For Pat Quann, it all started with a dream………..

He worked his entire teenage and college life at a nationwide food company, Ogden Food Service, along with his father.  They then branched out on their own to start Quann Food Service, basically doing much of the same duties: concessions at race tracks, fairgrounds, movie theatre, and a small portion of their business was catering.  As the NASCAR circuit and other venues began developing their own in-house catering operations, Pat began weighing his options.   Really enjoying the barbeque picnics they had catered, he thought about opening a barbeque restaurant so people could sample the food he made and hopefully us them for their company outing.
From that one thought, grew a big dream.  It all happened rather quickly, and the first thing on Pat’s agenda was the location.  He found a great little spot at the end of a strip mall, very close to home.  The space was previously occupied by a restaurant/pizza place called the goal post, a high school hangout.  A lot of work was needed to convert the old space into the smoking barbeque restaurant you see today, but Pat was determined to make a go of it.

The final step was convincing his wife that they could operate a barbeque joint, along with a catering operation, which was harder than he thought!  She kept asking him, “What do you know about the restaurant business?”  True, he had never run a restaurant but had a lot of exposure to dining halls and large kitchen operations through Ogden.  Pat worked hand and hand with chefs from Colonial Downs and Ocean Downs.  He knew his dreams could not come to life without his wife’s support.  So with his wife Terry on board, PQ’s opened its doors for business on July 28, 1989, with no customers except for their friends and family members.

They gradually built up and twenty years later, there still here serving some of Richmond’s finest barbeque, ribs, and chicken along with some great side dishes, hushpuppies, and desserts.  So come on by and give PQ’s a try. You will find a small friendly family oriented restaurant serving down home southern style cooking. At the heart of the restaurant remains a husband and wife team still working together after twenty plus years, which is quite an accomplishment in itself. 

(Now you know several “juicy” details were left out.  So next time you come in, ask PQ.  You will find him there every single day, as he has been since the day the store opened.)