Tell me a little bit about yourself and the history of your business.
My name is Sean Robinson. I’m the grandson of the original owners. My grandmother and grandfather started it August 1977. Four generations have grown up in the business and we’ve owned it for 44 years. It’s been a blessing for it to last this long, especially through times like this one during the pandemic. Business has stayed constant or increased. Although it’s been a crazy past year and a half, business has still been good.
I’m assuming you all have repeat customers and people that are always here.
Absolutely, we definitely have our loyal customers. I have some come in every week. I know their name and order by hard. A lot of customers are from out of town. There are a lot of Memphians who, I feel like, don’t know about us. There are a lot of people who live here but have never been here before. We’re a word of mouth type of restaurant. We don’t do a lot of advertising. When you’re that good, word of mouth goes a long way!
What attracted Cozy Corner to this location? Tell me more about the building. Why here?
Before we had this building, my grandfather used to have parties almost every weekend at the house. His friends would tell him, “This food is good. You need to open up a restaurant!” After so many people kept telling him, he took it into consideration and he started looking for a restaurant. In 1977, he found this building, it was already named Cozy Corner and it already had a telephone number. It was also already a barbeque restaurant, but it didn’t get as big as it is now until we got it in 1977. My grandfather was cheap and when he bought the building he said, “We aren’t going to change the name or telephone number. We’re going to keep everything the same, but we’re going to use my recipes.” We’ve been using those recipes since 1977. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it!
That’s really cool. I love the legacy and tradition. Does Cozy Corner have any signature items? What’s the most popular?
Our top two sellers are the ribs and wings. Of course, everything we do is barbeque, so the wings are whole chicken wings and the ribs are pork spare ribs St. Louis cut. We sell out of ribs and wings almost every day. We close at 8pm and we probably run out of ribs and wings around 7:00 or 7:30pm. We try to cook enough to make it until we close. The third top seller is the Cornish game hen. It’s a small bird, barbeque whole. Cornish hen is definitely another thing we’re known for.
Do you have any recurring special events that happen here?
Not really, but we usually participate in Memphis in May. We usually cater for the Mayor’s tent. We do cater events, and we normally have people pick up the order.
What’s the future vision for Cozy Corner?
The future vision is to open up at least one more location in Memphis. Somewhere on the other side of town, not too close to this location. A lot of mornings, I pass by Cozy Corner around 7:00 AM and it’s the best smell.
How long does the process of BBQ take?
Yes, somebody’s cooking! BBQ in general is very time consuming. We have two cooks. One cook comes in around 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning and leaves around 11 o’clock in the morning. The second cook comes in and leaves around 7 o’clock in the evening. For how long it takes, it really depends on how hot the pits we use to barbeque take. We don’t use thermometers or gauges. We barbeque with charcoal, so no gas or wood. That’s how we cook.
Neat, there’s a whole science to it!
Yes, you have to pay attention and check the food often, because we don’t want to burn anything up. We train our cooks to know what they are doing. The time can vary and depends on how hot it is.
What’s the best way for customers to follow you all?
A lot of it is word of mouth. Cozy Corner also has an Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. You can follow Cozy Corner on all three social media platforms. I created it for us, being the youngest grandchild. You have you evolve with time.
The food will not change, but the technology will! If you weren’t cooking BBQ, what other things would you be doing or cooking in your free time?
I love the Green Bay Packers. My favorite basketball team is the Lakers. I enjoy watching and playing sports, going to the movies, bowling, and hanging out with friends. Other times, I enjoy doing nothing. I can be a homebody.
Is there anything you’d like the Medical District and Memphis community to know?
Yes, through thick and thin, we are so thankful for every customer that walks through the door – loyal ones, new ones, ones that have stuck with us throughout the years. Although business is good, there have been some rough years in the past, where we sometimes didn't know if we were going to make it. Lo and behold, someway, somehow we still did. Definitely thankful for all the customers because if it wasn’t for them, we would not be here. Thank you to every customer.