Ward's Bar-B-Q opening in Bishopville

Randy Burns / The Item Buddy Ward is the owner of the new That Ward's Bar-B-Q & Rib House in Bishopville.

By RANDY BURNS
Item Staff Writer
rburns@theitem.com

A barbecue restaurant with a familiar name is coming to Bishopville. Thad Ward's Bar-B-Q & Rib House will be open for business at 10 a.m. Thursday in the Food Lion Shopping Center on South Main Street.

Owner and operator Buddy Ward said the restaurant is named in honor of his father, the late Thad Ward, who owned and operated barbecue restaurants in Sumter for 40 years.

Thad also operated a Ward's Bar-B-Q restaurant in Bishopville for five years in the 1980s, Buddy said.

Buddy himself is no stranger to the barbecue business, nor Bishopville.

For the past four years, Buddy has been the manager of the Ward's restaurant on the corner of Liberty and Boulevard streets.

He coached baseball and football at Robert E. Lee Academy for 10 years, and his wife Rene Elmore Ward grew up in Bishopville.

Randy Burns / The Item Buddy Ward's father owned and operated Sumter barbecue restaurants for 40 years.

Buddy, who owns a construction company, said the slow economy caused him to decide to open a restaurant.

"I was building five or six houses a year," Ward said. "But now nobody's building."

People are still eating, though, and he believes his restaurant will appeal to many.

"Our hash is ketchup-based," Ward said. "And the recipe has been in the family for 58 years. Only three people know the recipe."

The Ward's restaurants in Sumter have "a lot of business from Bishopville and Lee County," Buddy said.

"I believe our stuff is different from other restaurants," he said.

While the Ward's restaurants in Sumter have a different owner, Buddy said his barbecue will be cooked in Sumter in the same location as the other Ward's.

"It will be fresh," he said. "It will be cooked the night before we serve it."

The ribs and chicken will be cooked in Bishopville on a grill just outside the restaurant, Ward said.

"Everything we do is cooked fresh every day," he said.

The dining area will seat 42 people, he said.

"I love the location here," he said. "There's plenty of traffic in this shopping center. I believe we'll do real good here."

Buddy's Bishopville restaurant will be a family business, he said.

"I'll be here every day we're open," he said. "Since we're only open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, I'll have time to do construction work. And my wife will be here."

Thad Ward's Bar-B-Q & Rib House
Food Lion Shopping Center
509 South Main St., Bishopville
(803) 483-7777
Open 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday

Contact Staff Writer Randy Burns at rburns@theitem.com or (803) 491-4533.