Mystery Diners · S3 E7
Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que
Fort Worth, Texas
Good outcome here: the business is still trading today.
The short answer
Stockyards-area BBQ restaurant, part of the Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que chain (est. 1953); current hours shown open with active Facebook page.
What happened on the show
Terry Wootan learned that a sauce identical to his family's secret barbecue recipe had turned up on an Arlington food truck, and he suspected the one non-family cook who knew it. Charles Stiles sent mystery diners Ben, Justin and Andy in as a prep cook and business people. As aired, the head cook had shared the recipe with the kitchen but was not the seller; the culprit was Terry's own nephew and manager, Michael. The confrontation has Terry firing Michael, who claims he was only trying to grow his uncle's revenue, and gifting Stiles a cowboy hat. Stiles closes with Michael disowned from the family business and the sauce scare inspiring Terry to bottle and sell it himself. Because Mystery Diners was later accused of scripting these reveals, this recipe-theft sting is best read as broadcast rather than as confirmed.
After the cameras left
Cooper's is still smoking, as a long-running institution rather than a rescued one. This Stockyards-area location of the Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que chain, whose roots run to 1953, shows current open hours and an active page in our 2026 check at 301 Stockyards Boulevard, held at medium confidence on the sourcing. A barbecue name that old was never the vulnerable business the episode implied. It kept running on its own reputation, which is the quiet story behind most of the show's survivors.
Location
301 Stockyards Blvd, Fort Worth TX 76164
More from Charles Stiles
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Sources
Confidence: medium. Last checked 2026-07-19.