Made in the Northwest: Longhorn Barbecue Production Center

SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. – In over 35 years at it location on E. Montgomery Dr. in Spokane Valley, the Longhorn Barbecue Production Center has earned its reputation with its loyal customers.

“We are, in my opinion, the best barbecue you’re going to find in this city,” said plant manager Jason Farnsworth.

And the key, according to Farnsworth, is the consistency of its products.

“We don’t skimp out on any of the products or any of the ingredients. It is very consistent. If you can you be consistent, you can be successful.”

The production center, which is still related to the Longhorn Barbecue restaurants, makes several kinds of products.

“We bulk pack German sausages. We do pork ribs. Everybody loves our barbecue sauce. This is where it comes from,” said Farnsworth. “We also do our Christmas hams and the boneless hams.”

The 25 employees at Longhorn make barbecue you can buy in local grocery stores. Yoke’s Fresh Markets are a big customer, but Farnsworth says they’re far from the only one.

“We can also find our products in Rosauer’s, Super 1 and Costco. URM also distributes to a lot of the smaller, local stores as well.”

Longhorn’s barbecue sauce has developed a loyal following over the years. And they make a lot of it.

“In the middle of the summer, when we’re at our peak, we can do up to 700 gallons a day,” said Farnsworth.

Longhorn’s giant smokehouses can cook about five tons of pork ribs a day or 50,000 lbs. a week.

“We do a regular pork rib, we do our St. Louis ribs, we do a Cowboy Cut pork ribs, we also do Casino ribs, which are real popular in the local casinos.”

After they’re cooked, the ribs are flash frozen to get them ready to be shipped to stores.

Longhorn does up to 4,800 lbs. of German sausages every day. It hangs the sausages before they’re cooked, cooled and have the plastic casings peeled off them. Then, they’re ready to be packaged.

“And then we retail vacuum pack them for the stores or we bulk pack them,” explained Farnsworth.

And because barbecue is more popular in the summer, Longhorn’s hams help them through the slower winter months.

The production center is now trying to get a Safe Quality Food certification to allow Longhorn to be carried in national grocery stores chains, like Fred Meyer and Safeway, to broaden its distribution.

“I would love to see this company transition to nationwide,” said Farnsworth.

And allow this local favorite to be enjoyed from coast to coast.

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