“I bought a single, very small grill because we were in a one bedroom apartment with a little patio. It could only fit one slab of ribs, so I cooked them one at a time. My family has a party for everything, and Kaylee said, ‘You should bring the ribs one day.’ So I brought the ribs and everybody went crazy, and that kind of started it right there.
From there, we just went for it. After we got married, this building opened up and it was perfect because I grew up in this neighborhood. ended up a two-year process because a lot of rules are changed in 15 years. So it ended up quite the two-year adventure getting everything together, and we’re still working on it but we didn’t want to miss the summer.
We opened on June 8th. I love seeing people come here for the first time and then come back. It’s a sign you did a good job. They’ll say things like, ‘Hey, that was delicious!’ We do the rib tips, people like the catfish, the chicken sandwich and the fried chicken dinner are pretty good sellers.
I’m happy, I’m proud. I’m proud to be in this neighborhood because this neighborhood is where I grew up and I’m happy to give back to the community.
We had no idea soul food would do so well in Bay City. I'm happy everybody's loving it and enjoying it. I'm happy to see all the different faces that walk through the doors. This is one of the first soul food spots in Bay City and I wasn’t sure if people would love it, but they do. People will be like, ‘I don’t know about that…’ and five minutes later, they’ll come back and say, ‘Gimme some more.’ We had somebody who said, ‘I don’t like sweet potatoes, but I tried them and they were DELICIOUS.’
Nobody can say no to my mama’s sweet potatoes. Nobody.”
—Chris and Kaylee Jones, Ledbellys BBQ and Soul Food
Ledbelly's BBQ and Soul Food is located at 807 Columbus Avenue in Bay City, Michigan, and is open from 12pm to 8pm Thursday through Sunday.
