Dreamland Bar-B-Que

Dreamland Bar-B-Que was established in the Jerusalem Heights neighborhood near Skyland Boulevard in Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa County, in 1958, by Tennessee-native John “Big Daddy” Bishop. From the beginning, he worked with his wife, Lillie, and sold ribs. Amid prevalent racial segregation in the 1950s, the Bishops turned his recurring dream about running a café into a successful restaurant, which has now multiple locations in Alabama and in Georgia.

John “Big Daddy” Bishop was born in 1921 and grew up in segregated Alabama, aspiring to own his own business. In 1958, he quit his job as a cement finisher and opened Dreamland. John had literal, repeated dreams of a better life, in which he ran a café and waited on customers. So, he decided to go into business, and the Bishops built their original restaurant and family home on their own land. When the Bishops opened the restaurant, John did not have any training as a cook; Lillie, however, had a reputation as an excellent cook. They tried many things before settling on barbecue. In the beginning, they sold hamburgers and cheeseburgers, and other grilled items, as well as fried fish. Their ribs were the runaway best sellers. Eventually, the Bishops scrapped the other menu items to offer only ribs, served with white bread and potato chips.

In Tuscaloosa, the two most prominent barbecue restaurants, Dreamland Bar-B-Que and Archibald’s BBQ, use direct-fire methods that cook ribs faster than is typically done in other barbecue joints and other regions of the United States. Dreamland cooks their ribs on more-direct heat, where they cook to completion in about 45-55 minutes. As such, Tuscaloosa-style ribs defy the low-and-slow methods used elsewhere. In 1988, Tuscaloosa News feature writer Mark Hughes Cobbs profiled the Bishops and their restaurant for an article in New York Times. He pointed out that Dreamland had become a regional favorite in Tuscaloosa despite competition from, at the time, 15 other barbecue joints for a county with only 80,000 people. Although the Bishops’ original restaurant remains a small humble restaurant surrounding a cinderblock pit, Dreamland Bar-B-Que has turned into a regional chain and the ribs have garnered a following that cut across racial lines.

Dreamland Ribs

Throughout Dreamland’s history, its ribs have been especially popular with students at the University of Alabama. Among the many students who loved the restaurant, Bobby Underwood took his love for ribs to another level. After working as a dentist, Underwood approached the Bishops about opening up another location. John advised him to talk to his daughter, Jeannette Bishop Hall. In 1993, Hall and Underwood worked together to open a franchise in Birmingham, Jefferson County. As Dreamland has added new locations, it has also expanded its menu. When Dreamland opened a location in Mobile, Mobile County, in 1996, it began selling side items like baked beans, coleslaw, and potato salad.

After John and Lillie Bishop died in 1997, their children, John Bishop Jr. and Jeanette Bishop Hall, took over the operations. In 2000, Underwood’s daughter, Betsy McAtee, joined the Dreamland team and rose through the ranks until becoming the chief executive officer (CEO). When McAtee joined Dreamland, she worked as director of marketing and purchasing. In 2010, she became CEO; since then, she has continued to grow the Dreamland brand.

A few years earlier, in 2006, a Dreamland Bar-B-Que advertising campaign earned the company more state and national fame. The ad firm Sullivan-St. Clair created a campaign to elect John “Big Daddy” Bishop as the state’s governor. Per the advertisements, Bishop ran as a member of the “Dinner Party” and a promise to “Keep the Pork in Politics.” The advertising firm, which runs out of Montgomery, Montgomery County, earned honors as Best Promotion of 2006 by Nation’s Restaurant News.

As of 2026, Dreamland had two locations in Tuscaloosa, including the original site in Jerusalem Heights; two locations in Birmingham; two locations in Montgomery; and one location each in Mobile and Huntsville, Madison County. Beyond the state’s borders, Dreamland has locations in Duluth and Roswell, Georgia. In addition to these restaurants, Dreamland sells a variety of products online and at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa and Birmingham’s Regions Field.