The brothers Fawcett chortled in unison through the speaker phone when asked how their enterprise became known – of all things – as Lou Lou’s Smokehouse. They operate a food truck, after all, and none of them is named Louis.

“Our mom is Cindy Lou,” Taylor said. “Our dad teases her by calling her Lou Lou, and she hated it. We were joking around and Mike said, ‘Hey let’s call (the business) Lou Lou’s.’ That had such a good ring to it, so we went with it. Now our mom likes it.”

Cindy Lou Fawcett’s endorsement made everything more palatable for her sons – Kris, Taylor, Mike and Andy – and her husband, Tom. The siblings are co-owners of Lou Lou’s, a business they launched in September 2018 and operate primarily in and around Washington County.

They have a distinctive white truck with black lettering and a tan underscore, which is usually parked in or near Bentleyville. They also cater private events.

Smoked meats are their specialty, which seems natural. The Fawcetts have a beef cattle farm in Somerset Township, and Tom is a butcher. So they have a meat supply, supplemented by outside wholesale purchases, and a father who knows how to prepare culinary delights.

“At cookouts, everyone raves about what he makes,” Kris said.

The sons picked up their dad’s skills at the farm, which has been in the family since 1947, and are now marketing their products.

“We make our own kielbasa and sausages,” Taylor said. “The hot dogs have bacon and cheese inside. We don’t just do barbecue.”

Cheesesteak sandwiches, kielbasa reubens and sides such as jalopeno cheese sticks and macaroni and cheese are among other items on an extensive menu.

The brothers, who range in age from mid-20s to mid-30s, are gratified by the public response to their endeavor. The food truck’s Facebook page lists 2,636 likes and 2,751 followers.

“We get tremendous feedback on our products,” Kris said. “You can count on one hand the complaints we’ve gotten.”

Although the food truck can be spotted at events, including a Civil War reenactment in Brownsville in mid-May, Taylor said the owners have not participated in large-scale events throughout the region. “We try to do certain places on certain days of the week,” including Charleroi and Eighty Four.

Kris said the business has had the proverbial ups and downs, the downs largely related to the pandemic. But there has been a rebound.

“We did really well at the end of 2019, and it’s been so far, so good this year,” he said. “It’s still steady.”

The brothers wanted to get into the food service industry three years ago, but a food truck was not foremost on their minds initially. They were thinking restaurant.

“Kris liked the idea of a food truck,” Taylor said. “He said there was a food truck craze, so we took that route.”

The four Fawcetts, however, have not abandoned the restaurant route. They are considering possible locations around the Interstate 70 corridor near Bentleyville and in Eighty Four. Taylor said they are hoping to accelerate those plans by the end of this year or in 2022.

“We’re happy with where we are,” Taylor said, “but we do what to get a brick-and-mortar location. We have plans to make Lou Lou’s a household name. Want to expand with Lou Lou’s hot dogs the way Isaly’s chipped ham has expanded.”

Several years earlier, the four Fawcetts were involved in another craze: the oil and gas industry. They all worked at well sites during the natural gas boom, and despite working 14-hour shifts and longer, did OK for a while. Then boom went bust in 2015, and the downturn dropped the price of oil to $10 a barrel, forcing layoffs and other cutbacks.

The brothers are pleased with their current vocation, striving to increase their visibility and build the business. They are now wearing and selling T-shirts bearing the words “Lou Lou’s Smokehouse – Get You Some,” a slogan that has been on hats they’ve donned since the day they started.

“We’re pleased, but we want to do better,” Kris said.

He and his brothers want their business to be a household name – with the full backing of Cindy Lou Fawcett.