Brian Bailey, co-founder of Old Carolina Barbecue Co., said consumers who are cutting back on their dining budgets appreciate nicer dining rooms, not having to wait half an hour for a table and servers who refill their drinks.
LYNDHURST, Ohio -- At the Old Carolina Barbecue Co., diners line up at the register to order their pulled pork or beef brisket. Then they get their sweet tea or soft drinks, sit down and wait for someone to bring the food to their table.
Old Carolina might bill itself as a "low-and-slow"-smoked barbecue joint, but its fast-casual style of dining is quickly outpacing other styles of quick-serve restaurants as the most popular way to dine out.
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As visits to traditional sit-down and family-style restaurants decline, 78 percent of diners are opting for quick-serve restaurants where they can order their food and get it quickly, but enjoy it in a nicer dining room.
While traffic at casual and family-style restaurants each declined 2 percent, visits to fast-casual eateries grew 8 percent in 2012.
Darden Restaurants, whose brands include Olive Garden and Red Lobster, has seen its sales decline.
The parent companies of Applebee's and Chili's Grill & Bar have also cut their revenue projections in response to changing dining patterns.
While customer traffic at fine-dining restaurants fell 13 percent in 2009, fast-casual restaurant visits continued to grow, and last year outpaced traffic to all other restaurant categories combined.
Brian Bailey, co-founder of Old Carolina, said consumers who are cutting back on their dining budgets but tired of drive-through burgers and fries appreciate nicer dining rooms, not having to wait half an hour for a table and servers who refill their drinks.
That includes people like Joe Walton of Cleveland Heights, who used to drive more than an hour to the Old Carolina Barbecue at 4326 Kent Rd. in Stow.
Now he stops by the Lyndhurst location at 4100 Mayfield Rd. for his barbecue fix two or three times a week.
"I think it's just the way that they smoke their meats," he said, pointing to his brisket sandwich and overflowing plate of fresh-cut fries.
"This costs a little bit more than your McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's, but you get so much better food. You just can't get this in a fast-food restaurant."
Jon Smitek, who opened the Strongsville restaurant at 14795 Pearl Rd. on Feb. 25, is scouting future locations in Rocky River, Berea, North Olmsted and Westlake.
"Fast-casual is more like a Chipotle, where you walk in, order your food and it's made there in front of you," he said. "Everything's made in-house, not frozen."
Northeast Ohio had 4,110 quick-serve restaurants in the latest NPD Group restaurant census taken in 2012.
That's more than half of the region's 7,292 restaurants, and a net increase of 51 restaurants, or 1.3 percent, from 2011.
Todd Schaefer, the first franchisee of the barbecue chain started by high school buddies Brian Bailey and Tim Hug, thinks Cleveland is ripe for a Carolina-style barbecue restaurant served with a side of Southern hospitality.
He opened his Lyndhurst restaurant last May and is opening a second one in Mentor on Mentor Avenue (he won't say where) in June.
Bailey discovered barbecue while traveling throughout the South for work.
"What Mom did in the slow-cooker was not real barbecue," he said.
One day, while sitting in a Carolina barbecue shack with an open kitchen and a wraparound porch, he realized that "Canton, Ohio, does not have good barbecue."
So he and Hug started fiddling with recipes and joined the regional summer barbecue circuit to generate word-of-mouth.
They opened their first restaurant at 2482 Lincoln Way East in Massillon in 2006 and last year catered more than 120 weddings.
Each location, including the five corporate restaurants in Akron-Canton, employs about 30 people.
All the meat is smoked on site at each restaurant for up to 14 hours in industrial-sized smokers fed with hickory logs.
Kitchen Manager Aaron Branham opens the double doors to reveal a slowly turning merry-go-round of smoked meat that can hold 108 slabs of ribs at a time.
"We dry-rub everything, and everything is served without sauce," he said.
Stefanie Szakacs, catering sales manager, said: "The ribs are amazing, but the pulled pork, that's our most popular."
"We've got guests who come back four for five times a week," Schaefer said.
Katie and Joe Plesmid of Euclid said they were in Mentor when she suddenly got an emergency craving for what she calls "hands-down the best barbecue in the city of Cleveland."
Katie, who's expecting her second child on Tuesday, said she likes being able to tailor her meal with the sauces at the condiment bar.
Juanita Bryant of Cleveland Heights, visiting Old Carolina for the second time, said the only thing she doesn't like about the restaurant is where the owners put it: In a hard-to-spot location behind Boston Market and next to Lyndhurst Luggage & Shoe Repair.
"I'm one that doesn't like a lot of sauce on my ribs and I like the way they prepare it," she said.
Joe Walker, a Memphis barbecue lover visiting Cleveland on business, licked his thumb and said: "Great flavor. The way they use the vinegar on the meat and 'slaw is very authentic and tasty."
But just because a restaurant is popular doesn't guarantee it will endure.
Hoggy's Restaurant & Catering, a Columbus barbecue chain that once had seven restaurants, closed its last location last month and now operates solely as a catering business.
And if Old Carolina succeeds, it will have to woo lovers loyal to hometown favorites like Bubba's Q World Famous Bar-B-Q & Catering at 820 Center Rd. (Route 83) in Avon, founded by former Cleveland Browns player Al "Bubba" Baker and his wife, Sabrina.
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Former Cleveland Browns player Al "Bubba" Baker isn't worried about Old Carolina Barbecue's expansion into Cleveland. "Bring it on!" he said. "Barbecue's not my hobby, it's in my blood."
Baker isn't worried about the new competition.
Although he has only one restaurant, he's branched out into retail, selling his patented Bad 2D Bone boneless baby-back ribs, dry rubs and barbecue sauces at Heinen's Fine Foods and via specialty grocers throughout Ohio, Illinois and Michigan.
He said Clevelanders have always preferred hometown local eateries to national chain restaurants.
"Bring it on!" Baker said of Old Carolina's expansion into Cleveland. "I wish them well.
"I'm all for other entrepreneurs, but if they come anywhere near Avon, they're going to have to deal with me.
"And barbecue's not my hobby, it's in my blood."
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