About BUCKY'S

Bucky's Bar-B-Q

A Family Restaurant for Big Fans of Good ‘Ole Southern Food

A Family Restaurant for Fans of Good ‘Ole Southern Q. Bucky’s Bar-B-Q is a local, family owned restaurant in Greenville SC that started as a small roadside stop. Ever since the owner, Wayne Preston, founded it, it has grown into Greenville’s most loved BBQ joint with three convenient locations. Today this little joint has thousands of fans from places near and far that love this restaurant for the true hickory wood-smoked flavor of their Bar-B-Q

Reasons to try Bucky’s

Known for Fresh and Delicious Meats. Slabs of meat are rubbed with our special spices and smoked to perfection daily in our pit room at our Roper Mtn Rd store. All the Pork, Chicken, Ribs and Brisket that you order are served sizzling hot right out of our pits daily.

A friendly Atmosphere

Once you enter one of our restaurants, you will be greeted with a smile and a warm welcome. This is the ideal spot to enjoy lunch or dinner with friends or family.

Taste the Flavors of the South

The menu features a selection of dishes that match the taste and satisfy the appetites of all BBQ lovers. Aside from our succulent meat dishes, you can also choose from several southern fixings, such as mac & cheese, sweet potato crunch, or coleslaw. We offer dine in, take out, delivery, or even catering. Don’t miss these scrumptious offerings!

BBQ Eats You Can Have at Your Gathering

Check out the bulk and catering menus! If you want to enjoy BBQ dishes and serve it to your guests, you’ll be pleased to know that Bucky's Bar-B-Q caters for special events of any size.

How Bucky's Bar-B-Q Began

People are always asking what made me get into the restaurant business. The answer was easy; I simply enjoy seeing people happy and satisfied.

I admit that, with my background in metal fabrication and woodworking, I was a highly unlikely prospect for the Most Likely to Succeed in the Restaurant Industry Award. However, I had a few years of early experience in the food industry because my dad owned and operated a meatpacking plant when I was growing up. So, I was always at restaurants and meat plants for most of the first 20 years of my life.

I remember visiting the old Balentine Packing Company in downtown Greenville, SC. As a small boy, I would watch how they would hit the cow over the head with a big hammer. This would stun it before they hang it up for slaughter. As for me, I simply can’t imagine having a slaughterhouse just off the main street of Greenville today.

Although I never worked in a restaurant before, I have had special preparation for working in the industry; I loved to eat! This made me decide to learn how to cook so that I could eat anything and anytime I wanted.

Around 1983, I realized that I had time to get a volunteer cooking job at a local church where I would prepare Wednesday night suppers for about 100 to 150 people. This gave me a huge amount of satisfaction and prepared me for what God had in store for me a few years later.

One day, my electric bill was due, and I was short on cash. I had to do something, so I set up a table on the side of the road and sold BBQ to everyone who would stop.

Suddenly, I found myself feeding around 80 people every Friday at lunch. When the hot weather set in, I moved inside to keep people cool. This led to Bucky’s Bar-B-Q becoming a reality.

The Story of the Man Behind It All

Wayne Preston, the person who took a leap of faith and opened his own restaurant, Bucky’s Bar-B-Q, in April 2000, considered himself a wild young man. However, he settled down early, married very young, and quickly became busy, as he had to raise four kids while making a living.

As someone who had glamorous visions of a great family, wealth, and success, I continuously worked hard and long hours in search of money and financial security.
I got this work ethic from my dad who ran a meatpacking business.

Eventually, I became very successful. I had everything that most people long for, including a flourishing business, a stately house, a beach house, a boat, and even fancy cars. I even gave money and offered my time to Christian ministries and was involved regularly in church. However, my family life suffered greatly despite running a very fruitful business.

For a while, everything was going well in my life except for the fact that my relationship with Christ was replaced with the desire to succeed. Eventually, God allowed me to learn the hard way that this had to change.

My business failed, my family started coming apart, and I felt alone even though I was in church two to three times a week. I finally went broke and lost everything I had, including my business, home, cars, and retirement account. I soon realized that I had only been trusting myself rather than Christ, so I began to search for help.

I had grown up going to church and hearing about Christ all my life. I also had great parents who were the perfect role models. My life changed at 17 when I accepted Jesus Christ and left his wild days to live for the Jesus. Likewise, Christ was a big part in making me see the dangers of only focusing on material achievements.

Soon I realized that, despite being a Christian, my personal relationship with Christ is no longer as steadfast because I got sidetracked by my sole desire to succeed. So, I began to pay attention to God and learned that He didn’t just want me to be good. God ultimately wanted me to trust Him.

Things changed when I began trusting Jesus. God gave me another chance to start a business and provide for my family. When I started looking to God for direction, my business exceeded my expectations, and my relationship with my wife thrived more than ever. It was a tough journey, but I learned that all things are possible with Christ.

Before, I only focused on wealth and success, but I am now more interested in following Christ and helping others discover what He can do in their lives. I have included some simple information that can help you to learn more about knowing Christ personally. You have to take the first step, so take a moment to check it out here.

Bucky's Bar-B-Q