The closure of a Brimfield BBQ stand has sparked rumors and speculation, as well as rapidly changing township regulations.
Joe’s Barbecue, a Brimfield staple at the intersection of Route 43 and Tallmadge Road since 2017, officially closed March 1. Since then, Joe’s Barbecue owner Joe Menendez and his supporters have turned to Facebook and packed township meetings, alleging that township officials and competing restaurateurs are against him.
Why it’s closed
Brimfield Township trustees say Menendez was forced to close because Menendez lacks a valid food service license from the county health department, not because of anything the trustees have done.
Menendez’s food service license through Summit County expired March 1, and the one he applied for on Feb. 26 through Portage County hasn’t come through yet, said Becky Lehman, deputy health commissioner for the Portage County Combined General Health District.
Menendez said he contacted Summit County Feb. 13 to renew his license, and only learned on Feb. 20 that he needed to through Portage County.
In one of many posts on his Joe’s Barbecue Facebook page, though, Menendez claims Summit County refused to renew his license “based on complaints he knew to be frivolous, but that they apparently couldn’t recognize.”
Asked to clarify his statement, Menendez told The Portager that Summit County health department officials told him they did not believe he moved his trailers every 40 days as state law requires.
Menendez told Brimfield trustees on March 20 that state law only requires him to move his trailer every 40 days, not to operate from a different location. Since the state does not specify how far he must move his unit or for how long, he is within the letter of the law, he said.
Tonia Burford, environmental health director for Summit County Public Health, said the sticking point was always an address issue: though Menendez lives in Summit County, mobile food service units are licensed by the first county they set up in upon arriving in the state or by the food unit’s Ohio home base, she said.
The health department does not pull licenses based on complaints, she added.
When Summit County health staff realized that Menendez’s home base is in Portage County, they let him retain the single-year license they’d already issued, but instructed him to go through Portage County for future licenses.
Legislative changes
Joe’s Barbecue’s Facebook page has been filled with countless online allegations about who has shuttered or is trying to shutter the food stand, who is supposedly against Menendez and his business, and who has supposedly complained to township and county agencies. Though Menendez has posted his own online plea asking his support to rescind the negative reviews they’ve left for other area restaurants, there is no way to know if fans have followed his directive.
The online chatter has spilled into township meetings, with Menendez and his supporters suggesting that the trustees are acting in a conflict of interest and a perception of corruption.
Facing the crowd of Menendez’s supporters, Brimfield Township trustees Nic Coia and Sue Fields on March 20 stated their desire to limit temporary vendors to a single space in the town center, and directed the Brimfield Zoning Commission to extend 90-day temporary vendor permits to six months, with renewable six-month terms. Trustee Mike Kostensky was not present at the meeting.
In 2019, the trustees established a six-month term for temporary vendor licenses, then tightened the time frame to 90 days in May 2023. On March 6, they added a further stipulation that temporary vendor permits could not be issued to applicants who intended to set up on vacant lots.
In favor of the March 6 legislation were trustees Fields and Kostensky. Coia cast the sole vote in opposition, later telling The Portager that small business owners need increased township support, not less.
Prior to 2019, since the township’s zoning code did not even address temporary vendors, they were not permitted to operate in Brimfield at all, township administrative business manager Holly Woods told The Portager in a separate interview.
How Joe’s was able to open at all in 2017 is a mystery, she said, noting that whatever agreement was made, it was under former township officials. Menendez told the trustees on March 20 that the code’s silence meant temporary vendors were allowed in the township, not that they weren’t.
Food truck alley
On March 20, Coia and Fields also agreed to seek conceptual drawings for what township Zoning Inspector Mike Hlad called a “food truck alley.” Whether or not the township would have to purchase land for this installation is yet to be determined.
Hlad said the concept is rooted in an installation Kostensky saw while on vacation, and which Kostensky said seemed to work well. The Zoning Commission has been considering the concept since November 2023.
The installation would require food trucks to gather in a central location where electric hookups, trash receptacles and public restrooms would be readily available, he said.
Good locations would be in or near the space the township’s annual Brimfest festival occupies, Hlad said. Vendors who wish to set up elsewhere in the township would need to request a zoning variance, Woods told The Portager.
Menendez’s reaction
Though Menendez has repeatedly told trustees that he is being targeted, and has repeated that allegation on his Joe’s Barbecue Facebook page, township officials say he is wrong.
Joe’s Barbecue is not on a vacant lot. Menendez owns the lot on which it is located, and he has proper plans filed with the township to erect a brick-and-mortar version of his business, they point out.
Undaunted, Menendez said not protecting small business owners that may come behind him would be like pulling a ladder up after he’s climbed it.
“It’s never going to end,” he said. “You should want businesses like mine. Local people who build a thing. In my opinion, you should love businesses that are built by people from here, that slowly grow into something that can afford to build a building.”
Woods told The Portager that the roughly 275 small businesses operating in Brimfield is proof positive that the township does support and encourage small business development.
Food giveaway
License, or lack of one aside, Menendez recently found a way to re-open — sort of. This past weekend, he reopened Joe’s Barbecue to host a “food give-away,” distributing servings to all comers in return for a donation, or none at all.
Pictures posted online March 17 show people lining up outside of Menendez’s mobile unit, and the same day, he posted an online plea for them not to block the nearby parking lot of Gionino’s Pizzeria.
As long as Menendez does not specify a donation amount, he is legally able to distribute all the food he wants, Lehman said.
Local contractor Todd Noe attended the give-away and said Joe’s Barbecue employees would ring up each customer’s order, say how much the total would have been under usual services, and then tell the customer they could pay as much as they wished, or nothing at all.
In a March 18 post on his Facebook page, Menendez said the three-day event that started March 15 emptied his inventory and garnered $700 more than sales would have been, had customers been charged. The extra money, he said, will go straight to his employees as tips for their service.
Despite concerns that people might try to take advantage of receiving free food, Menendez said he is considering hosting another food give-away this coming weekend. However, should his food license come through this week as he hopes, Joe’s Barbecue will be open for normal business, he said.
Wendy DiAlesandro is a former Record Publishing Co. reporter and contributing writer for The Portager.