Can you just imagine the mouth-watering smell of delicious barbecue invigorating your senses? Don’t have to ask me twice — Love me some great BBQ! Today’s Santa Cruz Doors feature is about Aptos St. BBQ. While eating at one of their tables and listening to live blues is always a good time, that is on hold right now with our continued shelter-in-place. However, if you still have a hankering for tri-tip, ribs and some great beer, how can you get your grub on? Aptos St. BBQ is taking orders by phone and online, and you can pick it up, or get it delivered!
We were happy to chat with the owner, Larry Ingram:
Tell us how long you’ve been in business here?
It’ll be 11 years in May that we’ve been here in Aptos. Man, time sure flies.
How did you get started?
My family (father Larry Jr. and two brothers Eric and Franz) had seen many years of success as owners of the Trail Dust BBQ joint in Morgan Hill and in 2009 found ourselves in the opportune position to open a second location. It was the height of the recession and I had been making a living as a painting contractor when business started to slow down and I eventually wound up working more and more in the family business. It was a difficult decision but after giving it much thought and discussion we decided to take the risk, and reluctantly signed a lease. In May of 2009, we opened Aptos St. BBQ. Since then we’ve been wildly successful, and Aptos St. BBQ is now considered one of the top 50 BBQ establishments in the country on Business Insider.
(Click here to read Business Insider’s 50 Best Barbecue Joints in America)
What do you love about Aptos/Santa Cruz?
I love the people and positive vibe our community exudes. There’s a real "all for one, one for all" sense of spirit here that to me is the essence of vibrant community. Of course, I would be remiss not to say, though it may go without saying, that we live in one of the most beautiful places on earth- an absolute paradise. I love where I live and feel fortunate that I’m able to raise a family here.
How has your business been affected by the pandemic and shelter-in-place?
We’ve been hit pretty hard by this pandemic. It's posed many challenges from an operational and profitability standpoint. At the onset we saw about an 80% decline in sales. Talk about scary.
How have you made adjustments and how can we as a community support you?
We have quickly pivoted to a take-out and delivery only model as required during this pandemic. Thanks to such strong community support we’ve been able to stabilize things for the time being. This is a very scary time for our business. As we find ourselves scrambling to cut expenses and minimize losses we're at the very same time trying to do our best to keep an ear to the ground and maintain up to the minute compliance with county and state guidelines. It’s been like juggling while the ground is moving beneath our feet! Of course, the safety of our staff and guests has ALWAYS been our first priority but as a result of the recent outbreak, our process has had to be modified to greater enhance customer and staff safety. We’re confident that we can weather this with the current state of things but who knows what tomorrow may bring? Guests now can conveniently order for pick up or delivery from our website www.aptosstbbq.com. As long as the orders keep coming in — we’ll keep the fire burning!
What are your favorite dishes that you serve? Or customer fave?
My first favorites are the tri-tip and pork ribs. Customers are big on the smoked brisket!
Website: www.aptosstbbq.com
Facebook: Aptos St. BBQ
Instagram: @aptosstbbq