According to a story in the Atlanta Business Chronicle, a new barbecue restaurant is coming to Austin in 2013. And this is no ordinary barbecue restaurant; it’s backed by Justin Timberlake. Yup, that Justin Timberlake… The Austin restaurant is part of a 30-city nationwide expansion plan for Southern Hospitality, a Memphis-style barbecue restaurant that first opened in New York in 2007.

Southern Hospitality BBQ Sauce

Restaurant locations in Atlanta and Denver are currently in the works, and Chicago and Austin are planned to open in 2013.

A different story (published last August) in Rolling Stone claims Ryan Tedder, the frontman for OneRepublic, also has his hands in the project and intends to bring the restaurant chain to “Denver, Nashville, Dallas, Austin, Houston, New Orleans, Atlanta, Phoenix, Palo Alto, and Washington, D.C.”

“I have been involved with Southern Hospitality BBQ in New York for some time, and I’m looking forward to taking this relationship to the next level,” Tedder said at the time.

Tagged: austin, barbecue, bbq, Houston, Justin Timberlake, Memphis, NSYNC, OneRepublic, Ryan Tedder, Southern Hospitality