Crosstown Barbecue owner planning for retirement

With the goal of retiring in “three or four years,” restaurant owner Steve Williams wants to hire an employee to manage and possibly take over the longtime business.

Williams has been at the helm of Crosstown Barbecue Inc. at 1331 E. Division St. for 45 years. The business was started by his father, Jesse Williams, in 1970.

“I’m looking for someone that is interested to make this a career for their life and for their family,” Williams said in a short video posted March 20 on Facebook. “As you know, my dad passed it down to me and I’m ready to pass it down to someone else.”

Williams said family, including four children, have other dreams.

“My family members are not so interested so, that being the case, I am ready to adopt some more family members,” he said in the video.

In a follow-up interview March 23, Williams said his goal is to hire two employees, including one that could work into a manager role so he can take a vacation.

He runs the restaurant Tuesday through Saturday with the assistance of two employees but does not have a designated employee to help operate the food truck parked in south Springfield.

Williams, 64, said he’d like to step away from the restaurant in the near future.

“I’m trying to get somebody ready if they want to make a career out of it, if they want to buy it or they just want to run it while I’m retired,” he said.

Three years ago, Williams told Springfield Business Journal that a project started in mid-2022 to reconstruct part of Division Street was disruptive to traffic flow and cut into his revenue. He said business picked up after the work was done.

“We have not fully recovered from it,” he said in an interview yesterday with SBJ. “It’s still a struggle at times.”

Williams said he appreciates regular customers who drop by for a meal or take-out order.

“When you’ve been in business as long as we have, some of your regulars are going to die off and retire and not be in as often as they used to be as they get older,” he said. “It is just a matter of trying to reinvent ourselves every four or five years with new customers coming and create new regular customers.”

To drum up business, Williams plans to start a “pitmaster for a day” program to teach enthusiasts how to expertly smoke meats.

He encouraged anyone interested in working for the restaurant to stop by for a conversation. He expects to start new hires at $15 but he is willing to increase the hourly wage based on skills and responsibilities.

“If I see you doing a good job and you’re taking an interest, then I would increase it,” he said.

Williams said skills, such as smoking meat and running a business, can be taught as long as the employees love interacting with customers.

“My business is all about relationships. My business is all about face-to-face, shaking the hand, talking to a person. It’s not just about barbecue,” he said. “It’s that old-fashioned come in, I’ll look you in the eye. I’ll fix you good barbecue and ask you what is going on with your family, how you are, and that matters.”