Latest news with #Kreuz
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Meet the barbecue leaders behind KXAN's ‘Family Beef' documentary
In Texas' state-designated BBQ capital, two legendary Lockhart families run the town's most iconic barbecue joints as a rising star joins the scene — and all vie for coveted spots on the Texas Monthly Top 50 BBQ list. Explore our project online now and watch the documentary June 5 at 7 p.m. on the KXAN+ smart TV app. AUSTIN (KXAN) — While exploring Lockhart's barbecue legacy, culture and future, we talked with a dynamic cast of characters. Here are some of the voices most prominently featured in KXAN's documentary 'Family Beef.' Helmed by twins Mark and Mike, the Terry Black's brand has expanded to five Texas cities so far with more growth planned. They say their Austin location is one of the busiest barbecue restaurants in the world, serving about 20,000 people a week. Mike initially worked at Black's Barbecue in Lockhart under his uncle, Kent, but according to Mike, they didn't get along. This led the brothers and their father, Terry, to break off and launch their own spot in Austin in 2014. Their venture sparked lawsuits from both sides and created a crack in the family. Kent is a third-generation pitmaster who bought the restaurant from his parents in 2015. Black's began as a meat market in 1932 and has remained in the family since then. From selling snow cones outside the shop as a six-year-old to leading the Black's Barbecue dynasty, Kent has seen his family business — and Lockhart — pioneer Texas barbecue over decades. Before committing to Black's full-time, Kent was an attorney and state prosecutor. That legal expertise resurfaced amid multiple business disputes with his brother, Terry Black, and nephews, Mike and Mark Black. Nina operates Smitty's Market out of Lockhart's oldest barbecue building, which was formerly the site of Kreuz Market. Entering the building is like going back in time, with the walls completely smoked over and the original pit on full display. Nina served as the county clerk for 28 years and inherited the building when her father passed in 1990. Her brother, Rick, got the Kreuz brand. A lease disagreement led Rick to move Kreuz to a new location, leaving Nina to start Smitty's. The dispute has cooled off since Rick's passing, but it remains a defining moment in Lockhart barbecue history. Since its inception in the late 1800s, Kreuz Market passed through a few families and now sits with Keith Schmidt, whose grandfather bought the business from the Kreuz family in 1948. The nephew of Nina Sells of Smitty's Market, Keith was caught in the middle of his father, Rick, and his aunt's business disputes and nationally publicized split. Since taking over the business in 2011 and his father's passing in 2019, Keith has worked to mend his family's relationship with Nina and usher what is likely Lockart's oldest barbecue joint into the modern era. Two years after opening her barbecue restaurant, Chuck has garnered widespread acclaim, from catching the eye of the New York Times to receiving a James Beard Award nomination and Michelin Guide nod. She learned from barbecue legends at Franklin Barbecue (Austin) and Goldee's BBQ (Fort Worth area) before establishing her restaurant in Lockhart two years ago. Pulling inspiration from her Mexican heritage and Rio Grande Valley roots, the Barbs B Q menu reflects the cultural flavors Chuck grew up with — and patrons line up around the block for it. Daniel moved to Dallas in 2001, where he said he became 'enamored' with Texas barbecue almost instantly during one of his first meals in the city. More than 20 years later, he's now the barbecue editor at Texas Monthly with the power to craft the industry's most influential list and catapult barbecue restaurants into the spotlight. The Texas Monthly Top 50 Texas BBQ Joints list comes out every four years. Barbecue's Kingmaker: Meet the man with the final say on BBQ's most important list In preparation, Daniel and his team of tasters narrow down a pool of about 400 places to try. The closer a joint ranks near the top, the more scrutiny and visits it gets from Daniel and Texas Monthly. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Business Insider
07-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
How hedge funds Citadel, WorldQuant, and Freestone Grove are using AI
Executives from Citadel, WorldQuant, and Freestone Grove spoke at the Milken conference about AI. Umesh Subramanian, Citadel's chief technology officer, said AI helps them leverage humans. They warned that funds need to ensure that people are using their tools for their intended purposes. Hedge funds have always been quick to adapt to the latest technology. Given the industry's ultracompetitive nature and large budgets of the biggest managers, big-name hedge funds have built out machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities for years. The jump in AI's applications in recent years, though, still has them excited. Umesh Subramanian, the chief technology officer of $65 billion Citadel, said that applying AI to discretionary investing is where it's getting interesting, as investors and analysts are bombarded with documents, news, filings, and data to digest. "The surface area of the amount of information that you really want to consume is very large," for the average investment professional at his firm, Subramanian said, and AI gives them leverage to do more. "We fine-tune our investment workflow," he said, and mentioned that Citadel's billionaire founder, . To speed up decision-making, Subramanian said that building intuitive tools like chatbots that can be talked to are important because people generally prefer asking questions naturally. The firm is also hiring data scientists and AI professionals to embed them in the fund's various groups to optimize various investment workflows. Andreas Kreuz, WorldQuant 's deputy CIO, said the firm was using AI to expand the data it can bring into its models since it can restructure data from images and audio. "What excites us is beyond the low-hanging fruit," Kreuz said. Still, Subramanian, Kreuz, and Freestone Grove Cofounder Daniel Morillo warned that the tech can be misused. "You need to teach your people to still pay attention," Morillo said, adding that his firm does more work on thinking about how people use a tool than on building out new AI capabilities. Freestone Grove, the fundamental equity firm he launched with former Citadel executive Todd Barker in 2024, also wants to make sure it retains its own views, Morillo said. This means the firm is being intentional about not "killing off" any edge its investors get from doing the grunt work themselves. "It's super important to be highly intentional about how you're using the tools," he said. Kreuz said "we don't think AI is replacing human judgment" and wants employees to question the "black box." "It can produce a tremendous amount of noise instead of signal," he said. Investors' judgment will still be the ultimate differentiator, Subramanian said. "While I think there's going to be a lot of leverage in the system with AI as a tool in the toolbox, I don't think it changes what is making the decision."
