How Cooking Classes and Micro-Influencers Built This Top 50 Texas BBQ Restaurant

How to use cooking classes, micro-influencers and founder-led content to build a restaurant people fly across the world to visit. The exact marketing strategy Cooper Abercrombie used to turn Bar-A-BBQ from a tent pop-up into a 2025 Texas Monthly Top 50 restaurant — with a line out the door six days a week and customers flying in from Australia and beyond.Cooper Abercrombie was a sales manager in Texas.Seven years ago he bought a smoker, made "awful, awful, awful" brisket, and refused to be bad at it.Today Bar-A-BBQ in Montgomery, Texas is one of the most talked-about barbecue restaurants in America — 2025 Texas Monthly Top 50, ranked #6 on the 2026 Texas Barbecue Top 50, doing $60,000+ weeks out of a 1,400 sq ft ex-vegan sandwich shop, with a line out the door six days a week and about to move to a building five times the size.None of it was luck.In this episode, Cooper sits down with Tim to break down the exact marketing playbook. Why he treated social media as a craft to master (not an afterthought). The 90-day posting rule that separates the operators who get traction from the ones who stay invisible. Why micro-influencers outperform big ones — and generated two viral videos that took him from $25K to $60K weeks in seven days. How his BBQ classes became both a revenue stream AND his best marketing channel — every attendee becomes an ambassador for life. And why teaching people exactly how to make his product (the thing every operator is scared to do) built the fanatic customer base that keeps them coming back.If you're a restaurant owner, café owner or bar owner who says "I'm too busy for marketing" — this is the episode that changes how you think about it.You'll hear:00:00 – From "awful brisket" to Texas Monthly Top 50 in seven years  02:00 – Working 48 hours a week for free to learn from the best pitmaster in Texas  06:00 – Why ego is the #1 reason most owners never level up  10:30 – Social media as a craft: why Cooper spent as much time learning it as smoking brisket  14:00 – The YouTube channel: 63K subscribers driving 10-20% of daily foot traffic  17:00 – Why teaching customers exactly how to make his product built his fanatic base  21:00 – The 90-day rule: post every day at 9am for 90 days and watch what happens  25:30 – The two viral videos that took Bar-A-BBQ from $25K to $60K weeks in seven days  30:00 – Micro-influencers vs mega ones: why the small ones actually convert  36:00 – Turning cooking classes into a marketing engine (and a real revenue stream)  42:00 – The "fanatic" customer: how to build one person who brings you 50 more  46:00 – What Cooper would tell every restaurant owner terrified of the cameraKey takeaways:Marketing is not the afterthought. It's the multiplier that makes your great product actually visible.Post every day for 90 days at the same time. Just do it. Watch what happens.Micro-influencers convert better than mega-influencers — every time, for restaurants.Teaching people how to make your product doesn't cost you customers. It creates ambassadors.Cooking classes are the ultimate marketing engine. Attendees become your biggest promoters — and pay you for the privilege.One viral video from a small creator can change your business in seven days.Getting someone to your restaurant once is easy. Getting them back five times is the whole game.The best marketing tool you have is founder-led content. Turn the camera on and start.If you want to build a hospitality business people cross the world to visit, book a free Profit Finding Session with the Foodie Coaches team at https://discover.foodiecoaches.com/bacFollow Cooper and Bar-A-BBQ:  @barabbq  @cooperabercrombie  YouTube: Bar-A-BBQFollow along:  @foodie_coaches  @tim.kummerfeldNew episodes every Wednesday.