A local barbecue enthusiast has taken the city’s growing food tour business to the next level.
Matt Sadler recently launched Richmond’s BBQ Crawl, the area’s first barbecue-based bus tour.
“The idea spurred from an impromptu gathering me and my friends did a few years ago,” said Sadler, an IT consultant by day. “We were trying a few places and comparing them against each other and I thought, ‘Why can’t we rent a bus, have people come on and try them and not have to worry about traveling to these places?’”
The inaugural BBQ Crawl carried people by bus to five Richmond barbecue restaurants. For $50, crawl-goers got to sample a few things from each restaurant’s menu.
Sadler also manages the Marinara Enterprises, an online hub for all things food-related in the Richmond area that he has run for the past few years.
He hosts monthly events across town, such as the Sunday Supper Series, where Richmond restaurateurs host family-style meals and cook a dish from their childhood. The chef then sits down and eats with the guests. Sadler held the first one in March at Bistro 27 and followed up in April with chef Nate Sams of Louisiana Flair and last month at Anatolia Grill in Chester.
Sadler’s isn’t the only food tour in town. Real Richmond, a walking tour of several downtown restaurants, launched last fall.
Sadler started recruiting restaurants to participate in the BBQ Crawl and looking into transportation services about six months ago.
He said he reached out to six different restaurants in the area, and all but one was on board. Each restaurant received $5 per person in advance for the event.
“I kind of told [the restaurants] it’s a marketing event for them and an opportunity to show off their goods to 20-some people,” he said.
A group of 28 showed up for the crawl, which traveled to Grandpa Eddies, Alamo, Q Barbecue, Ronnie’s Ribs Wings and Other Things, and TD’s Smokehouse.
Sadler said he negotiated with several transportation lines and ultimately got WINN Transportation to bite.
Chris Chase, the chef at Q Barbecue in Midlothian, said he jumped to get more people into the restaurant.
“It was a good time for us. [They came in] when the restaurant is usually a little slow,” Chase said. “It’s a good way to generate some sort of revenue.”
Scott Bonds, owner of TD’s Smokehouse in the West End, said he’ll join in as a crawler in the next event.
“I’m a barbecue enthusiast, and I go to different places to try them,” Bonds said. “I would want to do something like that.”
Sadler wouldn’t disclose how much the crawl cost to put together but noted that they managed to come in just above the breaking-even mark.
“The biggest expense was the bus,” he said.
Sadler said he’s looking to do another BBQ Crawl in the fall, but he said for the next one they’d cut the restaurants down to four.
He also said he’s exploring the idea of hosting a pizza crawl as well as an oyster and beer festival if patrons and restaurants are willing to participate.
“As long as there’s demand, we’ll keep doing them,” Sadler said.
A local barbecue enthusiast has taken the city’s growing food tour business to the next level.
Matt Sadler recently launched Richmond’s BBQ Crawl, the area’s first barbecue-based bus tour.
“The idea spurred from an impromptu gathering me and my friends did a few years ago,” said Sadler, an IT consultant by day. “We were trying a few places and comparing them against each other and I thought, ‘Why can’t we rent a bus, have people come on and try them and not have to worry about traveling to these places?’”
The inaugural BBQ Crawl carried people by bus to five Richmond barbecue restaurants. For $50, crawl-goers got to sample a few things from each restaurant’s menu.
Sadler also manages the Marinara Enterprises, an online hub for all things food-related in the Richmond area that he has run for the past few years.
He hosts monthly events across town, such as the Sunday Supper Series, where Richmond restaurateurs host family-style meals and cook a dish from their childhood. The chef then sits down and eats with the guests. Sadler held the first one in March at Bistro 27 and followed up in April with chef Nate Sams of Louisiana Flair and last month at Anatolia Grill in Chester.
Sadler’s isn’t the only food tour in town. Real Richmond, a walking tour of several downtown restaurants, launched last fall.
Sadler started recruiting restaurants to participate in the BBQ Crawl and looking into transportation services about six months ago.
He said he reached out to six different restaurants in the area, and all but one was on board. Each restaurant received $5 per person in advance for the event.
“I kind of told [the restaurants] it’s a marketing event for them and an opportunity to show off their goods to 20-some people,” he said.
A group of 28 showed up for the crawl, which traveled to Grandpa Eddies, Alamo, Q Barbecue, Ronnie’s Ribs Wings and Other Things, and TD’s Smokehouse.
Sadler said he negotiated with several transportation lines and ultimately got WINN Transportation to bite.
Chris Chase, the chef at Q Barbecue in Midlothian, said he jumped to get more people into the restaurant.
“It was a good time for us. [They came in] when the restaurant is usually a little slow,” Chase said. “It’s a good way to generate some sort of revenue.”
Scott Bonds, owner of TD’s Smokehouse in the West End, said he’ll join in as a crawler in the next event.
“I’m a barbecue enthusiast, and I go to different places to try them,” Bonds said. “I would want to do something like that.”
Sadler wouldn’t disclose how much the crawl cost to put together but noted that they managed to come in just above the breaking-even mark.
“The biggest expense was the bus,” he said.
Sadler said he’s looking to do another BBQ Crawl in the fall, but he said for the next one they’d cut the restaurants down to four.
He also said he’s exploring the idea of hosting a pizza crawl as well as an oyster and beer festival if patrons and restaurants are willing to participate.
“As long as there’s demand, we’ll keep doing them,” Sadler said.
What a terrific idea! There’s enough great ‘que in this town to keep Matt’s business rolling. Getting some press from foodie-travel bloggers should happen pretty organically, given that Matt’s got media relationships via his food writing. Since I moved here, I’ve told my friends across the country that RVA is, pound for pound, one of the best food cities in the nation. More grist for my mill!