10/05/2026
Thank you Southern Foodways Alliance! We are so honored to receive this Award!
At each Fall Symposium, SFA honors an unsung foodways tradition bearer of note with the Keeper of the Flame Award, and pays homage to their life and work through a documentary film.
This year, SFA honors the Payne family of Payne’s Bar-B-Q, a Memphis institution that has been serving barbecue since 1972. Horton Payne opened the restaurant with a simple mission: to do something of his own. After Horton’s death in 1984, his wife, Flora, and their children, Ron and Candice, took the reins and carried his traditions forward. Today, Payne’s remains known for the things that have always made it special: pork shoulders turned over hickory coals, a mild sauce simmered on the stove, a hotter sauce served from an old soap bottle, and family behind the counter.
More than four decades after Horton first opened the doors, Payne’s continues to be a testament to the persistence of Memphis barbecue—and the people who keep its traditions alive.
Hear more from the Paynes in the SFA oral history at the link in our bio.
