FAQs

How much is the Franchise fee?

$50,000 for your first store. $25,000 for each subsequent store you open.

Does the Franchise fee include training and support?

Yes. Bono's requires two management personnel to complete our training program, In addition, Bono's will send five corporate trainers to assist you when your new store opens.

What is the monthly royalty fee?

Royalty fees are 4% of gross monthly sales, plus an additional 2% for marketing and development efforts.

Are you looking for single or multi-unit operators?

Bono's seeks Area Developers who are willing to have an exclusive development contract of a defined territory. The franchisee will have a negotiated number of stores which must be opened according to a development schedule agreed upon by both parties.

Will I own the territory?

Yes. We will not sell any other franchises in your given territory as long as you follow the agreed-upon development schedule.

What is the typical total investment?

The total investment ranges from $1.5 million to $2 million but the costs vary substantially depending upon the location and whether you build a freestanding restaurant or lease space.

Is there a minimum liquid net worth requirement?

Yes. You should have at least $500,000 in liquid assets (excluding primary residence) and the ability to borrow up to $1.5 million per location.

Do you offer financing assistance?

No. As the franchisee, you are responsible for obtaining your own financing.

Do I have to have restaurant experience?

Bono's strongly prefers that individuals or your franchise group have prior restaurant operating experience.

Settle down for real pit barbeque, and raise funds for your organization—all at the same time!

Looking for a fundraiser that’s a sure-fire hit for your organization? Heat up your efforts with a down-home fundraising night at Bono’s Pit Bar-B-Q! It’s simple—just invite your friends and family to dine with us on a designated evening, and Bono’s will donate 15% of their bills that night back to your school, church or nonprofit organization.

• Call your local Bono’s manager to set up a meeting; he or she will be glad to speak with you about how the Bono’s fundraising program works. For a list of locations near you, Click Here.
• Download customizable flyers that you can use to tell all your friends, neighbors, co-workers and colleagues about the fundraiser. And that’s all there is to it—just show up, chow down, and raise money for your organization in the process!

• Plan your fundraiser a month in advance to give people plenty of time to plan.
• Hand out as many flyers as possible, and remind participants to bring their flyers to Bono’s on the designated night so that 15% of their bills will be donated back to your organization.
• Encourage participation in the fundraiser through reminder calls, word-of-mouth and lots of high energy!

The Bono’s Fundraiser. It’s just one more way we stay involved with our community.

Download your customizable fundraising flyers here, then distribute to friends and family! (Please note: the file will open as a Microsoft Word document. Be sure to fill in the name of your organization and the date of your event before printing!)

Pig Gulp 32 ounce Cup

Safety first

Cooking meat, well make sure to check out a few safety tips!

Thawing meat. How to defrost meat safely.

Food, knife, and grill safety. How to live to cook again and how to not kill your spouse, by accident that is.

Does grilling pose a cancer risk? No. Not unless you do it badly. Read the facts.

Do nitrites & nitrates in hot dogs, pastrami, and lunch meats cause cancer? Read the facts.

Why sprouts may be the riskiest food going. Eat all the raw veggies you like, but don't eat raw sprouts. Here's why they are different.

Debunking Beer Can Chicken. It may be a health risk, and it is just not a good way to cook chicken. And there is no Santa Claus.

Mythbusting

Marinating. Forget everything you thought you knew about marinating. It works differently than you think. But Gashing can help a lot.

The Stall. Beginners are often baffled after 2 to 3 hours of cooking pork shoulder or beef brisket. The temperature of the meat stops moving. It sticks. It stalls. and stays unyielding for hours. Pitmasters think it is fat rendering or collagen denaturing. It is not. Here is an exclusive explanation by physicist Dr. Greg Blonder about what is happening and what to do about it.

If you're lookin', you ain't cookin' It is a widely accepted shibboleth, appearing in practically every barbecue book ever written: "If you're lookin', you ain't cookin'". The message is that when you open the lid of your grill or smoker, cooking slows or stops. Our resident mythbuster, Dr. Greg Blonder busts this myth.

