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A well-known barbecue maverick and descendant of one of Texas’ greatest barbecue families, John Mueller, has died. He passed away this week at his home in Frisco and was 52 years old at the time of his death.
Mueller was reported to have died on December 16 and the news was confirmed through a Facebook post by Panther City BBQ. They expressed their grief over John’s death and sent their condolences to his family.
Everything to know about John Mueller
John Mueller built his career on his own and became a popular barbecue pitmaster. He became a familiar face in 1993 after taking over the famous Louie Mueller Barbecue.
In the early stages of his career, John started manning the indoor pit at his grandfather’s restaurant, Louie Mueller Barbecue. The restaurant, located in Taylor, Texas, opened in 1949. It was shut down in 2006 due to financial problems but returned to business in 2011.
John Mueller never revealed much about his personal life. Despite that, information from various sources states that he was married and divorced from his wife in 1999. He then began dating a fellow employee, whom he later ran away with. This led to cracks in he relationship with his father, and John sold a portion of the business to his family and left.
He then made his solo debut with John Mueller’s B-B-Q in 2001, which was shut down in five years because of financial struggles.
Mueller and his sister LeAnn then opened a small trailer called JMueller BBQ in South Austin. LeAnn filed a police report in 2012, accusing her brother of stealing money. John was fired from the business and the trailer was renamed la Barbecue.
John then opened a restaurant called John Mueller Meat Co. in East Austin in 2013, which was later seized by the state comptroller for non-payment of taxes.
In 2017, the deceased BBQ maverick opened another restaurant called Black Box in downtown Georgetown, and it was named as the state’s Top New Barbecue Joints by Texas Monthly. Its temporary permit expired and, though the restaurant shifted to Pflugerville, it was not so successful.
John Mueller still did not accept his failure and made a comeback with his new restaurant, Barbecue by John Mueller, in 2019.
