Wright's Barbecue Pulls Permit for Second Little Rock Location Near Chenal
Wright's Barbecue has filed a building permit for a second Little Rock location at 800 Rahling Road near the Promenade at Chenal, with a roughly 5,000-square-foot standalone building and exterior smokehouse. The owner is targeting an October or November 2026 opening.
Wright's Barbecue — the Arkansas concept that grew from a single Johnson location into a multi-city regional chain — has filed a building permit for 800 Rahling Road in West Little Rock, near the Promenade at Chenal. The declared construction value is $4.5 million. Plans call for a 5,000-square-foot building with an exterior smokehouse and covered outdoor seating. The Rebsamen Park Road location has been Wright's only standalone outpost within the city of Little Rock.
Timeline
Wright's founder and CEO has said the West Little Rock spot is "probably about four months out, maybe five" from opening — with October or November 2026 given as the realistic target. A formal construction timeline hasn't been released, but the permit filing puts the project on track for a fall opening barring significant delays.
Chenal Context
The Rahling Road corridor near the Promenade is dense with chain restaurants serving the surrounding residential subdivisions. Wright's represents a different category: a regional concept with a reputation built on wood-smoked brisket and ribs produced at a pace that prioritizes quality over throughput. The nearest comparable barbecue in the area has been the national chains, which Wright's consistently outperforms.
What This Means
A Chenal-area Wright's makes the brand accessible to the westside population without a trip to Rebsamen — which is a meaningful time savings during lunch. The open question is whether the build-out quality and smokehouse output hold up at a second location. That's the variable worth watching as they scale.
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