Heavy Smoke BBQ opens this weekend in St. Peters

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Courtesy Heavy Smoke BBQ

Twenty years ago, Chris Schafer and Chad Brewer became friends while working the line together in a restaurant when they were teenagers. Though they eventually went on their own career paths, they remained friends and dreamed of going into business together.

Now, that dream is becoming a reality as the partners launch their first brick-and-mortar restaurant, Heavy Smoke BBQ, this weekend in St. Peters.

Photo by Cheryl Baehr

Though the Heavy Smoke storefront may be new, the brand has been around since 2016 as a food truck and, for two years prior to that, as a competition barbecue team.

“My passion has always been barbecue,” says Schafer, who previously worked in sales and management while his wife, Danielle, and Brewer oversaw the food truck full-time during the past several years. "Last year, we won a world championship and several national ones, so it made me think, after I got laid off [during the pandemic] earlier this year, 'Do I go find a day job or go all in with this thing and swing for the fences?'”

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Photo by Cheryl Baehr

Situated in a 6,000-square-foot space at 4270 N. Service Road, the restaurant will feature all of the items currently on the food truck’s menu—including chicken, pork, and brisket—as well as expanded offerings, such as pork steaks, smoked turkey and sausages, made with Heavy Smoke’s signature rub by a company in Highland, Illinois. The brick-and-mortar will also allow them to serve dishes that were hard to execute in the food truck.

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Photo by Cheryl Baehr

“When we first started, we did this Philly egg roll,” Schafer says. “We made one batch and said that we can’t do them in a food truck, but people loved them, so we’re bringing them back. We’re just able to do a little more now.”

Photo by Cheryl Baehr

That location, off the Interstate-70 Outer Road in St. Peters, is a massive space that will allow Heavy Smoke to do robust business, even with reduced capacity. A former bar, the sprawling storefront has a sprawling interior that provides ample space between tables. Guests order at a long, wooden counter along the front side of the room, grab a number and wait for food to be delivered. There is little décor outside of the awards Heavy Smoke has received from the competition circuit – not that there needs to be. The large room is lined on all sides with trophies of every size, shape and color, a testament to the amazing barbecue that fills the entire room with the rich smell of smoke.  

Courtesy Heavy Smoke BBQ

Having a permanent, dedicated kitchen is also helpful because Shafer and the Heavy Smoke team make everything from scratch, including sides, appetizers, sauces—even nachos made from house-fried chips, house-made queso, and from-scratch pico de Gallo. Along with the attention to detail, Shafer believes the constant practice that the competition circuit requires will help fuel the restaurant's success.

Though Schafer notes that opening a restaurant during a pandemic presents extra challenges, he is thankful that Heavy Smoke is the sort of concept that can do well under such circumstances. 

“We wouldn’t be opening a restaurant right now if we were a steakhouse or somewhere people have to sit down and wait to be served,” Schafer says. “Our goal is to serve amazing barbecue extremely fast, where you can get in and get out. I think barbecue lends itself well to the COVID times, because it’s easy to pick up and deliver. Plus, our place is so big that people can spread out. If we’re running even at partial capacity, we will be alright.”

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Photo by Cheryl Baehr