With the chaos of the pandemic in the rearview mirror, Ottawa’s Meatings Barbecue has finally found a new location that the owners hope will help them expand the business and make it more lean and efficient.
CEO Nick Lecour told OBJ Wednesday that after several years of collaboration, Meatings has moved in with Broadhead Brewing Company on Vimont Court in Orléans.
The location will be the company’s new main base, he said, consolidating its three primary operations — restaurant, catering and retail — into one space. Broadhead, he added, will continue to run the front of house.
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“It’s what we wanted all along,” said Lecour. “Just having the three avenues consolidated in one space was the original vision. Servicing our clientele all in one space was the original idea and unfortunately it didn’t work out. But now that we’re here, we’re saving on labour, it’s all close. It’s a more efficient and lean operation.”
Meatings began as a catering company in 2012 before opening its first restaurant on St. Joseph Boulevard in 2017. After several successful years, Lecour and co-owners Mathieu Flosse and Oli Bolton planned to continue expanding, but the pandemic brought those hopes to a halt.
“Going into COVID, around 2020, we were making some changes and we moved to a location on Canotek (Road) with the plan of expanding,” Lecour recalled. “Things just didn’t unfold as we liked them to.”
With everything locked down and restaurants across the city forced to close, Lecour said Meatings had to make “a big pivot” to stay afloat.
“We were sitting on a ton of food and we had to kind of change our whole business strategy at the time,” he said. “We started vacuum-sealing our meats and packaging our sauces and spice rubs, which opened a new retail avenue for us.”
Like many eateries, Meatings also moved to digital, using its website as a storefront to sell its new products. As restrictions eased, the catering side of the business was able to get up and running again as usual, but the restaurant side of things was more complicated. Instead of following the original plan, Lecour said the team got creative to find other ways to expand.
In the summer of 2020, the team worked to re-open the Canotek restaurant by operating an outdoor patio to welcome back hungry guests. At the company, the company also started working with local breweries, including Broadhead Brewery in Orléans.
“We started to reach out and expand in different areas. We operated out of Beau’s Brewery for a little bit and Overflow (Brewing Company). So we were in three breweries, just running a little taproom kitchen,” said Lecour.
In 2022, with the pandemic lingering, the company signed a contract to start a new venture at the Richcraft Sensplex in Gloucester for a sports bar and restaurant called the Puck Stop.
“I think everyone was kind of scrambling and trying to find new strategies to bring people in. And beer and barbeque is a great combination.”
It was the partnership with Broadhead Brewery, which began in the summer of 2020, that stuck, ultimately allowing Meatings to get back on track with its original expansion plans.
After several years of collaboration, Meatings began officially moving into the Broadhead space and transforming it into its new headquarters, with space for restaurant, catering and retail operations.
“Over the years, we’ve developed a great relationship with the owners and it’s close to our original restaurant back on St. Joseph Boulevard,” said Lecour. “It’s close to home and the partnership has developed in the right direction for us to, you know, decide to live together basically.”
In the new shared space, which officially opens June 18, Broadhead will brew its beers and operate the front of house, while the back section has been fitted with Meatings’ equipment, including the smokers it uses to prepare its barbecue staples.
“The beer is brewed around the corner, the meat is smoked in the buildings and all the food is prepared in a little kitchen in the back,” said Lecour. “It’s a great little setup for us.”
While Meatings will be rolling out a new menu, Lecour said customers can expect to see favourites like brisket, meat-packed sandwiches, platters for two and family feasts.
With its new home secured, he said the company has big plans for the future. In addition to expanding its restaurant business, Meatings is on track to grow its retail offerings and begin wholesaling to big box grocery stores.
“It’s been chaotic, juggling catering and restaurant renovations in the middle of also being busy,” he said. “But I’m looking forward to things getting wrapped up. Fingers crossed we’ll slowly work out the kinds and get things organized. I’m looking forward to it.”
Meatings added in an email that operations at Puck Stop will remain unchanged, but its Canotek location has closed and the space has been subleased to another tenant.
