Bill Miller Bar-B-Q New Headquarters and Commissary
Owner: Bill Miller Bar-B-Q
Architect: RVK Architecture
Founded in 1953 (like SpawGlass), Bill Miller Bar-B-Q is a homegrown, family-owned restaurant icon. What began with selling eggs door-to-door evolved into a brand known across Texas for barbecue cooked low and slow over Hill Country live oak, pies baked fresh daily and their famous, patented sweet tea recipe.
For decades, the company operated from its downtown campus, a centralized facility that served the business well as it grew to dozens of locations and thousands of employees. As production demands increased and available space was exhausted, a new facility became essential to support the company’s current and future operations.
SpawGlass-San Antonio took on the construction of Bill Miller Bar-B-Q’s new headquarters and commissary on a sprawling 73-acre site on the west side of San Antonio. From the outset, the project team focused on understanding how Bill Miller Bar-B-Q operates day to day, working in close partnership with RVK Architecture to align function with architectural intent. Time was spent observing existing workflows, production processes and movement throughout the downtown facility to understand where space constraints affected efficiency. That research informed planning and coordination decisions across the new campus, ensuring the facility supports how the business truly operates.
The new headquarters and commissary were constructed through a two-phase approach. The first phase began with significant site preparation due to challenging soil conditions. Approximately 9,000 truckloads of material were imported to stabilize the site. Spaces completed during the initial phase included a 90,000-square-foot dry goods warehouse, loading docks, a vehicle maintenance facility and an expansive pass-through cooler and freezer, which was completed ahead of schedule to accommodate immediate storage needs for upcoming holidays.
Phase two focused on most specialized components of the campus within a 356,000-square-foot tilt-wall facility. Dedicated production spaces include meat processing, sauce production, high-volume potato processing, chicken and seafood preparation, bakery operations and catering preparation. Each space is equipped with mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) systems designed for the room’s specific function. Approximately half of the new facility’s production equipment was moved from the downtown campus, requiring quick relocation and installation to accommodate ongoing operations. The finish-out of these spaces was sequenced with precision, minimizing production delays and providing the Bill Miller Bar-B-Q team with a seamless transition to the new facility.
The new headquarters includes administrative spaces, fitness and wellness areas, locker rooms and an employee cafeteria. Outside the main facility are a two-acre pond, a scenic meadow and a 47,500-square-foot smokehouse with the capacity for 26 smoke pits with a below-grade firebox level designed specifically for smoke and heat generation.
Before the project began, the SpawGlass team committed to Bill Miller Bar-B-Q to do the right things for the right reasons – for the team and the family. “Building trust was essential, both within our team and with Bill Miller Bar-B-Q,” said Project Executive Julie Vollmer. “By understanding their needs and communicating openly, we were able to create an ecstatic client and build a facility that will support their growth and mission for a very long time.”
The completed facility enables Bill Miller Bar-B-Q to double production capacity and expand retail locations while preserving the hands-on approach that defines the brand. From custom-designed smoke pits capable of cooking thousands of pounds of brisket to bakery operations that turn out tens of thousands of pies during peak seasons, the new campus will support long-term growth while honoring the legacy that is Bill Miller Bar-B-Q.