Clay Waliski of Carlisle said his grandfather Cleo Ferguson, who started Nick’s Bar-B-Q & Catfish, always referred to it as being world famous. Waliski has witnessed that firsthand.
Waliski, now one of the owners of the restaurant, along with his uncles Todd and Craig Ferguson, was recently appointed to the Arkansas State Board of Health.
Waliski and his wife, Lauren, who travel often, were out of the country when they came across several people who knew all about Nick’s.
Waliski said he has “a lot of Nick’s T-shirts,” and he wears them when he is traveling.
“We were in Amsterdam and just had a long overnight flight. We were on our way to the Republic of Georgia. I had a pullover on and took it off because it was so hot in the airport.”
Waliski was wearing a Nick’s T-shirt when an older couple from the Netherlands approached him after seeing his shirt.
“He could barely speak English,” Waliski said of the man. “He had his cellphone. A week earlier, they had gone to Memphis to go to Graceland. Then they decided to go to Little Rock to visit the Clinton Presidential Center. And he’s showing me pictures on his phone, and I happen to see our restaurant and the food.
“Talk about a small world. It kind of illustrates that point.”
Less than a month ago, the Waliskis were in the Azores, a group of islands in the Atlantic Ocean near Portugal. They were attending a parade for a religious holiday when they met a person who lived there.
“Naturally, I didn’t know what to wear to a parade, so I’m wearing shorts and my Nick’s shirt. I run into this guy who is from the United States who is living there. He sees my shirt and asks: ‘Have you been to that place? I used to drive trucks, and that was one of my regular stops.’
“I told him, ‘Sir, what if I were to tell you that I’m one of the owners and that my granddad started it years ago?’ I would have thought he met Tom Cruise or something. He was just elated. What are the odds that I’m on this beautiful remote island in the middle of the Atlantic and run into a guy who used to drive a big truck and had us pinned as a regular stop? It’s pretty crazy to think about.”
Waliski was appointed to the health board to replace Mary Beth Ringgold, who owns Capers Restaurant and the Copper Grill in Little Rock. Ringgold was the longtime owner of Cajun’s Wharf, which closed in June. Waliski was one of four people appointed to the board in August.
His term will end Dec. 31, 2021.
“I was approached a couple of months ago about it,” Waliski said. “I wanted to make sure it was something I could devote the proper amount of time to. Obviously, when you’re asked to serve in any capacity that could help administrators or help people who are in state agencies do their jobs more efficiently and get better information, it is definitely an honor.
“If you’re being called on and it’s something that you want to do, then do it.”
The appointment was made by Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
“It was a pleasure to appoint Clay Waliski to the state board of health,” Hutchinson said. “Clay has a passion for people and public service. His experience as a local restaurant owner will be an important perspective on the board, as will his desire to ensure the health and safety of Arkansas.”
Waliski said he will attend an orientation session for the board later this month.
“You basically go over what you can and can’t discuss in public, things like that,” he said. “I’m not exactly sure what every part of it entails. That’s something to learn in a few weeks and get a better idea.”
Waliski is taking a spot on the board that is reserved for a restaurant owner.
“If I do something, I want to do the best possible job,” he said. “It’s a public position. I’m a small cog in a big machine.”
Waliski is a 2000 graduate of Carlisle High School. He has a bachelor’s degree in business management from Harding University in Searcy and a master’s degree in finance from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
“I’m a lifelong resident of Carlisle,” he said. “I’m a proud Carlisle Bison, Harding Bison and Arkansas Razorback.”
Waliski got into the family business when he was a kid, working with his grandfather and grandmother Dorothy in the original building, which opened in 1972.
“My granddad would bring me to work at a young age,” he said. “He taught me the ropes. I started out washing dishes at the end of the night. I cleaned off tables, emptied the trash, filled up the ketchup — all the stuff we used to do in the original building. Just like everyone else, we all started at the bottom and worked our way up.”
Waliski bought into the business as an equal partner when he graduated with his master’s degree in 2006. The restaurant was already in its second building, which opened in December 1999.
“It wasn’t always my intention to be a part of the family business,” Waliski said. “Given where things were in my life and in my parents’ lives, it made sense to come back and do what I could do to grow our family business.”
Waliski’s mother, Sharon Wilkins, died in April 2012; his father, John Waliski, died in August 2014.
“As fate would have it, having lost both of my parents at a fairly young age, I’m glad I did what I did and stayed close to my hometown and helped make a difference locally, as opposed to moving somewhere far off and being anonymous or not as well known,” Waliski said. “I got to see them a lot more than if I had gone off somewhere else.”
Waliski said his family knew in 2010 that the business was outgrowing the second building, which seated 130 patrons.
“We were leaving money on the table as it pertains to people not wanting to wait a long time to get seated, or maybe like on Sundays, they wouldn’t consider coming out to the restaurant and would go somewhere else,” he said.
The family considered renovating and expanding the second building but eventually decided to purchase land next to the restaurant and build a new one, which opened in March 2018 and seats 220 people.
“There is no wait or very little wait time, unless it’s Mother’s Day or something that is extraordinarily busy,” Waliski said. “We usually can get people in and out and not have an excessive wait to get seated.”
Waliski and his wife, Lauren, have been married for 3 1/2 years, after dating about three years, he said.
“We met at a Bible study in a coffee shop in Little Rock,” Waliski said.
Staff writer Mark Buffalo can be reached at (501) 399-3676 or mbuffalo@arkansasonline.com.