A North Texas barbeque restaurant got a big boost from a member of the ultra-popular K-pop group BTS and they’re sharing what the star ordered.<\/p>\n
Hutchins BBQ told NBC 5 it has seen a rise in visitors after BTS member j-hope gave the restaurant’s McKinney location a rave review at one of the group’s recent shows in Arlington and posted about them on social media.<\/p>\n
“I had barbecue yesterday and I think I might have found the best spot in the world,” j-hope told the sold out crowd at AT&T Stadium on Aug. 14, and added, “That’s what gave me the energy for tonight.”<\/p>\n
j-hope didn’t mention which barbecue joint he visited by name in the video shared with NBC 5, but the mystery of where he dined didn’t last very long.<\/p>\n
A few days after the concert, Hutchins BBQ shared an enthusiastic selfie posted by j-hope, showing him holding a metal tray loaded with barbecue on Instagram with their logo in the back.<\/p>\n
“He said a lot of great things about our food,” said Nick Hutchins, Chief Operating Officer at Hutchins BBQ. <\/p>\n
While the buzz around BTS is undeniable, with the band so popular that thousands of fans spent hours in line for merch ahead of the Arlington concerts, j-hope’s visit to the barbecue joint still flew largely under the radar when it happened, Hutchins recalled.<\/p>\n
“We had several employees, you know, recognize them but I don’t think a lot of people kind of recognized them in the moment,” he said. “I think a day or two later they had posted it on social media and it really created a huge buzz and my phone started blowing up.”<\/p>\n
Hutchins called the visit a “great honor” and credits it with drawing in new diners. <\/p>\n
“We’ve had an increase. We think there’s been definitely some tourists and people that are BTS fans coming in and people asking questions and things like that,” he said.<\/p>\n
@nbcdfw<\/a> <\/p>\n Hutchins BBQ in McKinney got a big boost from a member of the ultra-popular K-pop group BTS.\u2060 \u2060 J-Hope gave them a shout-out at one of the group’s recent shows in Arlington. We caught up with Nick Hutchins, who told us what J-Hope ordered. #bbq<\/a> #btsarmy<\/a> #jhope<\/a><\/p>\n