Mighty Quinn's Micha Magid; Restaurant Life After The Lockdown
New York BBQ used to be an oxymoron as true as jumbo shrimp. The mere thought of it came across as the cowboy thought of a replacement salsa in the Pace Picante Sauce commercial of the 80’s with his flummoxed declaration of “Made in “New York City?” But over the last fifteen years or so, the discerning palates of New Yorkers has driven creative Chefs and pit masters to establish New York as a true BBQ town. And Brooklyn its epicenter.
One of the players coming out of the dense smoke is Mighty Quinn’s. A true to BBQ roots style purveyor that started in the massive weekly Smorgasburg food fair of Brooklyn and now has brick and mortar locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Westchester and Dubai along with stadium concessions in Madison Square Garden and Yankee Stadium. They’ve recently entered the franchise market and have one location in construction and several more on the books ready to start. This was the rosy wood fired picture when the Coronavirus turned their world upside down as it did to the other 1 million restaurants around the country.
I talked with Micha Magid, co-founder of Mighty Quinn’s, about how this fledgling franchisor is facing and managing the crisis as conditions seem to change daily. He has an interesting view from the hardest hit city in the country.