Wood Ranch BBQ & Grill Turns 20

As one of SoCal's favorite barbecue places celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, it is worth noting that its original store is in Moorpark.

"Yes, Moorpark was our start-up store," said Alex Benes, director of marketing and communications of . "It's also the smallest because back in 1992, the founders only had $5,000 to decorate it."

One of the founders, Eric Anders, still remembers the day the Moorpark store opened. “We stood at the edge of the parking lot just before we opened and we counted a total of six cars go at dinnertime," he said, "and we can laugh a little bit about it now."

Since then, the Agoura Hills-based chain has grown to 14 locations including Ventura and Camarillo in Ventura County. The rest are in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties.

To celebrate its 20th year, Wood Ranch has partnered with Share Our Strength's "No Kid Hungry" campaign and will contribute a portion of guests' checks to help end child hunger.

In addition, for 20 weeks, every Wood Ranch restaurant will hold a weekly drawing giving away a $50 gift card, starting the week of May 7.

In a press release, Anders said, “We just thought it would be better to celebrate by giving back to our guests and to our community."

“More than a million children in Southern California go hungry every day,” said the father of two. 

Co-founder Ofer Shemtov added, “We’ve always contributed to good causes in the communities we serve and

"Now we've expanded that effort so that we can help focus some attention on a vitally important issue that affects all of us," said Shemtov, the father of three.

Guests are invited to "like" Wood Ranch on Facebook and print a certificate that can be taken to any Wood Ranch location for the donation and drawing.