Business & Tech

U City Restaurant Sir B Que Sends Out SOS

Sir B Que owner Sir Bruce Williams said the restaurant cannot open until it makes some adjustments to the building, and he says he does no have money to do that right now.

Sir B Que's restaurant in University City, which opened for business in September is on the brink of permanently closing its doors unless it gets some financial help, owner Sir Bruce Williams told University City Patch.

The barbecue restaurant, located at 6714 Olive Bouelvard, has been closed for a week, since a county inspector said the eatery needed to make some adjustments to the building to allow Williams to continue cooking meat on the grill outside. The inspector apparently also took issue with some operational matters, according to Williams.

“We are currently closed. We cannot open until we correct all of the major deficiencies,” said Williams. He said he doesn't have the money to make the adjustments and replace the food he's had to throw away. He estimates he needs about $8,000.

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Williams said that while the amount might seem pretty minor, “it comes at a time where we do not have any working capital to reach back in to.”

Williams is now looking for any financial support, whether it be a short term loan or selling memberships to the restaurant. He'd also welcome investors.

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“We need money now. It is our hope to find a investor or investors or possibly sell a restaurant membership to raise these funds so that we can get back open.”

So how would a restaurant membership work? The way Williams’ envisions it, a customer would purchase an annual membership for $500, which would entitle the person to three "free" meals a week, a "free" drink (alcoholic or non-alcoholic) per day, as well as some other perks.

Trying to be proactive

Williams said his creative fundraising approach is all about being open to ideas.

“I’m just trying to be proactive here.” He said his priority is trying to take care of the landlord and keep the utilities on. “When the electrical is off, thing get cold and the pipes want to bust.”

Williams is hoping that in the next week or two he can bring an individual or group in  to “adopt” the restaurant. He said it’s a concept a church might be interested in pursuing.

“If they could adopt the restaurant and we could tithe back to them 10 to 15 percent of the gross earnings,” Williams said. “We’re trying to come up with these unorthodox ways to try and fix the problem.”

Liquor License

On Monday, the University City City Council is expected to vote on whether to approve a liquor license for Sir B Que.

“We were depending on liquor helping us through this financial period of a slow winter.”

Williams hopes that by finally obtaining a liquor license, the restaurant will be even more appealing to any prospective investors.

Meanwhile, Williams is worried because the restaurant recently took part in a Groupon promotion that was very successful. The restaurant sold more than 800 Groupon, according to Williams.

“We don’t want the Groupon purchasers…to come there and find that the doors are closed. ”

"This is our passion"

The restaurant has been in operation for more than 5 years in various venues across St. Louis. The most recent incarnation here in U City opened its doors in September.

“This is our passion. This is our love. This is what we want to do. We have invested more than $160,000 over the last 5 years just keeping things a float.”

Williams is hopeful something will come through to save the restaurant.

“We have worked so hard and committed so many personal sacrifices and sums of money into this dream and we’d hate for it to just fall to the side.”

He said the restaurant is in a great location, with great food, great service and that, “it’s a great opportunity,” for an investor.

Anyone interested in helping Williams can reach him via email at sirbque@yahoo.com.


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