From the legendary stages of Southern rap to the bustling kitchen of his Houston restaurant, Bernard “Bun B” Freeman has mastered the art of building lasting legacies. The UGK co-founder, who helped define Southern hip-hop culture alongside the late Pimp C, has channeled that same entrepreneurial spirit into creating Trill Burgers, a restaurant that serves up more than just food, it’s a cultural experience rooted in Houston’s diverse community.
The Rice University lecturer and five-time solo album artist has transformed his understanding of loyalty, teamwork, and authentic representation into a thriving business model. In this candid conversation, Bun B reveals the philosophy behind his restaurant empire and how he’s creating opportunities for second chances while staying true to his Houston roots.
What’s it like being CEO at Trill Burgers?
I have one of the best jobs in the world. I’ve been able to put together a great ownership collective with myself, my partners Andy and Nick. We brought in a great operations team led by the creators of Trill Burgers, Fernando and Chef Mike. We’ve been blessed to have people who believe in this company like we do. Who feel like they have a dog in this race being a part of this. Understand not just what we want for this burger, but what my legacy that precedes this really means to the city and myself.
A lot of these people who work for this company take it very, very seriously, much more than just a job, and because of that, we take pleasure in leaving room for growth internally. I would love for everyone that works here to just keep moving up the line into higher positions, and people are. People that started out as parking attendants are now team managers, are now going to be store managers as we grow as a company.
That’s the beautiful thing about being a CEO. We’re a place where we offer second chances to people returning home, trying to assimilate back to society. We have employees looking for a second chance, we’re a company that can provide that type of opportunity for people. If you stand around this restaurant, you’ll see white people, you’ll see black people, you’ll see Asian people, you’ll see young people, you’ll see old people. You’ll see that every single day. Houston is one of the most diverse cities in America, and I wanted to make sure that we built a company that allowed entry points for those people.
What were the mandatory decisions when building your team that led to your success?
Well, first thing people have to do is understand that they’re representatives of me as a person, as an artist, and I’m a very personable person, I’m a very polite person, I’m a very kind person. So that’s one of the things that we look for. People have to be as cheerful and kind as possible.
I’m not in a great mood today, I got a lot of things going on, but I’m at work, and that’s not for y’all to deal with, that’s for me to deal with. So when I come here and I step into this building, I’m prepared to smile, host people, make sure they’re having a good time. Help them with whatever they need, point them in the right direction, and so should everyone else that puts on that shirt and that hat and comes in as a representative of Trill Burgers. I realize that this is the service industry, and service is something I’ve always taken very seriously.
What are your three Trill business commandments?
The first thing is, get there early and stay there late. As a CEO, get there early and leave late. You have to lead by example when you own and run a company. You can’t just tell people what you expect of them and then leave. You want to show people what you expect of them. Also, I want to let people know that there’s no job here that I’m asking anyone to do that I haven’t done or will do.
This is a great company, we offer great incentives. We have a great team, we’re very respectful, it’s a very inclusive environment. So I don’t think outside of paying people a livable wage and giving them a respectful work environment other than that, that’s on you. The most important thing is to hold your coworkers down, hold your team down.
And that doesn’t just mean on the clock. We have been here long enough as a company to see people get together, we fund families out of Trill Burgers. People have had great ups and we’ve had some people that, unfortunately, have had some serious downs. And so when people can’t be here to be a part of this, we don’t just leave them. If somebody’s not well enough to work, we check on them. Someone will go and see them, we’ll call them. Make sure their spot’s always available to them. This always has to be a home for people that helped build this house.
If you were giving a commencement speech, what would be the title and your three key messages?
I would probably title my speech “Third Ward for Life.” Because I married a woman from Third Ward, TSU sits in the heart of Third Ward right next to Yates High School, which is a very, very strong high school with a very strong sense of pride and identity in that community. And the people that tend to go to TSU end up adopting Third Ward as a second ward.
