More Romney lies: New ad claims Obama killed BBQ joint

[HipChick]

Romney camp: Obama killed BBQ joint

A new campaign video from Mitt Romney accuses President Obama of killing Bill’s Barbecue, a beloved Richmond, Va., eatery that closed its doors in September after 82 years of pulled pork and “peak-of-flavor” pies.

Romney himself stopped at a former Bill’s Barbecue location Thursday to chat with Rhoda Elliott, the niece of the restaurant’s founder. She appears in the anti-Obama video.

Elliott told Romney that the restaurant’s troubles began six years ago, when George W. Bush was president.

“Six years ago we started seeing a little ripple in things, and then five years ago it rippled a little more, and then it really hit and from there things just got rougher and rougher, the taxes, federal regulations, the food regulations,” she said. She added that “the new health care that they were gonna bring in would have put, I would say 90 percent of mom-and-pops out of business, which is really all we are.”

Elliott noted that bad economic times are usually good for business, because customers stopped going to “white cloth” restaurants, “and we’re the next step.” But “this one lasted so long they went down the next step and that’s where it is right now,” she said.

But the truth to why they probably shut down has nothing to do with Obama.


The Richmond Times Dispatch noted that other barbecue companies are expanding in the Virginia capital area. “Virginia’s Finest Barbecue,” a Richmond-based barbecue blog wrote at the time of the closing that “Bill’s needed a face lift. It seemed they were still stuck somewhere between the 70?s and the 30?s, the good ol days for them,” and observed that ” the success of a few other Richmond bbq restaurants around town that have slowly eaten Bill’s business away.”

Additionally, it appears that Bill’s struggled to adhere to public health codes. Public health inspectors cited Bill’s locations repeatedly for critical and non-critical violations. In 2006, one location was cited for “sewage is not being properly disposed of in an approved sewage disposal system.” In 2009, another location was dinged for employees “handling ready-to-eat (RTE) food with their bare hands.”

http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/11/01/1122211/romney-campaign-blames-obama-for-closed-bbq-restaurant-with-repeated-health-violations/?mobile=nc

Some of the comments are funny..
I live in Richmond. I have now for 28 years. Bill's always had crappy BBQ. I went once when I moved here never again. The article is right. It was stuck somewhere between the 70's and 30's. There are so many great BBQ places all over town, all doing well if they serve a good product. Richmond never really was hit too bad with the economic downturn -- at last in comparison to so many other places. The employment rate has always been below the national average. The restaurant scene is so much better now than when I moved here. Bill's BBQ died years ago. It's just that no one ever told them.

Bills' BBQ. Good riddance.

The Romney camp has obviously never eaten at Bill's BBQ. Their secret sauce was raw sewage at best.

[HipChick]

1. Low information voter has to be their target group..

[ProudProgressiveNow]

4. In other words known as "The base."

[jsr]

2. Shitty restaurant with shitty BBQ served with shitty sauce

doesn't deserve to be in business.

[Initech]

3. Yeah Mitt Romney is one to talk about killing jobs.

[JHB]

5. Sounds like what they needed was "Kitchen Impossible"...

...or whatever the restaurant-makeover reality show is.

[HipChick]

6. lol! good one..

[JHB]

8. I was only half-joking. This is what I was thinking of:

Restaurant: Impossible
Tune in: Wednesdays at 9pm/8c

Turning around a failing restaurant is a daunting challenge under the best of circumstances. Attempting to do it in just two days with only $10,000 may be impossible. But Chef Robert Irvine is ready to take on the challenge. He'll channel MacGyver and use a lot of muscle to rescue these desperate places from complete collapse. Can one man, in two days, with just $10,000, turn the tide of a failing restaurant and pave the road to a successful future? Find out as Robert Irvine takes on Restaurant: Impossible.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/restaurant-impossible/index.html

I've seen a couple of episodes, and Bill's Barbecue sounded exactly like the places that end up on a show like this: coasting on their heyday, sinking, and just not getting their act together to draw in people they way they need to.

[BeeBee]

7. "the food regulations..."

God forbid we have some of these!