HOLIDAY, Fla. — Robert’s Smokin’ BBQ is preparing Thanksgiving meals for 500 families impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

It comes after the restaurant’s first location was destroyed in floodwaters during Helene.

What You Need To Know

  • Robert's Smokin' BBQ in Holiday is preparing 500 Thanksgiving meals for people impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton

  • They're doing it with the help of a donation from Lantern Specialty Care

  • The restaurant's original location in Port Richey was destroyed by floodwaters during Helene

  • Owner Robert Luke said he wants to reopen in a new location in Port Richey

“I’ll tell you, that probably was the hardest three days after that for me, as a person. I was devastated mentally, psychologically, emotionally. I was destroyed,” said owner Robert Luke.

Luke opened his original location in 2016, but he said he’s been perfecting his barbecue recipe since 1972.

“Since I was a little kid, following behind Mr. Pretty, my granddaddy. You know, trying to get in his way, never knowing that this would be my way,” said Luke.

He’s tried to foster that same close-knit environment in his restaurants. Luke works with a number of his actual family members, but he refers even to those not related to him as family.

“I don’t have any employees,” he said.

That extends to some customers, too.

“He treats everybody as though they are family, and how can you not support a local business that’s like that?” said Ryan Burke. “Plus, he makes the best barbecue I’ve ever had, so that makes it easy.”

Burke is someone Luke calls a brother. They got to know each other after Luke catered events for him. Now, they’ve teamed up to get meals to those in need.

“This is the only holiday that is really centered around family,” said Luke. “I’m a family-style restaurant. Family first.”

Burke said it was his 11-year-old daughter, Calleigh’s, idea: give people impacted by the storms a Thanksgiving dinner. He said his employer, Lantern Specialty Care, donated $50,000. Luke’s team is donating their time and skills to barbecue 500 turkeys. They’re part of a full meal that will be picked up or delivered in time for the big day.

“They’re going to families that may not be able to have a normal Thanksgiving because they lost their appliances, they don’t have a kitchen, they’re living in a temporary space, an RV,” Burke said. 

They’re circumstances that hold a special place in Luke’s heart.

“When you talk about devastation to a small business, this is devastation,” Luke can be heard saying on a video he took of the inside of his Port Richey location after floodwaters receded.

“We lost every piece of equipment we had,” Luke told Spectrum News. “We had every reason to give up, too. It ain’t in me.”

Luke and his team have kept going at their holiday location, Robert’s Smokin’ BBQ 2. That’s where they’re barbecuing for this epic undertaking.

“I think when you do anything, except you do it with your heart and you’re really doing it, then it’s not work. So, it becomes a very easy task,” said Luke.

Luke said he wants to find a new location in Port Richey. For now, he’s focused on the task at hand: giving families who’ve lost so much a reason to give thanks.