Wichita barbecue restaurant is closing after nearly 30 years in business
A restaurant that has been a staple for Wichita barbecue fans since it opened nearly 30 years ago is closing.
On Thursday, owner Derek Cochran said that his restaurant Pig In Pig Out will close after service on Saturday.
He also said that he hoped the closing wasn’t the end of the restaurant’s story.
“Hopefully in the not too distant future the next iteration of PIPO will arise,” he said in the post. “A reimagined version of Pig In! Pig Out! BBQ.”
Cochran, who took over the restaurant from his father in 2001, shared a long Facebook post on the businesses’ social media pages earlier this month saying that he’d been hospitalized for a severe infection in December and had not been able to be in the restaurant for six months. He credited his crew for keeping things running, apologized for times that the restaurant may have “missed the mark” and promised that he’d soon be back in the kitchen.
In his Thursday post about the closing, Cochran wrote that he planned to focus on his health.
Cochran’s father, Ronald, was a longtime competitor on the barbecue cook-off circuit. He started the restaurant in a tiny, six-seat space at 1935 S. Hydraulic in 1996 with his wife, Pam, and ran it until he died in 2001. Derek took over and in 2004 moved it to a much larger building near 13th and Washington.
The restaurant closed once before: In March 2002, it was seized over nearly $100,000 in unpaid taxes but was able to reopen less than two weeks later after reaching a payment agreement with the state.
The restaurant’s longtime friends and customers rallied around the restaurant after it closed. One former employee even started an online fundraiser that brought in $3,600.
Pig In Pig Out was known for its pulled pork and ribs. It also did big catering business and sold smoked hams, turkeys and take-home meals during the holidays.
This story was originally published July 31, 2025 at 4:08 PM.
.jpg)