a restaurant as part of the lease agreement. Gulf Dirt renovated the building in 30 days while Nancy, Ms. Eleanor, Teresa, and Renee frantically moved furniture and equipment across the street and set it all up. Business was so good that Nancy fully repaid Ms. Eleanor and the customers their loans plus 10% interest within one year.

Barnyard Buffet has remained in its current location since June 2007. Nancy got remarried to a chef named Lee Catalfamo, who worked at Barnyard for several years. They enjoyed another 12 solid years of business success until they retired in 2019. Eleanor retired as Assistant G.M. and store opener in December 2021 at the age of 86. She passed away in June of 2023, and her Celebration of Life was held at Barnyard with her daughter, Beverly, her grandchildren, Rowan and Vivian, and her siblings, Michael and Rosemary, as special guests.

Sandy, Teresa, Chef Eugene, and Ashley have all retired now. Val, Karen McDonald, Ramona, and Karen King have all passed away. Crystal, Brittany, and Savannah have moved on to other careers. But if you come to Barnyard Buffet today in 2025 (20 years since our founding), the food is still prepared by Chef Deloris. The bars are still kept full, clean, and fresh by Ms. Alicson. Darla, Cleo, Madilyn, and Laurie are still here to keep your glasses full with a smile. And little Erica grew up to run the show as the General Manager.

Passing the Torch

Chef JJ Nelson is an only child from Mobile, AL. He graduated from Bayside Academy in Daphne, AL, where he served as football team captain and president of his class. He then attended the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD for 2 years and trained in aviation, amphibious assault, surace warfare, and submarine warfare in Annapolis, New York, Jacksonville, and San Diego. He left the military after a couple of years because he hated having to wake up early, shave every day, live on a military base with no parties or girls, and stay in running shape.

After the Navy, JJ began working in the hospitality industry. He worked as a server and expo at Baumhower's Victory Grille (Daphne) in 2010. There he was promoted to Team Leader. In 2011, he moved to Auburn, AL to finish college and worked 3 jobs while he was in school. He helped open 2 new restaurants as a server/bartender: Baumhower's Victory Grille (Auburn) and The Hound. He also became a dishwasher/cook at Moe's Original BBQ, where he rose to Kitchen Manager in his 6 years with the company. JJ graduated from Auburn University with a degree in Creative Writing.

JJ met his wife, Mariah, in Auburn. They hit it off because she was a Hospitality Management major, and her father also owned a fried chicken restaurant called "The Pecking Order" in Sanibel, FL. JJ and Mariah welcomed their 1st son, Wilder, in February 2017 and moved home to take over the family business. JJ became a Manager at Barnyard Buffet in 2017, became General Manager in 2018, and became the Managing Partner at the beginning of 2022. JJ and Mariah also welcomed a 2nd son, James, in February 2022. JJ became the full owner of Barnyard Buffet at the start of 2023. He changed the name to "Nelson's" at the beginning of 2024 to honor his mother and father, who taught him about business and instilled in him a passion for feeding, pleasing, and serving others.

In January 2020, the rug got pulled out from under us when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. NOBODY wanted to eat at buffets anymore, and our booming business with 40 employees died overnight. We had to adapt and do so quickly. We rearranged our buffet bars into a single file line, put a giant plexiglass wall across the front, and turned into Barnyard Cafeteria as quickly as we could. Some of our business returned, but we still had to endure terrible layoffs and pay cuts to remain afloat. Mr. Harrison and Mr. Bell let Barnyard get behind on rent for 6 months and never said a word. They even put in a drive-thru window to help us bring in new business. Nancy and JJ had to stop taking salaries for months while JJ worked as the General Manager, Opening Manager, and lunch Fry Cook at the same time. Twice our bank balance got so low that we couldn't pay for food, and both times our prayers were answered at the last possible minute by federal aid in the form of the Paycheck Protection Program. In Spring 2021, COVID vaccines came out, and business finally started to bounce back. The coast was finally clear for us to be Barnyard Buffet again. We caught up on rent and got free and clear of our pandemic debt.

JJ's main goal has been to modernize and rebrand the business to drive sales. He's also completely redesigned the menu to improve quality and consistency. Mariah designed a website, and JJ set up social media accounts and began doing interviews and making appearances on AL.com, CBS, NBC, Fox, and CNN to promote the business.

Future Plans

Thankfully, JJ has managed to do a few things right. For one thing, he's hired, promoted, and trained the next generation of our special staff. Newer faces like Tiffany, Kimberly, Daniel, Tammy, Genny (Darla's daughter), Toy (Darla's son-in-law), Summer, Sarah (Erica's stepmom), , Debbie, Hunter (Erica's brother), Stephanie, James, Karson, Lexi (Tiffany's daughter), Lacey (Summer's daughter), Tyler (JJ's childhood friend), Emily (Stephanie's daughter-in-law), Cristi, Flossie, Vanessa, and Priscilla are now fixtures of our work family.

JJ spent 2 weeks remodeling the dining room (with lots of help from Felicity and others) in January 2022, including a new paint scheme and new flooring. In 2023, we replace most of our kitchen equipment with brand new pieces. In 2024, inflation has slowed our progress somewhat, but we are looking forward to getting back on track in 2025 and maybe renovating our bathrooms or working on our sign and curb appeal. The plan is to continue reinvesting most of our profits into the business until everything is modernized, and then we want to expand to a second location.

Over the past few years, we've been selected as "The Best Buffet in Alabama" by iHeartRadio and other publications and "Alabama's Best Fried Chicken" by AL.com. We've also been nominated for 10 Nappie Awards, including "Best Takeout," which we were lucky enough to win. We were also nominated for "Best Soul Food," "Best Overall Service," "Best Server (Barbara/Cleo)," and "Last Meal on Earth: Whole Catfish." We are doing everything we can to deliver excellent food and service on a consistent basis so we can maintain this reputation.

In 2022, after we had recovered from COVID, JJ decided to step back for a couple of years to help Mariah raise baby James. He also started appearing regularly on Studio 10 and Cooking With John to try and raise awareness and grow our brand. Thankfully, JJ finally found people he could trust to manage the day-to-day operation of the store and make this possible:

Ms. Erica Janes was one of those high school girls that Nancy hired when she opened the business in 2005. Erica now has a young daughter named Leanna. Erica was a salad bar runner and cashier until JJ promoted her to Manager, then Assistant General Manager. In January 2022, Erica had proven her dedication to the business so much that JJ made her an Operating Partner and gave her a 3% profit share. At the start of 2023, Erica became the General Manager. In addition to overseeing all employees and managers, Erica is also in charge of inventory, ordering, payroll, and scheduling. She is brilliant and resourceful, and our store is always in good hands thanks to her.

Chef Toy Scott came to us in 2021 from J. Rodgers BBQ. From the moment he set foot in the building, he has elevated our kitchen to the next level. He's the hardest-working person in the building. He takes so much pride in his work that he refuses to put his name on anything that's not great. He insists on prepping all the food himself because he wants it done to his standards. He keeps the place clean without being asked because he sees it as his kitchen, and he can't let his kitchen be dirty. At the start of 2024, it became his kitchen officially when JJ made him an Operating Partner and gave him a 1% profit share.

These days, JJ's son, Wilder, likes to sit at the booth in the corner, color his coloring books, and eat plates full of pickles and black olives. He calls himself "The Boss" because Nancy thinks it's hilarious, and he's teaching all that sass to his little brother, James.