Orlando, FL — June 1, 2026 — Eating slow-smoked brisket while floating down a lazy river in a giant black inner tube sounds like a recipe for a soggy, tragic mess—or, depending on how much you love pork, the absolute pinnacle of Southern summer culture.
Sonny’s BBQ is clearly betting on the latter. Rather than playing it safe with typical light summer salads or predictably bland wraps, the legacy chain is leaning headfirst into comfort, sugar, and grease for their latest seasonal rollout.
Look, we need to talk about the starch-and-meat situation first. The brand is bringing back its highly customizable BBQ Bowls for a cool $11.99.
These things are designed to be heavy. Take the Summer Brisket Bowl, for example: you get chopped brisket piled over dirty rice, topped with street corn, pickled onions, crunchy barbecue chips, and a drizzle of their new, highly experimental Cherry Cola BBQ Sauce. It’s loud. It’s sweet.
And honestly, it’s probably going to ruin your appetite for dinner, but in the best way possible.
If the pre-configured bowls don’t do it for you, the build-your-own engine lets you play mad scientist. You can stack bases like tater tots and mac & cheese with proteins like jalapeño cheddar sausage or cherry cola burnt ends.
To coat it all, they’ve introduced that Cherry Cola sauce—which hits those deep, nostalgic, sugary notes of a classic soda shop glaze—alongside the returning Carolina-style Sweet Vinegar sauce.
It’s a smart play to keep the menu feeling fresh without alienating the old-school purists who want their vinegar kick.
But the real curveball on this menu? The Cherry Cobbler Egg Rolls. It’s a complete departure from traditional Southern baking, taking gooey cherry pie filling, wrapping it in a pastry wrapper, and deep-frying it to a crisp.
Served with whipped cream, it’s basically state fair food that you can order from a drive-thru. It shouldn’t work, but it absolutely does.
To wash down all that salt and sugar, they’ve also whipped up a trio of intensely colorful mocktails:
- Cherry Lemonade: A tart, sweet, and red-white-and-blue-themed refresher.
- Toasted Coconut Soda: Sprite mixed with toasted coconut syrup and a creamy float.
- Blue Razz Blast: An electric blue mix of lemonade, Sprite, and blue raspberry.
Down by the water, the brand is taking things a step further with the Feast & Float initiative.
Throughout the summer, Sonny’s teams will be popping up at major tubing hubs across Florida, Kentucky, and Georgia, handing out barbecue right at the river’s edge. It’s a brilliant bit of experiential marketing.
For a brand that started as a local Gainesville joint back in 1968 under Floyd “Sonny” Tillman and his wife, Lucille, this level of scale is impressive. Today, under CEO Jamie Yarmuth, the chain operates nearly 100 spots across the Southeast and donates over $1.2 million annually through initiatives like “Random Acts of BBQ.”
They’ve managed to grow without losing that neighborhood feel, mostly because they understand their crowd.
They know that when the heat index hits triple digits, people don’t want diet food—they want cold drinks, sticky fingers, and a spot near the water.
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