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Heating Up

By Texas Tech University

December 1^st, 2025

Heating Up

Michael Flores has built on his dreams and lessons from his time at Texas Tech to lead the family business to new heights.

Barbecue is king in Texas, and being recognized as one of the best purveyors in the state is a zenith most will never reach, try as they might.

Qualifying for Texas Monthly’s Top 100 Barbecue Joints is a milestone in itself. Adding the accolade of Top 50 Taco Shop is almost unheard of.

Yet, that is the reality for Lubbock staple Jiménez y Friends Barbecue y Taqueria, which has seen unprecedented success since co-owner and pitmaster Michael Flores merged his passions with the family business.

Flores, who graduated from Texas Tech in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in restaurant, hotel and institutional management, comes from a family that knows food. He grew up feasting on the products of his father’s grilling skills and his mother’s baked goods.

Flores ate anything put in front of him, no matter its origin. He learned to appreciate food and the cooking process, as he watched his mother, Maria, and brother, Mark, continue the legacy of the Jiménez Bakery started by Flores’ grandparents in 1969.

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His formative years continued in the shadow of Jones AT&T Stadium. With a front-row seat to Jimenez’s daily operations and interactions with customers that including Red Raider coaches headed across the street for a quick bite, Flores’ future in food was solidified.

Though his family could make a mean carne guisada (stewed meat), they were less versed in traditional Texas barbecue offerings like brisket or ribs. That meant Flores needed to venture out of his household to satisfy his curiosity.

While he was wrapping up his studies at Texas Tech, he was taking first-year courses smoking meats overnight at The Shack BBQ.

It was those moments, in the wee small hours of the morning, where Flores felt the most tranquility. He fell in love with the crackling of wood, the smell of the smoke and getting to silently ruminate on his own thoughts.

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Flores spent his first postgraduate years in sales, soaking up valuable lessons with an eye still towards the food industry.

He decided to team up with friend Adam Serna, with the support of their partners Courtney and Whitney, respectively, to form the aptly named Friends Barbecue. When they needed somewhere to operate their pit, named Maria after Flores and Serna’s mothers, it was Flores’ mother and Mark who allowed the fledgling startup to use Jiménez’s location at 4606 34th Street.

“Then we just started supplying the business with briskets, beef ribs, sausage, and it started getting intertwined as the years went on,” Flores recalls. “Next thing you know, it just made sense to tangle together, and at that point, there was no going back.”

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In early 2023, a Texas Monthly reviewer stopped in to try Jiménez y Friends’ tacos, and shortly after, the restaurant was named among the top taco shops in the state. Flores and Mark were caught completely off guard.

“We’re texting each other and then we’re like, ‘Oh crap, this is going to be big,’” Flores says.

The restaurant then made its mark statewide in October 2023. They had been invited to participate in Texas Monthly’s BBQ Fest in Lockhart, Texas, where the BBQ World’s Fair was open to businesses not on the magazine’s Top 50 BBQ List.

On that day, Jiménez y Friends sold roughly 1,000 people tacos.

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More than a mere quirk, Jiménez y Friends’ adherence to its familial preference is what makes the restaurant special. It honors Flores’ family’s big hearts for feeding their community and a constant drive from all involved to grow and push each other to be the best possible versions of themselves.

Though Flores didn’t know his exact career trajectory in restaurants while at Texas Tech, he had belief from his professors. Now he’s proving them right by bringing people together over barbecue.

“It’s pushed me to be even more proud of everything that my family and I have accomplished,” Flores says of sharing his successes with his former instructors.

“Because I am the first one with a degree from Texas Tech, and I want to show the next generations that you can go get an education and still serve your community.”

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Footnotes

Photos by Justin Rex. Words by Jayden Smith.

FootNotes

Photos by Justin Rex. Words by Jayden Smith.

© 2026 Texas Tech University

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