After a tumultuous ride , the operator of a popular barbecue business is one step closer to opening a restaurant where he’s parked his food truck for years.
Joe Menendez, who has been running Joe’s Barbecue out of a food truck for seven years from a corner lot at state Route 43 and Tallmadge Road in Brimfield, has been waiting for the opportunity to turn to a brick-and-mortar establishment for his beloved business.
On Monday, Menendez said he’s finally moving forward with plans to construct and open a Joe’s Barbecue restaurant in the same lot where his food truck has operated.
“This is gonna be cool as hell. I PROMISE,” Menendez said in a Facebook post announcing his construction plans.
A building on the site is being razed and removed in preparation for construction.
“There’s a million small things that go into running a restaurant out of a food truck that people don’t know about,” Menendez told the Beacon Journal. “Having actual walls to where when it’s raining, we don’t have to worry about all our bags and stuff getting wet if the rain blows in the window. All that stuff is gonna be so nice.