Henrico business owner closing barbecue restaurant, cites rising meat costs

HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — A Henrico County barbecue restaurant is closing its doors this Saturday, citing rising meat costs that put a strain on business.

“Redemption BBQ,” which specializes in pasture-raised meats, will host its final days of services for customers between Wednesday, April 1 and Saturday, April 4.

Owner John Vest, otherwise known as “Rev. Dr. Porkchop,” said he’s still in disbelief about having to shut down his barbecue restaurant.

“I spend more time with these [employees] than I do with my family,” Vest told 8News on Wednesday. “We're sad that it's kind of come to an end, and we'll miss each other and miss the customers and working with the community.”

Vest released a statement on Tuesday, Mar. 31, saying the restaurant is going out of business for several reasons, including rising meat cost and limited space.

“I insist on using only pasture-raised, humanely raised meats and try to do them as local as possible," Vest said. "That has always been about two to three times [higher than] the regular commodity meat costs. "We're a very small, mostly takeout location. I think a lot of people want to dine in and have that experience. We couldn’t provide that here.”

Stephen Day, director of the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Center for Economic Education, gave his insight into what could have contributed to the closing.

“Premium meat is expensive -- it's far more expensive than normal meat,” Day said. “It's also inelastic, which means that, when the price of it changes, it can change a lot, and there's not much that operators can do about it.” 

Day also attributed rising meat costs to cattle herds shrinking over the last few years in the United States, driving up prices.

“At the same time, the demand for premium meat has stayed strong, which means people want it," Day said. "So, the price stays high, which is difficult to pay for if you're a restaurant."

Vest said authentic barbecue is something he was proud to bring to the Greater Richmond area. 

Customer Angela Freeman said it’ll surely be missed.

“I'm coming to buy lunch before lunch time to make everybody envy me,” Freeman told 8News during Wednesday's barbecue service.

Vest said he’ll be pivoting to selling Chicago deep-dish pizzas and working on locations for pick-up and drop-offs.