Old Town's Meat B.B.Q. is expanding this summer

LANSING - It's going to get a little easier to find a seat at a popular Old Town barbecue spot known for its pickle fries, carnivorous menu and science fiction-inspired decor.

Meat Southern B.B.Q. & Carnivore Cuisine's Turner Street restaurant is expanding, talking over storefront space next door to add another 1,300-square-feet of space to its footprint.    

The space was vacated by Cravings Gourmet Popcorn when it moved across the street, to 1221 Turner St., in October.

Meat B.B.Q. opened in 2012 at 1224 Turner St. and gained national attention when Food Network star Guy Fieri featured it on an episode of "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" in the fall of 2017.

It occupies about 4,500 square feet in Lansing’s Old Town. The restaurant's small waiting area, just inside the front entrance, is often packed while customers wait for a seat. Its dining room, at 2,500 square feet, offers seating for 90 people.

Owner Sean Johnson said the expansion will add an additional dining space to the eatery with room for 40 more seats, and allow for a larger waiting area. Another 25 patio seats will be available in the summer, once the expansion is complete.

The move comes just under two years after Fieri's visit and four years after the restaurant went from 30 to 90 seats in 2015.

Fans of Johnson's eatery have been urging him to grow the business with a second location ever since its Food Network appearance.

For now, Johnson said giving customers and staff more seating and room to wait when they arrive is the best kind of expansion Meat could offer.

“Right now I stay busy enough with this," he said.

A summer expansion

When Meat B.B.Q.'s expansion is finished the restaurant's new dining space will include the addition of a 12-foot by 10-foot glass garage door that can be slid up during warmer weather.

The interior of the addition will look similar to Meat’s existing restaurant, which Johnson describes as “sci-fi-geek, heavy metal chic.” The dining space is decorated with rock music posters and sci-fi memorabilia, an ode to Johnson’s childhood.

“It’s just what I grew up on and it represents my childhood, through my adult years,” he said.

Much of the construction work, which began last month, is being contracted out, but Johnson will do much of the finishing work with the help of family and friends.

He hopes to be finished by mid-August.

The restaurant will remain open throughout the expansion, and Johnson has urged customers to be patient with the mess.

“There’s framework up,” he said. “Dirt and dust. We can’t really afford to close down while we’re doing it.”

The restaurant employs 35 people. Johnson said he may hire more staff after the additional space opens.

'We needed to do this'

Customers have been supportive of expansion plans ever since Johnson announced them in late June via the eatery's Facebook page.

“We’ve gotten a tremendous response from customers. We’ve got a pretty good following. A lot of people have been pretty excited about it.”

In truth, Meat B.B.Q. fans have been urging Johnson and his wife Lynnette to do more than expand its dining room for the last two years.

“A lot of people wanted us to come out to Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Detroit,” he said.

So Johnson said he tested the waters, opening a food truck in 2017.

The venture was meant to be a “litmus” test of sorts, he said, his way of getting a feel for whether opening up addition restaurant locations made sense.

More than a year in, Johnson decided the truck’s operation brought more stress than he needed, and he shut it down.

“It wasn’t a financial issue,” Johnson said. “It became stressful to run it because it became like running a second restaurant.”

The food truck took too much of his attention away from his restaurant, he said.

But Johnson said he isn’t telling Meat’s loyal customers they won’t ever see a second location outside Old Town.

“I’m not saying I’m ruling it out,” he said. “Maybe in the future I will, but I’m not seeing it as a necessity.”

Meanwhile the timing of available space next door in Old Town was perfect, Johnson said.

“We needed to do this. I’m really lucky in that sense.”

About Meat B.B.Q. & Carnivore Cuisine

The barbecue restaurant, at 1224 Turner St. in Lansing's Old Town, is open Tuesday through Sunday. 

Reach them by phone at 580-4400 and online at www.meatbbq.com .

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Contact Rachel Greco at rgreco@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @GrecoatLSJ.

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