Jay Brown has been recreating his grandmother’s barbecue since 2013, when he turned his passion, one built on her unfulfilled dream of opening a restaurant, into a food truck he and a friend fabricated themselves.
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The Granny’s Southern Smokehouse truck rolled from Tampa to Melbourne and everywhere in between before moving to a brick-and-mortar, eventually landing at 818 Pennsylvania Ave. in St. Cloud, a building he’s owned since 2019.
A decade plus later, Brown and his team, some of whom are literal family, have racked up “Best BBQ” awards from Best in Osceola County to the Orlando Sentinel Foodie Awards’ Critics and Reader Picks on multiple occasions.
But on Sunday (May 17), Brown and his team will serve their last Granddaddy’s Sampler.
“Business owners: all we do is work,” says Brown. “I work every day. Even on the days I’m closed, I’m here: cleaning, maintenance, something.”
Family is the reason Brown is bowing out.
Not long ago, his 16-year-old son, Jayvian, was diagnosed with epilepsy. Brown wanted to be more available to his son, his four other children (Gabby, 20; Jaydence, 18; Jordan, 11 and Gracelynn, 9).
Also, his wife, Kacy.
The pair separated in 2024.
“The reason is because I was always here,” he says. “Seventy, eighty hours a week. I had to come up with a plan and make a decision.”
It found him on the treadmill at the gym one morning, where he and Jose Martinez, a friend he’d known since high school, were jogging alongside each other.
“I said, ‘You know, if someone offered me the right amount of money for this restaurant, I would take it, and be able to spend more time with my family.’”
Martinez, owner of Susana’s Cafe in Kissimmee, said, “Well, let’s talk about it.”
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They did, for several months, before Martinez made that offer, one Brown couldn’t refuse.
“Not only did I make money on the building, I get to spend more time with my family once the deal closes.”
Brown and his wife rekindled things in January of last year.
“It’s one of the main reasons I’m doing this,” he says plainly. “So many restaurant owners end up getting divorced or having other issues because they’re always at work. We got back together and ended up buying our own house, moving in, working on our marriage, going to counseling.
“I realized that I really had to be a husband and a dad before I was a restaurant owner.”
The couple renewed their vows on Nov. 10, 2025.
When I double-check that he’s on the record, Brown is adamant.
“You can put all this in there, because it might help wake up other people.”
As operations at Granny’s wind down, and Martinez makes plans (as yet unknown) for the new property, Brown looks forward to serving longtime customers one last time, but he’s not leaving barbecue behind.
In fact, he’s in the midst of a pivot to sauce boss. He hopes to have their branded barbecue sauce in Florida grocery and hardware stores, as well as local restaurants, before too long.
“I have meetings with a corporate office in Jacksonville,” he says, noting that the recipe his customers have long enjoyed was improved during the packaging process with IPAC, a company in Winter Springs.
“They can cook it a lot hotter than I can, and it’s just awesome,” he says.
The family agrees.
“They know I’m going to be home more and we’re going to work together on the sauce and [my wife] is very, very happy and the kids are happy, too.”
Find me on Facebook, TikTok, Twitter or Instagram @amydroo or on the OSFoodie Instagram account @orlando.foodie. Email: [email protected], For more foodie fun, join the Let’s Eat, Orlando Facebook group.
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