The line of people showing up for free sandwiches Wednesday at Joe’s Real BBQ goes out the door and around the side of the historic brick building in downtown Gilbert. And around the back. And loops around the parking lot. And doubles back across the rear of the building.

In all, more than 500 people stand in the late afternoon sun — not counting the 350 who already are inside eating what’s generally regarded as the best barbecue in Arizona. Thanks to a steady stream of new arrivals, the line never gets any shorter.

But now in his ninth year of holding his annual free food day, owner Joe Johnston and his 50-person crew know how to move the line quickly. Using the same streamlined menu as past years — every person is handed a paper plate with a sandwich (pulled pork or chopped beef), beans and cole slaw — a customer is served every five seconds.

At the end of the day, co-owner Tad Peelen tallies up the numbers: a record 5,358 meals given out. That’s a huge increase from the inaugural 1,208 lunches handed out in 2000.

“We’re perfecting the art of giving away free food,” quips Johnston, who holds a similar giveaway at his other Gilbert restaurant, Joe’s Farm Grill, every November. “We have two goals: First, to say thank you to our regular customers; second, to recruit new customers.”

Johnston estimates 30 percent of Wednesday’s diners are new visitors. “We just need to convert 3 percent of those into regular customers to cover our costs for the day,” he says.

Those costs — according to Darryl Jansen, who’s been running Joe’s kitchen since the beginning — include 2,100 pounds of meat (as opposed to 900 pounds on a typical day), 1,800 pounds of beans and 840 pounds of cole slaw.

And even that proves not enough. A couple of hundred people are still in line when the food runs out, but they get $10 gift certificates so they can return for their free meal.

“For the most part, the day goes pretty smoothly,” Johnston says. “Of course, there’s always that 0.5 percent who are mad because we’re not giving away free ribs.”

To see more photos from Joe’s Real BBQ on Wednesday, click any of the images below:

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