Aug 12, 2018 7 min read

WAYNESBURG – A couple whose Waynesburg restaurant specializes in southern barbecue will become southerners themselves, soon.

Hot Rod’s House of BBQ owners Rodney and Stephanie Phillips are hoping to move to the Carolinas and want to sell their turn-key restaurant to someone who can keep it going.

Rodney’s big hope for his restaurant is to come back to Greene County in five years and eat a meal at Hot Rod’s.

The work has been more hectic than they could have imagined, and they warn that owning a restaurant is not for the faint of heart.

“It takes a lot of work,” Rodney said.

The two have been running Hot Rod’s, both at its current location at 46 S. Morris St. and the first spot in the building that now holds New Lam’s Garden at 68 S. Washington St., for 13 years. They spent more than four years in the location behind the courthouse, purchasing equipment as they could afford it.

Stephanie recalled the restaurant’s “real” origins in which a sports banquet for one of their six kids motivated her to start her own restaurant.

“I got tired of going to banquets with disgusting food,” she said.

She looked at a plate of bland food, all the same color, and knew she could do it better. So they did. It seemed like a natural progression, from feeding kids and their friends to larger gatherings. Stephanie began catering out of their home while Rodney was still working as a corrections officer. They eventually became the sole caterer for a local banquet hall, handling about 50 events a year with upwards of 250 guests.

They usually fielded two questions: Where is your restaurant and – when they learned there wasn’t one – when are you going to open your own restaurant?

Their first location served as a front for their catering business with a small tasting area. As they made money, it went right back into the business.

“We opened with two tables and 12 chairs. By 2 in the afternoon the day we opened, we had sold out everything I cooked up for almost two days. We headed to Sam’s Club and bought enough meats to start cooking again the next day and enough tables and chairs to fill the place up,” Rodney said. “We’ve been on that run ever since.”

Though Rodney is from Mt. Morris and went to high school in Waynesburg, the couple came from Georgia and missed true southern barbecue.

“I am in no way the cook,” he said. “I did the barbecue. That was my thing, in the beginning, but she just took this place places that I didn’t think it would ever, in Greene County, be able to go to.”

Their staple dishes run the gamut. There’s the gargantuan Punisher, a 13-inch roll with chicken tenders, pulled pork, nacho cheese and spicy ranch that’s all deep fried. Their Friday night prime rib and Wednesday smoked burgers are specials that community members and visitors have come to love.

Rodney said theirs is one of the few places in the area that’s a restaurant that serves alcohol versus a bar that serves food, and he believes that distinction is important. They’ve worked hard to maintain a family-friendly atmosphere.

Commitment

to family

The couple’s 15-year-old son, Michael, has dreamed of being a bull rider since he was 3. He’s grown up around the sport: Hot Rod’s would sponsor and set up a food booth at the annual Buckin’ B Cattle Championship Bull Riding competition. Their most popular appetizer, the Cowboy Nachos, even came from one of those competitions.

Now that Michael, who was the 2018 high school state champ in Ohio and has competed on the national level, is getting more serious, he’s needing to travel more and more to compete.

“Our problem now is that I spend almost every weekend away,” Rodney said. “Mostly, where we travel is in the Carolinas. … There’s so much more we could do down there if we lived there.”

And Stephanie would like the chance to see her son ride more.

“Momma misses most of it because I have to stay here,” she said, motioning to the restaurant.

“We need to be able to move closer to what he’s doing,” Rodney added.

Their 26-year-old son, John, runs the kitchen, but he can’t run the front end and cook at the same time.

Passing the torch

Rodney said the staff is already in place and business is solid.

“John is willing to stay here and work with anybody wanting to move into the business. It’s an opportunity for a turn-key business,” Rodney said.

At this point, the couple isn’t looking at a specific timetable.

“I’m one of those kinds that doesn’t want to sell this to somebody that doesn’t understand what they’re buying,” Rodney said. “We’ve spent 13 years building this business to where we’ve got people that drive 45 minutes to an hour on Friday night to get prime rib. I really hope somebody takes over this business that understands what they’re buying is really a solid business.”

Over the years, the Phillipses have seen many restaurants open and close. They don’t want that to be Hot Rod’s future.

“If we sell it, we’re selling recipes, the name, everything that goes with it so that it does stay whole,” Rodney said.

Leaving a legacy

In addition to the restaurant itself being up for sale, the building it occupies is also on the market. Owner John Throckmorton said that he and his family, with his children now older, are aiming to downsize. The hope is for the sale to be a package deal, Throckmorton said, because he wants to see the business continue operating because there are limited restaurant choices in Waynesburg.

Meanwhile, one of Rodney’s fears is that once word gets out that Hot Rod’s is for sale, people will refuse to come in anymore because they’re upset. They hope, though, that their customers understand that they’re doing this for their family.

But they’re thankful for all of the support they’ve received through the years. All of their kids have grown up in the restaurant. They’ve had several success stories working in the restaurant and have met many wonderful people.

“Waynesburg, Greene County and local people have really been good to us. They’ve really supported us,” Rodney said. “Hopefully, we’ve given them a product that they’re happy with. They keep coming back, so we must be.”

He’s also afraid that they won’t be able to replicate their success in Waynesburg elsewhere. But they’re up to the challenge, he said, because they’ve always believed in originality and creativity.

“Have your own ideas. Be original. Run with that. Don’t try and copy something that everybody else in town is doing. I don’t understand the point of that,” Stephanie said. “Offer people something different and they’ll come.”

The Phillipses have another possible restaurant concept up their sleeves for when they relocate, but nothing they’re willing to share details on yet. Maybe it’ll be another barbecue joint. Maybe breakfast. Guaranteed, though, that the food will be made from scratch and homemade.

“Cooking is visible love,” Stephanie said, and that love will fuel them and their customers no matter where they go.