Count Porkula BBQ owners Walt Todd and Kelly Lovell announced Wednesday that they will be closing their Little Rock location at 201 Keightley Drive on Sunday, Oct. 13. after operating in Midtown for nearly two years. Count Porkula’s North Little Rock location will remain open at 10840 Maumelle Blvd.
There’s a good possibility, however, that longtime pitmasters Todd and Lovell will find another Little Rock location in the future.
“We have come to realize that our artisanal BBQ is much better served in a larger location where more people can gather,” the restaurant posted on social media. “With this in mind, we are actively looking for a larger location in Little Rock to better serve our community.”
While Midtown is losing a great barbecue joint, hope is on the horizon for a up-to-date neighborhood restaurant in the space that the venerable Ozark Country Restaurant made renowned.
According to the same social media post, Count Porkula has been “approached by a concept that will be a great fit for this building and Little Rock, and we believe the new restaurant will continue to offer the same wonderful neighborhood vibe you’ve come to love.”
Todd and Lovell first started Count Porkula as a competition barbecue team and food truck in 2008. In 2018, the pair moved their operation to the The Rail Yard food truck beer garden in Little Rock’s East Village neighborhood, graduating from food truck to full-blown brick-and-mortar. In a very busy 2022, they opened the stand-alone locations in North Little Rock and Midtown, and closed up shop at The Rail Yard that November.
There’s no word yet on the potential up-to-date and larger location or what restaurant will move into the Keightley space. Something to consider is the partnership between Count Porkula and the Keet family’s JTJ Restaurant Group, announced in June 2021, which spurred Count Porkula’s expansion into North Little Rock and Little Rock. JTJ Restaurants owns and operates 10 Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe locations, mostly in Arkansas, and four Waldo’s Chicken & Beer locations, along with Petit & Keet in Little Rock and Cypress Social in North Little Rock. The Keets are partners in Big Bad Breakfast, Deluca’s Pizza and Mt. Fuji. They are also part of the ownership group that purchased the Breckenridge Village shopping center in 2022.
