Jimmy Edward Riscky started working in the family business, Riscky’s Grocery & Market, in 1954, alongside his father and grandfather as a “Bottle Boy”. He moved the empty soft drink bottles that customers returned to the store in cases in the back so the soft drink company could reuse them. Jim often joked “it was our version of recycling”.



Jim grew up in the supermarket learning to do all the tasks necessary to keep it successful, eventually becoming a butcher as his father and grandfather had been. In the late 1970’s, Jim built the first wood fired steel pit, the same pits used to serve all of Riscky’s barbeque today.

Jim became a self-described “workaholic”, working at the grocery and barbeque business Monday through Saturday and cutting wood to sell on Sundays.

In 1982, Jim married the love of his life, Norma. Soon after, they started the transformation of Pete Riscky’s Grocery into the Riscky’s barbeque restaurant as it exists today. Riscky Barbeque is today a Texas legend! Still family operated, with a 92 year history and over 400 employees.

Jim played a key role in development of both Sundance Square location and the Fort Worth Stockyards location. He opened restaurants in both these locations early in the development and they are still operating today. The Riscky’s Sundance Square is the oldest continuous restaurant in the area. The Riscky’s Steakhouse location is the oldest restaurant in Fort Worth, something which made Jim very proud.

Although Jim was usually thinking of business, he loved to fish and be on the water. He could often be found trying to outsmart the fish in the waters of Port Aransas or below his beloved home on Eagle Mountain Lake. He was a Scottish Rite Mason.