In the late 1960's, I grew up in Lambert Mississippi. My first job was chopping and picking cottons in someone else's field and I earned thirty cents an hour while working ten hours a day. My family also sharecropped the fields, and did not get paid until the end of the year-and even then the landowner, Mr. Kitto, would tell us we "just broke even." and wouldn't let us look at the books.

To help feed the family, we had to keep a garden. My mother and my three other brothers and four sisters grew greens, okra, corn, string beans, tomatoes and butter beans. We canned them in jars so they would not spoil, and ate them during the winter. My grandmother Lizzie McGee had a friend who owned cows and they would give us milk. Many times, all we had to eat was milk and cornbread with sugar. For meat, we had to raise our own chickens, catch our own fish, and kill our own hogs. When my grandfather Charlie McGee killed a hog, we generously gave to all the neighbors just as they had done with us; everyone in the neighborhood always shared when someone killed a hog. Mom used some of the meat to make sausages pork skins, hog headcheese, and salt pork. She'd cook on a wood burning stove, and added greens, sweet potato pie, biscuits, pork chops, fried chicken, to her wonderful meals.

I rose from a three-room shotgun house in Mississippi to the top of the BBQ Charts in the early 1980's. The combination of slow-cooked ribs and my original barbecue sauce dominated the Mike Royko Rib Festival --that's when I got serious about the barbecue and sauce business.

In my leisure time, I enjoy sports. Basketball was my first love and I describe myself as a good basketball player. I'm not bragging, I am just telling you how competitive I am. In fact, when I lose I go back and keep trying to win, because I don't want to do anything and not be good at it. I am also an active member of the First Baptist Church of Oak Park.

Business Accomplishments

Charlie Robinson is the President and CEO of Robinson's #1 Ribs. His extraordinary business career began many years ago, with a degree from York College in Nebraska. But with no job prospects, Charlie headed to Chicago and found employment with a national ice cream manufacturer, which eventually lead to his own ice cream distributorship.

But this busy entrepreneur never forgot his southern roots. Some of his favorite recollections were his grandfather's neighborhood barbecues-a grandfather who passed on the secret of the sauce that has been relished by 14 generations of Robinsons. Charlie then spent long hours refining his family's 200 year old recipe. In 1982, nationally syndicated Chicago columnist Mike Royko boasted, "I make the best ribs anywhere." To prove this he organized the Mike Royko Ribfest, and 400 entrants showed up to compete with the writer. A panel of impartial judges didn't have any problems at all declaring Royko's ribs far inferior to the hands-down winner Charlie Robinson.

The continuing demand for the taste of the wonder ribs led to the opening of a restaurant… and to the best news of all, the bottling of his great sauce for everyone to enjoy. Today, Charlie Robinson owns three restaurants, a sauce company, and a spice company. He also co-brands his ribs with Doc's Fisheries. Charlie is also very active in his community, and has donated his time, products and money to various activities held by community organizations. He hires many disadvantaged youths, which gives them a chance to earn income, while also learning about the restaurant business and-more importantly-gives them a sense of self worth and respect. Charlie has received numerous awards; he achieved the Nicholas Award in 1983, Augsburger Ribfest winner (1987), National Rib Cookoff in Cleveland, Ohio (1988), Royal International Barbecue Sauce Contest (1990), and the Illinois Restaurant Association certificate of merit. (1990). He's won the Blue Chip Business of the Year Award (1992), two-time registry in the Oxford "Who's Who" of Global Business (1992 and 1993), and the City of Chicago's "Certificate of Merit" by Mayor Daley for Taste of Chicago High Sales. He is a sustaining member of the YMCA, and has earned certificates of appreciation from Chicago Public Schools, the Wilbur Wright College Fund, Chicago Sun Times, the Deputy Sheriff Recruiting Program, the Salvation Army, the Chicago Tribune, and is even congratulated directly by the Illinois General Assembly Senate (resolution 580) for ten years of quality service and outstanding quality of product and character. All in all, the qualities that made Charlie Robinson a successful businessman are the same qualities that have made him a winner in life.

Current Undertakings

Charlie Robinson also sells his Rib and Sauce to United Airlines, Dominicks and Jewel food stores, Moo and Oink, Kehe Food Distributors, Clark Food Service, Food and Paper Supply, and Wichita Packing. Charlie Robinson is also involved in special events at McCormick place, Soldiers Field, Chicago Park District, and large festivals like Taste of Chicago, the Air & Water Show, and the Blues, Jazz, and Gospel Fests.

Try Ribs The Robinson Way
At Robinson's #1 Rib Restaurant, ribs and chicken are marinated in a special blend of barbecue seasoning, then refrigerated overnight to let the flavors season every morsel.  The next day, the meat is slow-cooked in a specially-constructed hickory wood smoker at 250 degrees.  Constant turning keeps the internal temperature of the meat under 200 degrees and the slow cooking guarantees juicy tenderness.

Talk Around Town

About Robinson's