You might have had breakfast at Tops Bar-B-Q. That is, if you were eating a barbecue sandwich or a hamburger after you got out of bed in the morning. Or afternoon. Or night.
But you’ve never been able to order a breakfast breakfast — as in brisket, egg, and cheese — at Tops. Until now.
“Today is the day,” says Tops Bar-B-Q vice president Hunter Brown.
Beginning Sept. 27th, Tops Bar-B-Q is offering a breakfast menu between 6:30 to 10:30 a.m. at its 1286 Union location, Brown says.
“For the last eight weeks, we’ve been in Marion, Arkansas, and Southaven, Mississippi, testing breakfast,” he says.
And, he adds, “When you do something this big, you don’t want to confuse the masses in your customer base.”
Thirteen of their 16 locations are in the Memphis, Bartlett, and Millington area. They will still offer breakfast in Marion and Southaven.
“We’ve got a very unique menu selection — something we think that sets us apart from the rest of the companies doing breakfast, particularly the quick-service restaurants.
“Our menu is based primarily around breakfast sandwiches. We use a buttered toasted bun that fits the protein — meat, egg, and cheese — perfectly. It just melts together. It’s so fantastic.”
And, he says, “We brought in a bigger, better bacon for this.”
They currently use bacon on their cheeseburger, but, Tops wanted a bacon that matches their ground beef, which is delivered daily from Charlie’s Meat Market. “We wanted to match that quality in bacon. And I’m very confident we have.”
Of course, Tops isn’t going to offer any run-of-the mill breakfast sandwiches. “We’ve got some unique items.”
These include the “Smoked Breakfast Bologna,” which is bologna, egg, and cheese; “Brisket and Cream Cheese,” which is a fried egg, melted cheese and Tops’ new Sweet and Saucy barbecue sauce; and “Breakfast BLT,” a fried egg added to the traditional BLT (bacon, lettuce, and tomato).
“And then, of course, Tops can’t roll out any menu without highlighting our world famous cheeseburger,” Hunter says.
Their “Rise and Shine Burger” adds “a fried egg and melted cheese to our already famous cheeseburger.”
What about barbecue, you ask? Tops is offering the “Original Que & Egg Sandwich” — a fried egg, pulled chopped pork, queso, and hot barbecue sauce sandwich. “All melted together on a buttery toasted bun.”
They also offer traditional sandwiches, including “Bacon, Egg & Cheese Sandwich,” “Sausage Egg and Cheese,” and, if you don’t want any meat at all, the “Egg & Cheese Sandwich.”
Heck, Tops also is offering a “Pearl Sugar Waffle” on its breakfast menu. “It’s infused with maple syrup and pearl sugar. It’s the only waffle I’ve ever had that didn’t need anything on the side like syrup or butter.”
And, he adds, “It’s drive-through friendly.” You don’t have to worry about trying to dip it into syrup while you’re trying to drive.
As for extending the breakfast to other Tops locations, Brown says, “Right now it’s still under discussion.”
The Union location was perfect, he says. “Being in the hospital district, being able to feed third shifters coming off and first shifters coming on, it’s something we thought would be great.”
Breakfast ends at 10:30 a.m., but Tops will continue to offer its full menu all day. “We have a lot of third shifters getting off at 6:30, 7 in the morning. It’s their end of day. We’re selling ribs, brisket sandwiches, full menu at 6:30 in the morning. The full menu extends through the rest of the day.”
