"Evolving Out of Necessity and Good Taste."

Chip Stamey of Stamey's Barbecue, Greensboro, NC.

Click here to see our original text and photo profile of Mr. Stamey: http://www.thebarbecuebus.com/2011/11/stameys-barbecue-root-of-it-all.html

Recorded and cut by Rien Fertel. Shot and chopped by Denny Culbert. 

Stamey's Barbecue: The Root of It All

Chip Stamey, owner of Stamey's Barbecue in Greensboro, N.C. (Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus)

Chip Stamey is the grandson of famed Piedmont-barbecue pathfinder and promotor Warner Stamey. In the 1920s, Warner studied and worked under Lexington, NC pit-cooking pioneers Jess Swicegood and Sid Weaver. Warner took what he learned about smoking shoulders back home to Shelby to perfect his techniques and recipes. Moving back to Lexington, in 1938 Warner bought out his mentor Swicegood and renamed the operation Stamey’s.

Stamey’s Barbecue helped tiny Lexington become not only the most ‘cue-centric town in North Carolina, but perhaps the world. With a population hovering around twenty thousand, the Lexington area houses nearly twenty barbecue establishments. 

Like several other pit proprietors we’ve met while constructing the North Carolina BBQ Trail, Chip Stamey left a non-‘cue career to take over the family business. Mirroring a practice found in most every Carolina barbecue joint, Chip’s one rule is to keep everything the same. Commitment to family, history, and preservation is valued above all else. 

Relocated to Greensboro since 1953, Stamey’s recently celebrated its eighty-first anniversary. The house that Warner built continues to fry up hushpuppies (a Stamey’s invention), slow-smoke shoulders over hickory coals, and serve chopped and sliced barbecue doused with sauce, or in local parlance, "dip."


- Rien Fertel/ The Barbecue Bus

Stamey's Barbecue "dip" lines the wall behind the cash register. (Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus)

Hickory coals are transferred from the fire to the barbecue pits at Stamey's Barbecue. (Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus)

Morning light streams into the smokey pit room at Stamey's Barbecue in Greensboro. (Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus)

Ponn Chanuon tends to the pits throughout the day at Stamey's Barbecue in Greensboro. (Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus)

A typical barbecue plate at Stamey's consists of chopped pork, hushpuppies and red slaw. (Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus)

A plate of "brown" barbecue at Stamey's Barbecue. (Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus)

Homemade peach cobbler at Stamey's Barbecue. (Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus)

Stamey's Barbecue is an 81-year-old establishment in Greensboro, N.C. (Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus)

Stamey's Barbecue
2206 High Point Rd.
Greensboro, NC 27403


(336)299-9888
Hours of Operation: 
Monday - Saturday: 10 am - 9 pm
Closed Sunday