But I think if I had to tell three kids coming out there is one, you have to know how to believe in yourself more than anyone else. No one is supposed to wake up in the morning and motivate you. They can wake up in the morning and support you. They can give you ideas. They can give you hope. But no one is supposed to make you want to get out of bed to chase your dream more than you.
So everything that you want in life, it starts with you. Everything you’re chasing in life is on the other side of everything you’re scared of. The things you’re scared to do, the places you’re scared to go, the company that you’re scared to keep, all the knowledge that you’re scared to attain. Everything that you’re scared and fearful of is exactly what’s stopping you from getting where you’re trying to go.
And the third thing, the most important thing is to have some kind of higher power to believe in, because even we as humans are fallible and typically will fall to the wayside and not have enough internally to get us through these things. That’s where some kind of higher spiritual power comes in, whether’s Christianity, Judaism, Islam, whatever religion or higher power you choose.
Why is maintaining loyalty to your late partner Pimp C so important to you?
I mean, we live in a very short, intense, bad society right now, and things get forgotten very easily. Songs, movements, trends, fashion, jewelry, cars, all of those things tend to shift and cycle out of favor. But loyalty should never be something that falls out of favor. And friendship is something that doesn’t die if one of the friends does.
That’s something that’s been very important to me. I stand as an example of how everything I do now is only available because of the sacrifices I made with my brother, Chad. To be very honest, I also deal with a lot of survivors’ guilt, but I can take pride in knowing that I did right by my brother while he was here, and that I continue to do right by my brother even after he’s passed.
What advice do you have for CEOs to stay mentally sharp?
You’ve got to read. You’ve got to read, and the reason I say that is because everybody assumes that the journey they’re on and the path they follow is unique to them. The choices you make along that path may be unique, but you’re walking roads that people walked before you.
I try to read a lot of memoirs, a lot of autobiographies, a lot of people who are telling their real life story themselves. Because once someone’s gone, you’ve got to try to get the story in bits and pieces from people who may be trying to insert themselves into someone else’s legacy. It’s very important that I’m aware that I’m not the first person to try to build something in this way.
But at the end of the day, to stay focused, you have got to stay well read. Everybody I’ve talked to that has taken a company from one to five to 12 to 40 to 100 to 250, it’s always been about reading and understanding what people did before you, finding out what applies, and then figuring out the rest as you go.
How do you fit into Houston’s competitive food scene?
I had a food vlog for many years, and I really wanted to get into the business, and I wanted to expand in the space. But I didn’t really understand the relationship that chefs have with their food and what the real intention was beyond taste. I remember sitting with Philip Speer, and Philip was like the same way that you use music to express yourself and export your culture out to the world, that’s what we do with food. Like, I look at every dish like a song. I look at every meal like an album.
I’m a Houstonian, so I’ve got to do right by the city with food in the way that y’all did right by the city with music. So once I decided to go into the business of creating, cooking, and selling food, I had to keep that intention that those chefs taught me about in mind. Because in the same way that they didn’t want to misrepresent the city and their space, I didn’t want to misrepresent the city and the space that I had been used to, this was a new space.
But luckily, these people gave me a lot of great advice. They point us in a lot of directions as far as resources, getting equipment, permitting things that we needed during pop-ups, all the way up to opening these recent burgers. Because they realized that this food was real. They realized that this concept was legitimate and that we were going to get a lot of attention.
So we all got to hold each other down because at the end of the day, if we win, the city wins, and that’s all we want is to make Houston look right. That’s all we ever want. With the music, the food, everything, we just want to make sure the city look right.
Whether he’s dropping bars in the studio or flipping burgers in his restaurant, Bun B continues to represent Houston with the same authenticity and dedication that made UGK legendary. His transition from rap royalty to restaurant mogul demonstrates that true entrepreneurship isn’t just about building businesses, it’s about building communities, creating opportunities, and staying loyal to the values that got you there. In a world where trends come and go, Bun B’s commitment to his city, his team, and his late partner’s memory remains as solid as ever, proving that being “trill” extends far beyond the music.
