To paraphrase Mark Twain, the news of JR's Texas BBQ were greatly exaggerated, reports Allen Pierleoni in the Sac Bee.

Rothenberger got a reprieve in the form of a $20,000 personal loan "from a friend" and will continue to deliver hard-to-find smoked brisket, deeply flavored pork and beef ribs, pork shoulder, chicken, turkey and hot links. "The Lord has worked this out," he said. "I'm cool..."

That combination - plus Rothenberger's stack of previously unpaid bills and an approved $156,000 loan that was canceled - brought him to the verge of his own fiscal cliff.

"A lot of businesses have the same problem I do, but don't say anything," he said. "(The big customer turnout) happened when I told my daughter, 'Honey, I may have to close in five days because I don't have enough money.' So she called (the media) and every TV station came out.

"(Consequently) I had a line (of customers) out the door (at the main store) for four hours on Friday," he said. "It was the biggest day we've ever had. I almost ran out of brisket. Saturday was nearly the same. All day long I had hugs and kisses and people saying, 'J.R., we are not going to let this put you out of business, you've got the best thing on the planet. We're going to be here as much as we can.' I'm packed right now, and this is a Monday. My other two places did well (over the weekend), too, but everybody wants to come here and see me."

Read the entire story in the Sac Bee.

While I'm sure the owner of JR's Texas BBQ is glad to have people coming in the door, it looks like the real reason his business survives is the $175,000 in loans and loan forgiveness that he's received in the last week. Based on the numbers he's provided the media, that's about equal to about 3.5 months of revenue. Let's hope business turns around for him before time runs out again.

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