Basting, Mopping, And Spritzing. There is a good reason for mopping, basting, and spritzing, but it's not the one you're thinking about.

Letting Meat Come To Room Temp. Cookbooks and websites often say to let the meat come to room temp. Here's the theory, and the facts.

Beer Can Chicken. There are much better techniques for chicken.

Soaking Wood. Don't waste your time. It doesn't help, and it can hurt.

Brining. It is not osmosis. But it still amps up flavor and adds moisture.

Bone in or bone out? Which is better? You'll be surprised by the answer.

Looking for something to do after a great BBQ meal

Cherry Creek State Park

Category: State Parks; Biking Trails; Nature/ Wildlife Areas; Cross-country Ski Areas

Part of Cherry Creek State Park, this recreation area offers miles of bike trails.

Bono’s Hats

Availability: In stock

$11.99

Bono's Koozie

Availability: In stock

$3.00

Bono’s T-shirt

Availability: In stock

$14.99

Quick Overview

Available in red

LOVE BONO'S?! 
Then show it!! Buy some Bono's gear today!!

Product Description

Original 1949 sauce

Our Original 1949 Bar BQ sauce has been around for sixty years! This North Florida original has a smoky, mild mustard flavor that will compliment any meat and is sure to please the entire family.


Sweet & Tangy sauce

Bono’s Sweet and Tangy sauce is a Jacksonville favorite and goes especially well with our famous St. Louis Ribs and Pulled Pork. Just the right combination of sweet and spice will have you craving this sauce with every meal.


Hickory Red Sauce

The Hickory red sauce has delicious combination of tomatoes, cider vinegar, and various spices to compliment any meal. The thick texture of this sauce is rich in flavor and is a favorite served warm with our Baby Backs and Brisket. 


Smokin’ Pit Hot Sauce 

This sauce is a spicier version of our Original Sauce with a smoky combination of mustard seed, cider vinegar and aged cayenne peppers. It won’t burn your mouth and has just the right amount of kick to spice up your life.

 Call Bono's Bar-B-Q to Cater your Next Event!

Proudly serving the best of the south, Bono's Pit Bar-B-Q is the most authentic barbecue restaurant in Aurora, CO. For great eats, family fun, and all of the fixings, stop on by or call 303-337-7427 to arrange:
 

* Lunch
* Dinner
* Take Away
* Event Catering

* Fundraising Catering

* Cold Sandwiches

* Hot Sandwiches 

* Pork Platters  

* Turkey Platters

* Chicken Platters 

* Rib Platters 

* BBQ Chicken 

* BBQ Sandwiches  

* Smokehouse Stackers 

* Salads 

* Deserts 

* Gift Cards 

* T-Shirts 

* Hats 

* Mugs

* Licensed 

* Insured

B.B.Q. Techniques

Barbecuing encompasses four or five distinct types of cooking techniques.  

The original technique is known as Smoking, a technique which uses smoke to cook at lower temperatures (usually around 240–270 °F) and significantly longer cooking times (several hours). 

A second technique is Baking, which utilizes a masonry oven  and uses convection to cook meats and starches with moderate temperatures for an average cooking time (about an hour plus a few extra minutes). 

 

Braising is another way in which it combines direct dry heat charbroiling on a ribbed surface with a broth-filled pot for moist heat, cooking at various speeds throughout the duration (starting fast, slowing down, then speeding up again, lasting for a few hours).

Last but not least, Grilling is done over direct dry heat, usually over a hot fire (over 500 °F) for a only a few minutes. Grilling may be done over wood, charcoal, gas (natural or propane), or electricity.

If You Don't See a Pit..

...  it ain't  LEGIT!

Instead of throwing down a cheap hamburger or burning your own meat, let the local barbecue experts do the dirty work for you. At Bono's Pit Bar-B-Q, we use a traditional barbecue pit to cook all of our meat, ensuring authentic, delicious, and consistent flavor in every dish. Whether it's ribs, chicken, or a sandwich you're after, gather the family and come on down to the southern style barbecue restaurant that serves a side of fun with every plate.

