Tears Of Joy is Joy Burleson and Brian Rush, a mother and son team, who kept after it for over two decades with great products and friendly customer service.  The shop started in 1999, with a hot sauce shelf on the wall of a restaurant, but the story is older than that.

Joy began the enterprise in 1988.  She was a real estate agent at the time who met a couple looking for a place to live, but struck up a friendship and then a business... making tamales.  The partnership soon went south, but instead of selling off the equipment, Joy got to work, making tamales in her garage.  Her recipe was excellent and quickly popular with her friends, family and husband's office mates.  Jerry and Joy moved O'Shucks Tamales into a commercial kitchen in south Austin to make the best tamales around for over a decade.

After developing the recipes for two years at this first kitchen, O'Shucks secured a deli/kitchen at the Travis County Farmers Market (rip), serving lunch and its signature limeade to the many shoppers there,  In 1991, Brian moved down from Colorado to help Joy with this busy enterprise, becoming the workhorse, and eventually taking over operations.  After three years at this market, O'Shucks found it's final home at the current 6th Street location.

The switch from restaurant to shop came about in 2003, cutting loose the tamale business in order to transform this shop into the landmark that it is today.  Improvements are constant, changes are frequent, you never know what's next in this little slice of heaven.  The internet has been key to the growth of Tears Of Joy, the first site going up in 2000.  Thank you all for tuning in!

Browse the site and drop by the shop if you are here in Austin and holler if you have any questions and/or comments!