It may be one of Fort Smith’s best-kept secrets — a local legacy tucked into a yellow box.
Sold in grocery stores and featured at iconic local restaurants like Benson’s Grill, Bruce & Terry’s, and Neumeier’s Rib Room, “Famous Chili” began right here in Fort Smith. Nearly a century later, the fourth generation of the Korkames family continues to produce it locally, even though the product now sells better in Oklahoma and Missouri than in its home state.
Bricks of Tradition
Joseph “Papa Joe” Korkames and his wife, Mary, known affectionately as Mama Jo, opened a Fort Smith café where their signature chili quickly gained a following. The dish proved so popular that Papa Joe began packaging and selling “bricks” of it directly from the restaurant.
The chili is still sold as frozen bricks — boil-in-bag packages made with minimal water and sealed hot to reduce oxygen, giving them an exceptionally long shelf life. What started with wax-lined tins and cast-iron kettles has evolved into boil bags and 400-gallon automated steel kettles — all still made in Fort Smith.
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“It’s the same recipe after 100 years,” said Joseph Korkames, the great-grandson of Papa Joe and the fourth generation to run the business. “We use whole muscle meat. No blending with pork or chicken, no filler, no shortcuts.”
Depending on preference, the chili can be heated in boiling water, in a pot with added liquid, or even in the microwave. Korkames said he enjoys his with chili-ready tomatoes, chopped onions, and maybe a few beans. Recipes and serving suggestions are featured on the company’s website.
He’s also expanding Famous Chili’s presence on social media and exploring new ways to boost sales during slower summer months, including its use in Mexican-inspired dishes.
“At the end of the day, I’m just someone trying to keep my employees happy and paid,” he said. “We’re trying to keep the legacy alive.”
From Lebanon to Fort Smith
Papa Joe immigrated from Lebanon to the United States in the early 1900s with his brothers, Elias and George, eventually settling in Texas. There, he owned movie theaters in Tyler, where family lore says he bought a chili sauce recipe. He added meat and tweaked the seasoning, selling the result in theaters nearly a century ago.
Papa Joe was also an inventor and entrepreneur, patenting fishing gear and candy-making equipment. He sold sweets alongside the chili before eventually moving to Arkansas in the 1920s.
He opened a sandwich shop in Russellville, then relocated to Fort Smith to start the Famous Café — known locally as “The Famous” — near the present-day Northside High School. It became a go-to lunch spot for students and, for a time, Fort Smith’s longest-running restaurant.
The chili’s popularity led Papa Joe to package and sell it commercially, founding the Famous Chili company in 1935. After he died in 1944, his son, Joseph Edward Korkames, took over the business, while Mama Jo moved back to Russellville to operate another café.
A Family Affair
Papa Joe’s three sons — Joseph Edward, Thomas, and George (“Dub”) — each started their chili operations in different states. Thomas was in Oklahoma, Dub was in Kansas, and Joseph Edward remained in Arkansas.
During World War II, all three brothers enlisted — Joseph Edward in the Army, Thomas in the Army Air Forces, and Dub in the Navy. While they served overseas, it was the wives and daughters of the family who kept the business running. They traveled by rail with ice-lined coolers, distributing chili bricks to grocery stores and butcher shops across the state — a crucial effort at a time when refrigerated products could only be transported about 50 miles.
Refrigerated trucking and cross-state distribution came later, but this wartime ingenuity kept the chili flowing and the family business alive.
Later, David Korkames — son of Joseph Edward — led the third generation of the Arkansas branch, working alongside his brothers. Today, Joseph, the fourth-generation heir, runs Famous Chili with the help of his uncle Mike, his dad, cousins Mikey and Scott, and his wife, Zhina, who manages the accounting and occasionally joins him on sales trips and food expos.
“My dad always kind of discouraged me when I was growing up,” Korkames said. “He started doing this at 10 years old, hauling 50-pound flour sacks. His body’s beat up from the work, but he put his seven siblings through college. He built something that still matters.”
A PhD and a Promise
Korkames earned a PhD in business and studied marketing, knowing he’d eventually step into leadership. He was finishing his studies in Spain when COVID-19 hit and found himself isolated in lockdown for four months.
“It was tough being away from family, but I did get better at Spanish, and it’s where I met my wife,” he said, laughing.
Now back in Fort Smith, he sees his role as a steward of both a business and a cultural tradition. “It’s my passion. It’s part of my culture and my legacy. There are so many things wrapped up in it — it’s hard to get away from it.”
He and Zhina hope to someday pass the business on to a fifth generation. “Maybe our kids will want to keep this going,” he said.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Fort Smith’s Famous Chili still going strong after 90 years
