Springfield barbecue is formally on the map.
LawnStarter, a nationwide garden care web site, ranked Springfield No. 4 final week on its checklist of the highest 200 “Greatest BBQ Cities in America.”
Springfield trails solely St. Louis, Kansas Metropolis and Chicago on the high of the checklist, which the web site says is predicated on 18 standards, together with “award-winning barbecue eating places, expertise internet hosting a ‘master-level’ competitors, a number of barbecue festivals, and excessive scores.”
Springfield has many longtime barbecue eating places, like Crosstown Barbecue and Buckingham, along with new favorites which have opened in newer years like Metropolis Butcher, Gettin’ Basted and Missouri Mike’s.
Final yr, Gettin’ Basted took dwelling the Grand Champion award on the annual Jack Daniel’s World Championship in Tennessee, including to earlier awards just like the Reserve Grand Champion on the American Royal in 2019, the 2018 and 2020 Kansas Metropolis Barbecue Society Staff of the 12 months.
Extra:Gettin’ Basted barbecue workforce wins large at Jack Daniel’s World Championship in Tennessee
In accordance with LawnStarter, Springfield is among the many greatest within the nation at internet hosting BBQ competitions.
Mike Hickman, proprietor of Missouri Mike’s, stated there are a number of good barbecue eating places within the metropolis, and that forces companies to lift their high quality to draw clients.
“I feel what actually has pushed the Springfield market is that there is a lot good competitors, there’s a number of nice outlets within the space,” Hickman stated. “I feel everyone seems to be pushing exhausting as a result of it is such a saturated market and that has actually pushed and reset the bar to a a lot increased normal than what we had 5 years or a decade in the past.”
Missouri Mike’s just lately opened a second location in Springfield close to Battlefield Street and Glenstone Avenue. The restaurant is thought for its barbecue meats and award-winning rooster wings. The unique location is on West Chestnut Expressway.
Hickman instructed the Information-Chief the 2 greatest keys to operating a profitable barbecue restaurant are service and meals. Hickman stated in case you can ship a top quality product and have the service to again it up, eating places can stick round for a very long time.
Hickman stated that he cherished that Springfield got here in 4th on LawnStarter’s checklist, however stated which means we nonetheless have three locations to seize forward of us.
Ralph Inexperienced is a enterprise reporter with the Springfield Information-Chief. Contact him at RAGreen@gannett.com, by cellphone: (417-536-4061) or on Twitter at RalphGreenNL