Taking a long tradition of pit barbecue from the south and bringing it to you, right here in your neighborhood, we our proud to cook with the sauces, rubs, and barbecue dishes that have been feeding our family for years. More than a barbecue restaurant, we put our passion into every plate, delivering the most tender, delicious meat you'e ever tasted. Serving sandwiches, platters, salads, and more, come on down to our family style barbecue restaurant.



The number one name in authentic Southern barbecue, Bono's Pit Bar-B-Q is the leading barbecue restaurant in Aurora, CO. Call 303-337-7427 and dig into a feast of grilled favorites and all of the fixings.

Fund Raising

Settle down for real pit barbeque, and raise funds for your organization—all at the same time!
Looking for a fundraiser that’s a sure-fire hit for your organization? Heat up your efforts with a down-home fundraising night at Bono’s Pit Bar-B-Q! It’s simple—just invite your friends and family to dine with us on a designated evening, and Bono’s will donate 15% of their bills that night back to your school, church or nonprofit organization.

• Call your local Bono’s manager to set up a meeting; he or she will be glad to speak with you about how the Bono’s fundraising program works. For a list of locations near you, Click Here.
• Download customizable flyers that you can use to tell all your friends, neighbors, co-workers and colleagues about the fundraiser. And that’s all there is to it—just show up, chow down, and raise money for your organization in the process!

• Plan your fundraiser a month in advance to give people plenty of time to plan.
• Hand out as many flyers as possible, and remind participants to bring their flyers to Bono’s on the designated night so that 15% of their bills will be donated back to your organization.
• Encourage participation in the fundraiser through reminder calls, word-of-mouth and lots of high energy!

The Bono’s Fundraiser. It’s just one more way we stay involved with our community.
Download your customizable fundraising flyers here, then distribute to friends and family! (Please note: the file will open as a Microsoft Word document. Be sure to fill in the name of your organization and the date of your event before printing!)

Ask Harvey Green what the secret to good bar-b-q is and he'll smile and say, "You've got to take your time, y' know? Go slow and easy just like making love to a woman."

He should know. Since 1956 Harvey has been the Cutter at the original Bono's on Beach Blvd. in Jacksonville, Florida. Yep. That's right. More than 50 years of chopping, slicing, cutting, cooking and chatting up folks lucky enough to find a seat at his counter. His regulars know him and he knows his regulars, how they want their meat cooked and what sauce they like.

Every Bono's restaurant has its own version of Harvey Green, masterfully working the pit. But if you happen to be in Jacksonville, stop by and say hello to the Original. Then get ready to have some of the best darn southern bar-b-q this side of heaven.

About Us

Barbecue is America's only true indigenous food. Native Americans cooked their meats over pits and history tells us that George Washington attended a barbecue. Americans light up their grills more than 2.9 billion times a year. Barbecue is also society's great equalizer; drive by a barbecue restaurant and it's not unusual to find pick-ups next to luxury cars next to motorcycles.

Great bar-b-q will do that.

We don't know if Lou Bono understood all this, but one thing's for sure: he knew how to cook authentic southern bar-b-q.

When Lou Bono fired up the pits of his first restaurant in Jacksonville back in 1949, little did he know that his food would one day be celebrated as the quintessential southern style Bar-B-Q. This was not just another barbecue joint, Lou cooked his meats the traditional way; in specially designed pits over wood, and watched carefully by a Pit Boss. Thanks to Lou's tireless efforts and a smoky sauce that out-zinged the competition, Bono's became an immediate success.

Bono's has never changed its authentic bar-b-q and today, under the leadership of Joe Adeeb and daughters Kirsten Martino and Katie Colley, it's grown from a small, local operation to a successful enterprise of more than twenty restaurants. Bono's restaurants are now located throughout Florida as well as Colorado.