Work begins on new BBQ restaurant in downtown Columbia

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Remodeling is underway at two downtown Columbia stores for a new barbeque restaurant and bar.

The storefronts at 304 S. Ninth Street will soon host Bud's BBQ, a venture from business owner Jason Paetzold. The place will take the spots of the old Ingredient and Pickleman's stores across from the University of Missouri campus.

Paetzold said he hopes to open a Texas-style BBQ place late this summer using wood-fired BBQ pits. He hopes to hire 20 people to start.

Paetzold previously helped start and franchise The Big Biscuit, a breakfast and lunch chain with several stores in the Kansas City area. He now lives in Columbia full time and said he wants Bud's to be a part of the community.

"There's not a more exciting part of this community than downtown, right across from campus," Paetzold said. "You have a mixture of the university, the staff and just everybody downtown. So it's kind of just the perfect marriage of what downtown offers."

Bud's will be one of several new businesses to open downtown since the COVID-19 pandemic created uncertainty in the industry. ABC 17 News reported that 23 new businesses opened downtown within the last year, while 25 closed. Paetzold said the open space downtown gave him a good opportunity to pursue the restaurant.

"There's no magic in small dreams," Paetzold said. "The opportunity existed with real estate and just the confidence of knowing how much dining is a part of American culture. Sometimes, these are just the opportunities where you just blaze ahead and fortune always favors the bold. It just created a good opportunity. I'm happy to be here and happy to be serving the community.

"We're in the people business," Paetzold said. "We just happen to serve food. Service, good hospitality never goes out of style. No matter what pandemic hits us in the future, people will always have the re-commitment to going back to doing what they enjoy, and dining is a big part of that."