There is a new barbecue joint in town that will feature some familiar faces to seafood lovers in Marion County.
Catfish Zone owner James Blackmon, along with his son and store manager Richie, is opening Smoke Shack BBQ 2 Go right next door to the weekend favorite. The Blackmon family has invested a lot into opening the barbecue restaurant, building it from scratch.
“We had this old Catfish One unit that had been destroyed by the tornado. It was just sitting out by the house and not doing anybody any good, and we wanted to put it to some use,” James said. “My son Richie mentioned the idea of a barbecue business, and we tossed the idea around and thought it might work. So he and I built this building on the old Catfish One trailer frame. We built the walls and ceiling by hand.”
Richie said the family-run business used to sell ribs at Catfish Zone, which was successful, but the 2014 tornado demolished the smoke shed and never was rebuilt. Now they are opening up Smoke Shack BBQ 2 Go as a separate business.
“It’s a lot more personal now; it’s like my baby. You take it, raise it up and want it to do well. It’s not just the money,” he said. “It’s the experience of building something with family. I’ve gotten closer with my dad by actually being here and working with him side by side.”
The Smoke Shack had its soft opening Friday and plans to hold a grand opening and ribbon cutting in July with the Marion County Development Partnership, though no official date has been set yet.
“We’re going to start out simple, so we can keep control of it,” Richie said. “Basically we’re going to have our St. Louis pork ribs, smoked half chicken and pulled pork. Keeping the menu limited helps us focus on the quality of the food. Our No. 1 aim is to make people happy. If you have a million items and just do an OK job, you may not do as well as you would if you focus on a few items and make them the best you possibly can.”
Richie has been experimenting with different rubs and barbecue sauces for some time and has come up with a homemade recipe for both that he says is a bit of a mix of Memphis and Texas style: “Sweet and smoky with a little bit of heat.” The Smoke Shack will also carry homemade sides of baked beans and potato salad and plans to offer seasonal items as well. Smoke Shack plans to expand the menu with the help of feedback of customers, mentioning chicken wings, chicken liver and gizzards and a smoked rib special.
The Smoke Shack has both a walk-up window and drive-thru but encourages customers to call in beforehand with food prepared to order.
Proceeding into the future, James and Richie both have goals in regards to their business and personal lives. James plans to take a step back in the coming years and let his children take more responsibility in the two businesses, while Richie wants to build the Smoke Shack based on the pallets of customers.
“I’m hoping my wife and I are hoping to back out of the business slowly, enjoy our senior years with a little less work and let the boys take control of the business,” James said. “That’s down the road a little ways but not too far.”
“My goals are for the customers to have a real positive experience and have a real-deal barbecue place that does it really well,” Richie said. “We want to make it so customers keep coming back. With the more input I get from customers, we’ll go with what people want. I want to make customers happy and give them full bellies.”
James’s other son, Jamie, manages Catfish Zone with Richie taking the reins of the Smoke Shack, though both have accumulated plenty experience in the restaurant business outside of the family.
“We’ve both managed a lot of places,” Richie said. “I’ve worked at a lot of restaurants and gathered tidbits of experience and information from every place I’ve worked from big-market barbecue places to small mom-and-pop places like this. All the years of being in different positions in different places, I’ve finally ended up home.”
Smoke Shack BBQ 2 Go will be open Thursday and Saturday from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. and Friday from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m., but will stay open 30 minutes later during the summer.
“We’re excited about bringing in a new product for Marion County and the surrounding areas,” James said. “We have tremendous support from customers already from Catfish Zone, and we anticipate picking up new customers.”
