In April 1954, a Pak-a-Sak convenience store manager in Baton Rouge named Jay Prothro got the itch to open his own business. The married young father didn’t know what kind of venture to launch; he was simply driven by the idea of entrepreneurship.
But inspiration wasn’t far away. A friend was opening a barbecue restaurant in Lake Charles at the same time, and owning a barbecue eatery seemed as worthy a prospect as any.
Prothro quit his job and sunk his savings into transforming a former hot dog stand on Government Street into a small barbecue spot he called Jay’s.
Jay’s simple menu consisted of barbecue sandwiches and po-boys served with an unusually thin, savory sauce that diverged from Texas-style molasses-based sauces common at the time. Prothro set his prices higher than the norm in Baton Rouge in the mid-fifties, but customers didn’t balk. By 1960, Jay’s Barbecue had moved into new, larger quarters a block away on Government Street and had become a firm fixture in the community.
“I remember eating there as a child, from the time I was about five years old,” says Tommy Doherty, WAFB national sales manager. “I still eat at Jay’s about once a week.”
Sixty years later, Jay’s still enjoys a loyal following, both on Government Street, a location now owned by Milton LeBlanc, the son of Prothro’s 30-year employee Floyd LeBlanc, and on Sherwood Forest Boulevard, a location run by Prothro’s daughter and son-in-law Connie and Rick Newton and their son, Rich.
The Newtons opened it in 1978. Prothro, who has since retired, still eats at the Sherwood Forest restaurant on most Saturdays with his wife, Dale.
The restaurant’s formula for success, say family members, has been consistency and service.
“It looks simple when you come in to eat, but there’s a lot involved behind the scenes,” says Connie Newton, the only one of Prothro’s three children who chose to go into the family business.
Keeping it simple has helped, too. The family once owned Jay’s locations on Greenwell Springs Road and Staring Lane but found multiple locations too much trouble to manage. The Newtons say they like the idea of focusing on one location—Sherwood Forest Boulevard—and continuing to cultivate relationships with old and new customers.
The Newtons are at the restaurant every day. Connie works the front of the house and interacts with customers, just as Prothro did. Rick Newton is in charge of operations, overseeing the restaurant’s small staff and making sure the hundreds of pounds of pork, chicken and beef are smoked correctly on the massive smoker in the back of the kitchen.
The recipes haven’t changed since Prothro developed them, Newton says.
The family still chops cabbage in an antiquated, tabletop food mill, finely dicing heads of cabbage and adding only mayonnaise and salt and pepper to make the restaurant’s signature coleslaw.
The recipes are carried out the same way on Government Street, says Milton LeBlanc, who started working at Jay’s under his father, Floyd, and Prothro at age 14. Floyd LeBlanc had sole custody of his three sons and was very close to Prothro, says Milton. Prothro offered Floyd the opportunity to buy the restaurant in 1983.
“He loved owning it,” Milton says.
The elder LeBlanc died after owning Jay’s for about 10 years, prompting Milton to move home from Dallas and take over operations on Government Street. He bought out his siblings and has sole ownership.
So far, however, his children haven’t expressed interest in assuming the reins.
For the Newton family, the succession issue seems to be solved. Their son, Rich, works at the restaurant now and plans to take over when they retire.
For a third generation to seamlessly accept leadership of a family business means Jay’s has beaten the odds, says Louisiana Business and Technology Center and LSU Innovation Park Executive Director Charles D’Agostino.
“A business is fortunate when that happens,” D’Agostino says. “Usually in a third generation, you have the potential for lots of people, including first cousins and siblings, to want to take things in different directions. Sometimes it can cause the demise of a successful business.”
Rich Newton, whose young children have also been helping out at the restaurant, says he’s planning to continue operating the restaurant the same way customers are used to, with the exception of adding a few healthier items.
Generations of families have come to Jay’s, says Connie. Mothers have started their babies off on a slice of bread slathered in barbecue sauce, what the Newtons call “sauce bread.” The couple says that Baton Rouge expatriates flock to Jay’s when they return home and that patrons have even knocked back shots of barbecue sauce in celebration of returning to the restaurant.
Doherty says he loves returning weekly to the Government Street Jay’s and that it’s routinely filled with Baton Rouge natives who live and work in the south part of town who have been coming to Jay’s most of their lives.
“Nostalgia is a big part of these kinds of restaurants,” says Erica Burns, Louisiana Restaurant Association communications director. “People are definitely looking for that experience that they remember and love.”
Burns adds that even established restaurants like Jay’s have to find ways to reach millennials, twenty-somethings who grew up dining out more frequently than their parents.
Indeed, the Sherwood Forest Jay’s now keeps an active Facebook page.
