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Traditionally, meat-smoking has been one of the most time-consuming and operationally taxing endeavors a restaurant can undertake. Smoking even a single piece of meat takes hours, sometimes a full day, and the smoker itself requires more space than most restaurants can accommodate. That&rsquo;s why smoking has historically been reserved for specialty BBQ shacks and avoided by high-volume restaurants in places like New York City, where speed of service is at a premium and real estate prices all but prohibit a commercial smoker.

Yet, it&rsquo;s in the New York metro area where chef Hugh Mangum and entrepreneurs Micha Magid and Christos Gourmos opened not one but 10 <a href="https://mightyquinnsbbq.com/?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=how-mighty-quinns-is-taking-bbq-where-others-cant-2707399" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mighty Quinn&rsquo;s Barbeque</a> restaurants, each serving authentic wood-smoked BBQ, something Mangum says was previously unheard of.

<a href="https://www.mightyquinnsfranchise.com/?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=how-mighty-quinns-is-taking-bbq-where-others-cant-2707399" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mighty Quinn&rsquo;s</a> 10 locations in New York and New Jersey are not just a result of the brand&rsquo;s success, they are also instrumental to the brand&rsquo;s operations model. The smoking kitchen at Mighty Quinn&rsquo;s flagship restaurant in the East Village partially feeds each of the brand&rsquo;s nine other New York locations, so each can serve freshly smoked meat without having to operate a smoker on-site. While the investment required for a smoking kitchen is higher than a traditional buildout, it can quickly find a return when servicing additional locations.

By designing a concept explicitly around scalability, Mighty Quinn&rsquo;s cracked the code for operationally efficient smoked BBQ, and in doing so, opened up entirely new markets for the previously niche product. In addition to Mighty Quinn&rsquo;s 10 corporate locations, the franchise has also established thriving restaurants in Taiwan, the Philippines and Dubai.

Mangum says Mighty Quinn&rsquo;s success abroad proves the appeal for authentic BBQ is universal.

&ldquo;Barbeque is so cross-cultural, it appeals to just about every demographic,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Our restaurants get men and women of all ages and from all different backgrounds, every day. People from other countries really go crazy for it because it&rsquo;s something you can&rsquo;t normally get outside of the U.S.&rdquo;

As Mighty Quinn&rsquo;s continues to expand into new markets, Mangum says the brand remains rooted in an authentic barbeque experience, from the wood-smoked meat to the reclaimed-wood tables to the classic-rock soundtrack.

&ldquo;Barbeque has always been about fun and family, and that&rsquo;s the atmosphere we have in our restaurants,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It feels like a barbeque at your friend&rsquo;s house. We play Johnny Cash and Foo Fighters, The Ramones &mdash; stuff that&rsquo;s fun and authentic.&rdquo;

That commitment to authenticity extends even to the real estate Mighty Quinn&rsquo;s leases. Where most restaurant chains look for a single, consistent look and footprint across units, Mangum says Mighty Quinn&rsquo;s &ldquo;builds in the space [they] get&rdquo; so that each restaurant feels unique and like a natural extension of the existing space.

That infrastructural flexibility may be built into Mighty Quinn&rsquo;s DNA. The brand&rsquo;s first restaurant, after all, wasn&rsquo;t even restaurant; it was a driveway &mdash; Mangum&rsquo;s.

&ldquo;We started the brand in a flea market out of my driveway, where I kept a smoker in a trailer,&rdquo; Mangum said. &ldquo;My wife drew the logo by hand. It was a true family operation, and I think people can still feel that today.&rdquo;

This year, Mighty Quinn&rsquo;s is introducing franchise locations, to new markets across the country, and Mangum is confident the brand will continue to find a broad audience everywhere it goes.

&ldquo;This is a concept that is appealing everywhere we go,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;People love barbeque, but few have gotten a chance to try real, authentic wood-smoked barbeque, and we&rsquo;re excited to give them the opportunity.&rdquo;

How Mighty Quinn’s is Taking BBQ Where Others Can’t

1851 Franchise

Smoked BBQ has long been seen as an unscalable model, but Mighty Quinn’s has cracked the code.

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