Kleinpeter Farms Dairy reverses pay cuts … VooDoo BBQ casts its spell on Austin

Pastures of plenty: Roughly 200 Kleinpeter Farms Dairy employees who took a 2.5% pay cut in October have now had their salaries restored, says Kleinpeter President Jeff Kleinpeter. A hiring freeze that accompanied the pay cuts at Kleinpeter was lifted this spring. In April, the company announced that if economic improvements continued, the pay cuts would be reversed. Kleinpeter says workers began seeing the restored income on their checks at the beginning of July.

Ramblin’ round: New Orleans-based VooDoo BBQ & Grill, the nation’s fastest-growing barbecue franchise, has staked its first claim in Texas with this week’s opening of the first of five planned restaurants in Austin. It’s only the second location VooDoo BBQ has opened outside of Louisiana. The restaurant chain, which launched on Mardi Gras Day of 2002, has since expanded to include 13 locations, several of which are in the Capital Region.