Marshall Texas' Bear Creek Smokehouse turns 80

MARSHALL, Tx. (KTAL/KMSS) – Bear Creek Smokehouse is celebrating its 80th birthday. The award-winning smokehouse began its adventure in 1943 in East Texas Piney Woods.

Founders and owners Hick and Nellie Shoults started raising and smoking turkeys on the family farm to provide a means of income for the family. Five generations and 80 years later, Bear Creek Smokehouse has grown immensely.

“I’m the matriarch of this business, and I’m an owner also along with my children. And we all work together here to make this go, and we’ve got it running right now like a fine toothcomb,” said Brenda Shoults, the matriarch of Bear Creek Smokehouse.

Brenda Shoults’s son, Robbie is now the owner, and he says working with his family every day is a blessing.

“I’m the third generation of the business. We’ve got kids working in the business so fourth generation. Tracy and I have grandkids that are generation five that on any given day you can catch maybe four generations in here with my mom, me, and some of my kids and grandkids,” said owner, Robbie Shoults.

Hard work and a love of delicious food is their family tradition. So much so the Shoults’ have dedicated their lives to their motto, “Food, Family, and Faith.”

The family continues to pour their core values, hard work, love of food, and family into their everyday work to provide their customers with the best food, customer service, and unique experiences.

Brenda says her son is passionate, but it is her daughter-in-law, Robbie’s wife, Tracy, who keeps him calm.

“I mean we stick together and when there’s a problem we go to the table with it, and talk about it, and discuss it as a family and resolve it as a family,” said Tracy Shoults.

Robbie Shoults says the secret to a thriving business, four generations later, is “hard work, sweat, and a lot of praying.”

The family says this is only the beginning.

Robbie and Tracy Shoults are proud to be the new owners of a 30,000-square-foot building in downtown Marshall. They say exciting things are coming and they cannot wait to take the business into decades to come.

Matriarch Brenda Shoults is happy to continue on the ride.

“This hill is just so big I’m afraid part of it is going to end up in my backyard because I just live down the hill. So, we’ll see, we’ll work it out. But we are growing and we’re not going to stop.”

Visit Bear Creek Smokehouse at 70857 State Hwy 154 in Marshall, Texas, or call them at (Toll-Free) 800-950-2327, or (Local) 903-935-5217.