By many measures, barbecue joints should be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

After all, most joints have staff on site all day, either cooking, prepping or serving. Why not just keep the doors open continuously and if someone wanders in in the middle of the night, have the pit team do double duty and serve them a basic menu of chopped beef sandwiches or a rib or sausage plate.

GUIDE: The best barbecue in Houston

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Genius business idea, right? Surprisingly, though, there are very few barbecue operations serving smoked meats around the clock.

You might include Buc-ee’s in the list, as there are some locations open 24 hours. But I’ve never been to a Buc-ee’s at 3 a.m. to check if they still have pre-wrapped chopped beef sandwiches in the warming cabinet.

By my count,........

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