As participants in the Houston Rodeo cook-off for 32 years, Big Bertha’s Barbeque owners Abel Nuncio and Adriana Nuncio said anyone can smoke barbecue. However, their passion for cooking and commitment to quality ingredients, paired with their famous baked beans, sets the eatery apart from other barbecue joints.

Quote of note: “Really, it comes from right here ... from your heart,” Abel Nuncio said. “I always look at it like this: If you're going to get into barbecue or even cook-off teams, if you're doing it for the money, you're in the wrong position.”

From competing in rodeo cook-offs to being a Cy-Fair favorite, Big Bertha’s Barbeque started as a catering company in the early '90s and opened a brick-and-mortar location in the Cy-Fair area in 2019.

Craving barbecue? Aside from a personalized customer service experience, at Big Bertha, the Nuncios said customers can expect fresh barbecue smoked daily. With several smoked meats offered, Big Bertha’s serves:

• Brisket

• Housemade sausage

• Pulled pork

Kick Hot Chick'n is planning to bring Nashville-style chicken to Cypress on Fry Road come October, real estate representatives at RESOLUT RE confirmed.

At a glance: Kick Hot Chick'n serves southern chicken sandwiches, hand-breaded tenders, milk shakes, Dirty Sips and a wide range of sauces, per the website.

Kick Hot Chick'n currently has one operating location in Groves, but is planning to open additional locations in Richmond and Rosenberg, according to the website.

• Opening October 2026

Housing costs in Houston are more affordable than the national rate, and due to population growth, the demand is greater, according to an economic report by the Greater Houston Partnership.

During its Midyear Economic Update on Aug. 5, GHP Director of Economic Research Chris Baker presented the organization’s findings on housing trends in the past 12 months in Houston.

Breaking it down: Houston’s overall inflation is about 0.8% compared to the United States’ 4%, which Baker said ties to housing.

“Locally here, we're a bit more insulated from overall price changes,” Baker said. “Housing continues to get more expensive around the rest of the country, but as of the most recent reading, we have essentially flat year-over-year housing-related price increases in Houston, which is helping to keep Houston more affordable than many other metros.”

Holly Heard, senior vice president of research at GHP, said most of the growth has been pushed into the suburbs. She said immigration has been a big factor in metro population growth, though it has slowed due to federal policies.

Biopharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb has selected Generation Park for its new $2.3 billion manufacturing campus, officials announced in an Aug. 10 news release. The project is expected to bring nearly 500 jobs to the Lake Houston area.

The big picture: The state-of-the-art 600,000-square-foot campus will enable BMS to manufacture multiple types of medicines, such as small molecules, biologics and antibody-drug conjugates. Per the release, the campus will be modular and multimodal to support long-term growth and allow the campus to evolve as needed.

The impact: Jobs created by the new campus will include operations technicians, production specialists, maintenance and engineering professionals, quality control and assurance experts, and site leadership and administration. Per the release, BMS also expects to create approximately 2,000 construction and other indirect jobs between 2027-30, while the facility is built.

Some context: Community Impact first reported BMS was considering Generation Park for a new manufacturing campus in May.