Jack Cawthon

Jack's Bar-B-Que announced on social media on 21 October 2026 that Cawthon had died after a protracted battle with cancer. He was 80. In earlier years he had undergone surgeries at Vanderbilt Health for head and neck cancer, including a total laryngectomy, the removal of his voice box.

The restaurant's statement said that Cawthon "created spaces that are rooted in good food, hard work, and more than a little nostalgia," that he had welcomed guests and served his community for more than 50 years, and that his kindness and the support of friends, customers and employees "meant the world to him." His death was reported by NewsChannel 5, FOX 17, Local 3 News and other outlets. Funeral arrangements had not been announced at the time of the first reports.

Public accounts of Jack Cawthon's childhood are limited. He was reported to be 80 at his death in October 2026. According to the history published by his restaurant, he went to work in Nashville's country club scene right out of high school and worked his way up into management, first at Richland Country Club, then at Hillwood Country Club, and then at the Nashville City Club, where he became general manager.

On 4 July 1976 Cawthon struck out on his own with Cawthon's Caterer, Inc. He quickly became one of Nashville's favourite society caterers, often greeting guests in a tuxedo while serving beluga caviar or carving beef tenderloin with bearnaise sauce at private parties, Steeplechase events and charity galas.

Facing the recession of the late 1970s, and convinced that Nashville had a void when it came to old-fashioned barbecue, he studied and travelled before settling on his own style, a combination of Texas and Tennessee barbecue that introduced beef brisket and a variety of regionally inspired sauces to a city where pork had been king.

In 1991 he opened Jack's Bar-B-Que (first known as Jack's Riverfront Bar-B-Que) in a small concrete block building at Broadway and First Avenue, overlooking Riverfront Park. It was described as the first casual restaurant to open on Broadway after years of decline, and some credit it with starting the revival of Lower Broadway. A second restaurant opened in 1992 on Trinity Lane, just off Interstate 65.

In 1994 he lost the lease on the riverfront site, which was demolished for parking. On his employees' advice he moved the restaurant near the Ryman Auditorium, Tootsie's Orchid Lounge and Ernest Tubb Record Shop, buying the building at 416 Broadway. In 1996, during a Metro Council debate over an unpermitted Planet Hollywood sign, a councilman said that if it stayed, the next thing would be pigs over Broadway. Cawthon replied, "Pigs do fly, why not three? Let the pigs fly!" The neon sign of three flying pigs, each wearing a hat like his own, went up in 1997 and became one of the best known images in Nashville.

In 2013 he opened a third restaurant at 1601 Charlotte Avenue under his full name, Jack Cawthon's Bar-B-Que. He was also active for years in efforts to improve the downtown, Trinity Lane, Brick Church Pike and Charlotte Avenue areas. In August 2025 he sold the Broadway building to Jesse Lee Jones and Emily Ann Jones, owners of the neighbouring Robert's Western World, for their expansion, saying he was confident the venue's legacy was in good hands. The Trinity Lane and Charlotte Avenue restaurants remained open.

Cawthon was known around Nashville for his signature hats, including the riverboat hat he wore on the opening day of the first restaurant. His restaurant's history recalls that on the day he signed the lease for his first business, his wife told him she was expecting their son, Jay. Jay Cawthon began working full time in the business at 16, rose through every position in the restaurants, became chief operating officer, and later took over day to day operations.

The artist Ron Sweeney, who painted Cawthon's portrait for the restaurant billboards for decades after meeting him around 1983, called him "so Tennessee" and "so Nashville" and described him as the most loyal friend.

Cawthon is remembered as one of the small group of independent operators who reinvested in Lower Broadway before it became one of the busiest entertainment districts in the United States. His flying pigs sign, born of a quip in a council debate, became a Nashville landmark and, according to Ron Sweeney, helped create the neon look the street is known for today. Earlier in 2026 Sweeney unveiled a large portrait of Cawthon seated inside the Broadway restaurant with the shadows of the three pigs behind him; it hangs at the Charlotte Avenue restaurant. On seeing it, Cawthon said, "I think it catches my time on Broadway." His restaurants continue under his son Jay.