Business Profile: Boothy’s brings life, variety to BBQ

Business Profile: Boothy’s brings life, variety to BBQ

While many mourned the loss of Pita Pit, Kevin Booth was hard at work bringing Boothy’s BBQ to life in the same building Pita Pit recently vacated.

Boothy’s offers a wide range of selections and anyone can find something that they can eat, including multiple vegan options, cod tacos and salads. There is no style to the barbecue, and Booth says that he does not believe in competition. “My competition is people coming in, sitting down and enjoying themselves,” Booth said.

Booth plans on expanding on the restaurant’s menu to incorporate “different types of people who like different types of food.”

He says he will “bend over backwards to meet someone’s needs” in whatever way, whether it is for catering menus or just general customers. Starting next week, on Friday nights Booth will serve comfort foods out of one of his trailers outside of Boothy’s. Every Saturday, he will also be offering Backwards Tacos.

Business Profile 2_Rachel Rhoads

Booth began his barbecue with four dishes: The Brisket, Pork, Chicken and The Nick. The Nick is named after one of Booth’s friends who passed away and has been a staple since the beginning. The Nick has macaroni and cheese, apple pepper bacon, pulled pork, barbecue sauce and dried chives.

There is also a special college student discount. If you bring your student ID, for every $15 you spend, you get $1 off. The same discount goes for police, firefighters and EMTs.

In 1979, Booth was a dishwasher in the very building where Boothy’s BBQ now resides. He grew up in Elizabethtown and is devoted to the community. He loves college students and takes a special interest in integrating them into the community and trying to make sure they feel like they belong. He has been a part of the food industry for 38 years and has been on the road doing barbecue for the last four years.

Booth was approached by the owner of Funk Brewing, the taproom next door, about cooking for them once Pita Pit’s contract expired. Boothy’s BBQ’s food can be found at Funk Brewing as well. Booth has already designed a kitchen for Funk and will be running and staffing the kitchen with an upgraded pub menu until he is able to open more stores in the area.

Booth cooked for many famous people when he worked briefly at Forbes Magazine in New York City, including former president Ronald Reagan and former Soviet statesman President Mikhail Gorbachev. At the time, he was working for Tom Forbes.

His impressive resume also includes being in charge of the kitchen at Bib’s Brewery in the 1980s and working at the Colonial Inn. He went to college in Baltimore and the Pennsylvania School of the Arts, but he had to drop out to support his family. He has stayed in the culinary business ever since.

“They provide a very good meal for a very decent price and it has a great atmosphere,” first-year Matt Smith said.

Location: 28 S Market St Elizabethtown, PA 17022

 

Senior Edition

Issuu is a digital publishing platform that makes it simple to publish magazines, catalogs, newspapers, books, and more online. Easily share your publications and get them in front of Issuu's millions of monthly readers. Title: Senior Edition, Author: The Etownian, Name: Senior Edition, Length: 10 pages, Page: 1, Published: 2020-04-30