Building the perfect barbecue joint: location
Editor’s note: This is the eighth article in a series in which J.C. Reid provides advice to aspiring entrepreneurs on how to build the perfect barbecue joint. Previous articles addressed service style , smokers, brisket, sausage, pork ribs, physical structure and wood; today’s focus is location.
“Location, location, location” is a mantra used by real-estate agents when advising a chef or restaurateur about where to open a new restaurant. They often recommend a busy and highly trafficked location in urban environs. The thinking goes like this: It’s hard enough to get the attention of a dining public faced with a dizzying number of options. Advertising is expensive. By choosing to operate on a busy thoroughfare, the restaurant’s façade and sign act as advertising — essentially you are using part of your restaurant’s lease payment as your advertising budget.
Choosing a barbecue-joint location is a bit different. Opening on a busy thoroughfare certainly imparts the same advertising benefits as it would for a traditional restaurant. But many pitmasters are starting their business on a shoestring budget, and highly visible real estate may be out of their price range.
Fortunately, the aspiring barbecue entrepreneur can take advantage of several unique aspects of his or her audience and market.
First, there is a long tradition of Texas barbecue joints in rural, off-the-beaten-path areas. This, combined with the smoked-meat fanatics’ tendency to travel far and wide for the best barbecue, makes the location of a barbecue joint much more flexible than a typical restaurant.
Snow’s BBQ is a perfect example. Considered by many to be the best barbecue joint in the world, it is in Lexington, a tiny cow town east of Austin. It’s not even on the town’s main thoroughfare. And yet once a week — it’s open only on Saturdays — barbecue fans from around the world make the pilgrimage to stand in line for a taste.
That’s not to say the location mantra doesn’t apply to barbecue. In the urban areas of Houston, a place like Pizzitola’s surely benefits from its location on a busy stretch of Shepherd near Interstate 10. Similarly, the soon-to-open Truth BBQ chose a prime plot at the intersection of Washington and Heights Boulevard.
There are other costs/benefits to consider when choosing a barbecue-joint location. For instance, building codes usually aren’t as strict in rural areas as in cities. Without all the red tape, it is generally less-expensive, and faster, to open outside the city limits.
I once visited Smitty’s Market in the small town of Lockhart near Austin. I placed my order, collected my tray of meats and sat at one of the long communal tables to eat. I struck up a conversation with my tablemate, who turned out to be the mayor of Lockhart. When the mayor is a regular customer, it might make cutting through red tape a bit easier.
Parking is another factor. In an urban milieu, you can be in the most highly-visible location, but if you don’t have enough parking, you’ll go out of business. Rural locations, of course, offer more room to spread out. The parking lot at The Swinging Door in Richmond is so big that oil-company executives have arrived by helicopter for lunch.
For the budding pitmaster on a shoestring budget, location often comes down to local connections. Opening in a spot — whether urban or rural — where you have the support of friends, family and an active business community is crucial.
An example is CorkScrew BBQ in Spring. Owners Will and Nichole Buckman grew up in the area and leveraged personal and business connections to acquire a prime location and building in Old Town Spring. The restaurant has a rural feel in a rapidly urbanizing area of Harris County. As a location for a barbecue joint, it’s the best of both worlds.