After five years of serving central Texas-style barbecue to the people of the Flathead Valley out of a food trailer, owners of Arn’s BBQ, Arn and Leigha Mendez, are grateful for the community built and food shared. 

“We’re more than a food trailer. We really try to portray Texas hospitality. When you go to a really good barbecue restaurant, it’s about hospitality as much as it is food,” Arn said. 

Originally from Houston, Texas, Arn remembers having barbecues every weekend, hosting friends and family from across central Texas to come together over a meal.  

“I loved cooking. And as I got older, I wanted to keep doing it better,” Arn said. 

When he met Leigha and the pair married in 2006, they often hosted dinners and barbecues together. As their family grew, brisket became an easy dinner choice: enough food to fill the bellies of four kids and a fairly low effort endeavor, since once the meat goes into the smoker there isn’t much left to do.

Arn was always in charge of the meat, he said, and Leigha perfected the side dishes. 

With a history as an entrepreneur and business owner, Arn started traveling to the Flathead Valley in 2019 consistently for work with an audio and video company he owned. While working, he would bring barbecued lunches to employees and began catering for corporate lunches.  

Arn spent the year of 2019 going back and forth between Houston and Kalispell until the rest of the family moved up to join him at the beginning of 2020. The pandemic cemented the family living in the Flathead Valley.  

“We were unsure if we could go back to Texas. It just kind of sealed the deal and then it quickly became home,” Leigha said.  

In 2021, Arn was asked to be a vendor at Under the Big Sky, a Whitefish music festival that brings roughly 20,000 visitors to the valley every summer. Arn accepted, bought a food trailer, slapped “Arn’s BBQ” on the side of it, and parked it on the festival grounds. 

It was incredible, Leigha and Arn remember.  

“We started to get big catering orders, setting up to face the public more,” Arn said. “We really started to take off in 2023.” 

That was the year the family locked down a permanent spot on the Parkline Trail in Kalispell, where they were for a year until Thirty Eight Whitefish opened. 

Thirty Eight, which sports a full bar, live music, food trucks and local vendors, is located downtown Whitefish. Arn’s BBQ is open on Sundays and Mondays from noon until sold out.  

This year, the Mendez team also sold barbecue at the Brash Rodeo in Columbia Falls on Thursdays for the first time. 

And despite only being open three days, the family is slammed all summer with preparation work. Everything is made in-house, from the sweet tea to the barbecue sauce to the pickled jalapenos, except for the bread. They use no seed oils — only beef tallow and avocado oil — and the majority of the menu is gluten-free, including the peach cobbler.  

Arn only uses Texas post oak wood for the smoker to maintain the central Texas flavor. 

“It’s a lot of work but we’re passionate about it,” Leigha said. 

Leigha and Arn’s kids, ranging from 8 years old to 17 years old, help their parents with the operation. Their names are Madison, Annie, Maverick and Cooper. 

One of the best parts over the past five years has been the return customers, many who are from Texas. Hearing that something tastes like it does back home is the best compliment, Arn said. Watching their children interact with people in a hospitable way, growing in confidence and having fun has also been incredible.  

“Food is comfort. There is a comfort that comes with food and when you can create something people love, hearing them say it takes them back home, it’s incredible,” Leigha said.  

In the off season, Arn said the family does their “barbecue homework,” traveling to Texas and other places. Moving forward, the family wants to provide more in terms of quantity while still being able to sustain the high quality the food truck is known for.  

“We make everything we like,” Leigha said. “We don’t want that to change.” 

To celebrate the end of another summer season operating the Arn’s BBQ food truck, the Mendez family is throwing a party Sept. 15 at Thirty Eight Whitefish, from noon to 9:30 p.m. — with food specials like a smoked tomahawk steak finished on the grill. 

“It’s just a day where we can say thank you to the people who support us,” Leigha said. 

The last official day of the season for Arn’s BBQ is Sept. 28.  

To learn more, visit arnsbbq.com/. 

Reporter Kate Heston may be reached at 758-4459 or [email protected].  

    The Mendez family, owners of Arn's BBQ. (Photo courtesy of Forrest Mankins)
  

    Food from Arn's BBQ. (Photo courtesy of Forrest Mankins)