which is bottled and sold on the Internet

Presidential candidates ate at Jenkins Quality Barbecue, renowned for its secret mustard-based sauce. So have tens of thousands of others in the 55 years since its founding in Northwest Jacksonville.

Melton Jenkins Jr. loved opening new businesses and over the years, operated six barbecue restaurants.

He died Jan. 2 of pneumonia after a long illness. He was 89.

“My father was an entrepreneur at heart,” said his daughter, Meltonia Jenkins-DuBois. “He opened his first restaurant with the grace of God, $125 and a dream.”

He loved people and once gave a man with no shoes the ones off his own feet, Jenkins-DuBois said. At his visitation, friends spoke of how he gave to others, she said. He contributed to such groups as the Boy Scouts and Little League and once donated property to Edward Waters College. He mentored young men and helped some finish college, his daughter said.

The Jacksonville native quit school in the 10th grade. When Jenkins-DuBois was 10 years old, her father went to night school and did so well that he earned his diploma in one year.

Mr. Jenkins worked at the Jacksonville Shipyards and in the 1940s, opened Junior’s Inn, where he sold short-order meals and gained the nickname “hamburger.”

His next venture was a milk route, but he still aspired to open a restaurant. He and wife, Willie Mae, opened their first Jenkins barbecue in 1957 on Kings Road near Spires Avenue. At the time, he was working at St. Regis Paper Co. With the double load, he was getting little sleep but continued for two or three years until he could afford to quit the mill.

“I think he was successful because he was a very spiritual man,” said Jenkins-DuBois, adding that he was always reading the Bible and underlining verses. “He relied on God rather than his own ego. We went through recessions, but the grace of God kept us going.”

Mr. Jenkins also made good decisions, she said. While he leased the first restaurant, now closed, he subsequently bought his buildings. There are now three locations: 830 Pearl St., 2025 Emerson St. and 5945 New Kings Road.

He also kept the menu simple — ribs, chicken, pork, beef, wings and a handful of sides. Just as it has been for 55 years, it’s cooked over an oak wood-fired pit and wrapped in butcher paper. It’s basted with her grandfather’s secret mustard-based sauce, which is bottled and sold on the Internet.

Mr. Jenkins retired in the late 1990s, but his daughter has carried on as president and CEO. In all, four generations have been involved in the business.

Her mother, who died in 1983, was a good baker. But Jenkins-DuBois said she preferred her father’s cooking because he spiced the food well.

He is also survived by two otherdaughters, Wilhelmina Brown and Pamela Jenkins of Jacksonville; a brother, Van Jenkins of Jacksonville; seven grandchildren and four great grandchildren. The funeral was at First New Zion Missionary Baptist Church at 4835 Soutel Drive.