Bill's Barbecue, a Richmond Chain Founded in 1930 - Closed

[DonRocks]

I received this letter late last night from a friend of mine who is a very close acquaintance of Buz Grossberg. Yes, the author is clearly biased via association, but also hints at the ultimate irony of this teary-eyed video: Bill's was buried by pure, free-market capitalism (*) and competition.

Unbelievable. Bill’s Barbecue was going downhill for years, mainly because its food SUCKED. And that’s why its attempt at expansion was a terrible flop. Not only did one of Bill’s major competitors, Buz and Ned’s (winner of Bobby Flay’s Throwdown), open a few blocks from two of Bill’s major locations, but a ton of other barbecue places opened as well in Richmond—about 50 of them according to Urban Spoon’s latest count. When I was a kid, Bill’s had a virtual barbecue monopoly in Richmond except for a few places like the Farm House, that typically were a long drive from town or in “bad” neighborhoods. But now there are a myriad of choices, almost all of them better than Bill’s (which of course is not hard to be). To give the folks in the Romney campaign the benefit of the doubt, none of them could have ever actually eaten at Bill’s or they never would have released the video. Rather, I suspect they would have just said “let Bill’s go bankrupt."

(*) Or, maybe not. Here's a Richmond Times-Dispatch article about the closure which reveals that Grossberg received a $1.3 million SBA loan. So, competition, sure; "free-market" capitalism, maybe not quite so much.

[Escoffier]

I remember a time when I'd drive from Charlottesville to Richmond just to eat at Bill's in the West End (the original Bill's BBQ). The last time I went there, the BBQ was....well, let's just say it wasn't very good and let it go at that. Buz and Ned's is right down the road and even if they don't have those great pies that Bill's had, they have better BBQ. So long Bill's. You had a great run but your time has passed.