By Staff Reports | Shop in Seagoville | Shop Local. Hire Local.
The unnamed barbecue restaurant described earlier this year as a new downtown partnership now has a name. It is Brockhouse Pit & Pantry, and it is operated by longtime Seagoville business owner John Rice.
The project is no longer in development. The restaurant opened in late August at 202 N. Kaufman St. The building is owned by the Seagoville Economic Development Corporation, which paid for its renovation.
A January article in Business View Magazine reported that Seagoville had a partnership underway to bring a barbecue restaurant downtown in 2026. That article did not identify the restaurant or its operator. It also did not name a location.
Public records show the partnership had already taken shape a year earlier.
The SEDC approved a lease and purchase option agreement with Rice at its meeting on June 12, 2025. He was doing business at the time as Pit & Pantry. Meeting minutes say Rice announced during that discussion that the restaurant would be renamed Brockhouse Pit & Pantry.
The lease identifies Rice as the operator and places the business at 202 N. Kaufman St. The address sits just north of the primary downtown intersection at Kaufman Street and Malloy Bridge Road.
Five Year Lease Includes Purchase Option
Under the publicly posted agreement, the restaurant received a five year lease that began when operations commenced. The agreement allows additional five year terms if the two sides negotiate a new rental rate. The initial base rent is $1,800 per month.
Rice is responsible for utilities and property taxes. He also covers maintenance and most repairs during the lease term. The building was accepted in its existing condition, and alterations require SEDC approval.
The agreement gives Rice an option to buy the property during the lease. Any purchase price would be based on an independent appraisal of fair market value. The restaurant also holds a right of first refusal if the SEDC receives another offer for the building.
The version of the lease released with the meeting agenda set a 120 day deadline. Under that timeline the restaurant was to secure permits and complete the required work before opening. Renovation of the older downtown building ultimately continued into 2026.
That document also contemplated hours from 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week. Current public postings advertise shorter hours. The online records reviewed for this article do not show whether the operating requirement was formally amended.
Public Investment Supported the Redevelopment
The restaurant represents a substantial downtown investment for the SEDC. Financial records show the corporation recorded $233,699.90 in 2024 for its purchase of 202 N. Kaufman St.
The board later authorized up to $4,450 for asbestos related work. It also approved a $19,275 architectural services contract with Studio HMA to develop renovation plans.
A filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation described the work as a 2,500 square foot project. The estimated construction cost was listed at $450,000. The filing classified the project as involving public property or public funds and said the building would be converted into a restaurant.
The estimate in that state filing is not necessarily the final expenditure.
In April, the SEDC unanimously approved a signage grant of up to $3,600 for the restaurant. The board continued receiving renovation updates during its March and April meetings.
Operator Built Business on Family Jerky Tradition
Brockhouse Pit & Pantry is an expansion of Brockhouse Jerky. That smoked meat company is based a short walk away at 210 N. Kaufman St.
According to the Dallas Farmers Market, the business takes its name from Rice family patriarch Albert Brockhaus Rice. The family had made homemade jerky for generations before Rice and his wife turned the tradition into a company.
The couple began pursuing the business after their first child was born prematurely. The child spent roughly six months in the hospital. Rice was laid off shortly after the baby came home, and the family built a company around its jerky making tradition.
Brockhouse became a longtime vendor at the Dallas Farmers Market and later expanded into wholesale distribution and catering. It also sells prepared smoked meats along with sauces and seasonings. The company describes its jerky as smoked in a traditional barbecue pit with hickory wood rather than produced with dehydrators or liquid smoke.
The restaurant gives that established operation a far larger public presence downtown.
Separate From a Failed Highway Project
The Brockhouse partnership should not be confused with an earlier barbecue development pursued by the SEDC. The corporation entered an economic development agreement in April 2024 with Hallet No. I, LP. That company proposed a restaurant near U.S. Highway 175.
The deal contemplated a $350,000 grant and a $225,000 loan. It also required a minimum private capital investment of $1.4 million.
The SEDC’s 2025 annual report says no money was ever paid under that agreement. The company failed to secure a suitable site and missed its construction deadlines. The report said the firm remained interested in Seagoville if it could find an affordable highway property.
Brockhouse Pit & Pantry is a different kind of project. It pairs a local operator with an SEDC owned downtown building under a lease based partnership.
Its opening adds another restaurant to a corridor the corporation has worked to revive. The SEDC has purchased property and renovated buildings to draw activity toward Kaufman Street and Malloy Bridge Road.
For a project introduced publicly without a name, the records now supply one. The operator is John Rice, and the restaurant is Brockhouse Pit & Pantry.
