MATTHEW COURTER/Sun-Gazette ACME BBQ, 445 Market St., is celebrating its first anniversary under new leadership.

Chris and Amber Snyder have owned ACME BBQ for just a year, but have worked hard to put their own mark on the beloved area establishment.

“I worked part-time at Herman & Luther’s for six years,” Chris explains, “and Herman and George Logue came to me in February 2022 when the person who was previously running ACME stepped away, and asked if I’d be interested in taking it over because they knew my work ethic.”

“We did catering as Lucky Bear before we had this, and I had taken food to George multiple times, so he knew I knew what I was doing. It was one of those opportunities we couldn’t pass up.”

While operating a brick and mortar business has its own set of logistics, Chris and Amber say that so far, it has made things much easier compared to catering.

“Completely different from what we were used to,” Chris says, “because a lot of it was out of our house or an on-site kitchen. It’s just streamlined everything, because we can get deliveries here, versus having to run around and trying to find everything.”

The couple’s goal has been to mix tradition with their own flavor.

“What we’re doing is rebranding ACME to make it our own,” Amber says. “It’s similar to the previous owners, but it’s our own take on things.”

“We’ve changed up the menu a little bit,” Chris says. “We kept some of the familiar things that people really love, but we’ve taken our own spin on some of it.”

The reception from the community in the year that they’ve been running things has been overwhelmingly positive.

“I think everybody’s enjoyed it, we’ve gotten all good reviews,” Chris says, “we haven’t done a ton of advertising, most of it’s been word of mouth.”

ACME’s menu is ever-evolving with new items appearing frequently.

“We updated our menu a couple weeks ago and added a few more things,” Chris says, “a couple different sausages.”

“The jalapeno cheddar Hush Puppies are taking off more than we anticipated,” Amber says.

“We added a couple different egg rolls, like the brisket egg roll, the pulled pork egg roll, and the buffalo chicken egg roll, which is a big seller,” Chris says.

“We have one guy that orders 20 egg rolls at a time, and he’ll eat them throughout the week.”

“Our brisket flies out the door,” Amber says, “just on a Friday, we’ll go through eight to ten briskets, at 10 pounds each. So a hundred pounds of brisket in one day.”

“Our food speaks for itself.”

“When we opened, we created a kid’s menu hot dog named after Tacoma, the first city canine, following the reopening of their canine unit,” Amber adds.

“We have a small town baker, Lyneah Ferrell, of Lyneah’s Sweet Somethings, who we brought on board. So, you not only get your staples, you get the deserts, as well, and everybody looks forward to them.”

“Mondays have proven to be really good for the business, because nobody else locally is open on Mondays, and we do a weekly sandwich special,” Amber says.

Aside from the menu, Chris and Amber aim to add a new dining experience, as well as bringing modern options to their customers.

“We’re looking to do a little kitchen out back so we can do some outside events,” Chris says.

“We started doing DoorDash at the beginning of the year and it’s really taken off,” Amber adds.

DoorDash has allowed ACME to have a broad reach that has stretched from Allenwood up to Jersey Shore. Many of their DoorDash orders have come from local hospitals, where employees don’t have the time to make it in for the lunch hour.

With the holiday season fast approaching, the couple have no plans on slowing down their new offerings.

“We got a lot of requests for Thanksgiving egg rolls,” Amber says, “and we’re in the process of planning to open up for holiday take out orders.”

“We’re looking at doing smoked turkeys for Thanksgiving,” Chris says, “and if I can get them this year, I’d like to do smoked hams for Christmas.”

The Snyders place a heavy emphasis on the local community in both ingredients and collaborating with local businesses.

“We go to Wengerd’s Farm Market in Muncy for our fresh fruit and vegetables for platters and other items,” Chris says, with Amber adding “we get our honey from a friend in Watsontown that has bees.”

“We have a variety of friends that are local, that do things, and we try our hardest to give them exposure,” Amber explains.

“When we first opened, we did a side by side blind judging competition with Dad’s BBQ, at The Hatchet House’ staff for their end of the league party.”

ACME also offers a 10% discount to all first responders.

“We’re a small town community. That’s where we came from, and we won’t forget it,” Amber adds.

For menu options, online ordering, or information on catering, please visit www.acmebarbecue.com.