“Making People Happy With Food” at Texas Honey Ham
Over the last twenty years, Texas Honey Ham has been serving up the good stuff to the families, friends, and high school football fans of West Lake Hills, Texas — and to folks all across the Austin area.
“It’s always been community-oriented around here, so we fell right in.”
Texas Honey Ham opened its doors in 2004, when Trent Hunt, Kelly Weiss, and Robert Siller came together to “create a special place. A comfortable place where the community could gather and enjoy good quality food and great service.”
This community hub, just down the road from the widely recognized Westlake High School, is home to an incredible menu of familiar Central Texas favorites and fresh deli fare centered around high-quality ham straight from Sysco.
At Sysco LABS, we build the ecommerce platforms Sysco customers like Texas Honey Ham use to shop for their ingredients online. Every day, we strive to push the food away from home industry forward through technology. We’re always curious to learn from the most innovative – and meaningful – experiences about what helps them succeed.
We sat down with Texas Honey Ham’s own Robert Siller – a Texas native and friendly face behind the passion and pristine quality the restaurant delivers – to talk about how a little perseverance, providing amazing service, and picking great partners has built a cornerstone of their community and beyond!
Jumping Into Opportunity
“We just took off, man. I loved it.”
Before Honey Ham was even an idea, Robert Siller was working the line at Rudy’s Bar-B-Q under general manager Trent Hunt. The two hit it off quickly.
“Trent was my boss back then — this was back in ’02, I think. He left Rudy’s to open this place with Kelly, a lawyer who was looking to do something different.”
Robert didn’t hesitate to jump on board.
“I started helping out their first week open, and for a while I was juggling both jobs. After about six months, they asked me to really come aboard invest. and I had this a savings fund my parents had saved up so I pulled it and bought in. I was 21.”
The team got to work expanding the menu, extending their hours, and building the kind of place people would return to again and again. “We just took off, man. I loved it.”
Joining the Community
“You know what — it hasn’t changed much. It’s always been community oriented here, so we fell right in.”
While some things started changing as business picked up steam – like staying open longer hours and more days of the week to give the people what they want when they wanted it – there’s one thing that hasn’t changed since 2004. Community spirit.
“We always supported the schools, the churches, the local foundations. It all started with us just giving away and sharing a lot of food. We'd hand out tacos at events, cater lunches, sponsor teams. It worked. People remembered us.”
To this day, Texas Honey Ham feeds the press box at every Westlake High home football game – about 60 people per game – and delivers community-supporting deals to schools, sports organizations, and more.
“Our logo’s right underneath the scoreboard over there at the football stadium.”
And, when it comes to taking care of their people, Texas Honey Ham fosters that same sense of community in-house. “A lot of guys who work here now? Their older brothers worked here. They’ve been eating our food since they were kids. It’s that kind of place. A friend of a friend always knows someone and comes by.”
“It worked. People remembered us.”
Partnering With Promise
Sysco has played a key role in Texas Honey Ham’s growth. “We’ve used Sysco since day one. Probably 99% of what we make comes through y’all.”
“We’ve used Sysco since day one.”
Through it all, Sysco LABS and all of our Sysco colleagues have helped make running Texas Honey Ham almost effortless.
“You know, we’ve been here for 20 years and going from the old way of ordering to doing it on your computer, using Sysco Shop, the apps, the online ordering and stuff, it’s so much easier. Just put it in as you go. it's so much easier.”
“…using Sysco Shop, the apps, the online ordering… it’s so much easier.”
“We have our Sysco Studio shop where I can do the price add-on of it. The price analytical part. Now it’s simple stuff. That really helps us keep the business in order.”
And as business operations have evolved, Sysco’s tools have kept things running smoothly.
“That really helps us keep the business in order.”
“Sysco Shop, Delivery, price analytics — all of it helps us stay organized and really dial in our costs. Even being able to see down to the penny of things like what a napkin costs.”
Growing Even Further
Now, Texas Honey Ham is gearing up to open a second location in Georgetown, Texas.
“We’ve looked around before in places like Lakeway, Cedar Park… but timing was never right. Then, in 2023, I found this spot on my drive home. Kept driving by it and it just felt right.”
Georgetown, like West Lake Hills, is deeply community-driven — but on a bigger scale. With nearly 18,000 homes in a 10-mile radius, the new location will give the team a chance to bring their signature flavor and hospitality to even more people.
“I’ve already joined the Chamber of Commerce, reached out to local schools — we’re gonna do everything we did here. Feed the people, support the community, make some good food.”
Even as they grow, at the end of the day Robert keeps it simple:
“We’re here to feed the people and make ’em happy with food. That’s what we’ve always done.”
Find some good food, a great community, and plenty of friendly faces the next time you’re around Austin at Texas Honey Ham.
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