By LUCIE KRISMAN
As an Uber driver, Jason Musick was constantly asked by his passengers where to get the best barbecue.
"We've seen a lot of restaurants come and go, some good, some bad," he said. "What you have to look at is what is going to bring people in, and everybody wants to try barbecue. It just makes sense, especially for a small town."
Roughly three and a half years after getting their first food truck in 2016 and three custom-made smokers later, this appreciation for barbecue is part of what has driven Jason and his brother Jay to pursue their new Barbwire Barbecue restaurant, anticipated to open in July in downtown Eudora.
Although preparing the barbecue can involve some early mornings, Jason Musick said the restaurant's tentative open hours will be from 4 to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 or 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 5 or 8 p.m. on Sunday. The restaurant will be closed Mondays.
"There's a few reasons why restaurants fail, but one of the big reasons is the owners don’t have a separation, and there's no work and life balance," Jason Musick said. "Monday seems realistic for us to have that day off where we can just relax and hopefully be in tune to the family."
In the meantime, the brothers have been working on finalizing the menu and preparing to present again to the City Commission. They hope to purchase a previous public safety building at 840 Main St. for their restaurant. The building is owned by the city and being used for storage.
The brothers are also exploring gluten-free options for the restaurant as well as environmentally-friendly options.
"We’re trying to use more reusable material," Jason Musick said. "A lot of barbecue restaurants use throwaway products. It's terrible for the environment, and it's not good for your budget."
The Barbwire Barbecue food truck will still be making appearances at events as well. The Barbwire Barbecue Facebook page is updated periodically with where the trailer will be. Since 2016, the food truck has been selling everything from traditional pulled pork sandwiches to sandwiches with queso and even barbecue burritos.
"What I think we've tried to do is take barbecue and elevate it just a little bit," Jason Musick said.
Before opening their food truck, Jay Musick spent years testing out different ways to season and smoke meat while he was learning to barbecue. He did catering and barbecue competition on the side.
Jay Musick said a lot of the work that goes into running the food truck is what goes unseen during events, and he hopes this will be made easier by opening the new restaurant.
"When you go to an event, you're only there for three or four hours," Jay Musick said. "They don't see the three hours of prep work before that time. They don't see the two hours of clean-up work after that time. They don't see all the time in-between, figuring out what you need and hoping you have enough. It's a lot of time just to sell for three hours. We're hoping with the new place, that will help shorten that window."
Jay and Jason Musick are the fourth generation of their family to live in Eudora. The Musick family's history with restaurants goes back to a local burger joint in De Soto called Dairy Joy, once owned by their grandfather, where Jay remembers eating after Little League games as a child.
"My aunt still has the picture, so we would probably make some sort of black and white picture and have it up in our restaurant," he said.
Jason Musick said Barbwire Barbecue is very much a family business, and everybody in the family has a role in it.
"People bring different talents," Jason Musick said. "This business is really about making our entire family better and the community obviously in the process as well."
The changes may not stop at the opening of the restaurant. Jason Musick said after the restaurant opens, there might be a possibility for a second truck for the business as well.
"I hope this will not be our only venture," he said. "I also would like to see us down the road get a smaller food truck, one that's more like a typical delivery. It would be easier and you could have more people drive it."
As the brothers prepare for July, Jay Musick said the unknown of what the future holds for Barbwire Barbecue is exciting.
"Can we, dare I say, get like Joe's KC, or do we just kind of make it by like some of the others?" he said. "The sky's the limit. It could be anything. It's scary and exciting at the same time."
Jason Musick said he is most excited to watch the new restaurant give back to their family.
"I am most looking forward to seeing all the sacrifice pay off," he said. "Our parents have worked our whole life, and they're putting a lot of money into this, so I just hope to see how it can take care of our family. I think that's something we're truly blessed to have."
Reach reporter Lucie Krisman at eudoratimes@gmail.com.
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