Business-wise, Matt Gfroerer and Tucker Jadczak knew they belonged together.
They were both entrepreneurs. Both lived in Concord’s South End. Their merchandise was perfectly and permanently linked. Even the alliteration created from this merchandise suggested an alliance.
Barbecue. Beer. And, as a result, a business. They’re opening an establishment, perhaps in January, at 231 South Main Street, site of the old Taylor Rental building and in an area of the city ripe for development.
Gfroerer, who owns Smokeshow Barbeque on Fort Eddy Road, will cook his brisket here, Jadczak will brew and sell his beer there. Two neighboring, separate entities featuring yet-to-be-determined access points, allowing BBQ people to walk a short distance, indoors, to a local brewer for a cold one.
Barbecue. Beer. A long-time relationship, staples in Gillette Stadium parking lots, backyards and state fairs.
“We’ll be good neighbors because this is a great combination,” said Gfroerer, who graduated from Concord High School in 1995. “And we both have the same vision for the space itself, barn wood and rustic decor.”
His 32-year-old business partner, a Bishop Brady grad, saw the place on South Main. He couldn’t afford to rent the entire space.
“I thought a brewery and a restaurant, find a business that would compliment ours,” Jadczak said. “We found a cohesive partner and we both hit the ground running from there.”
He’s calling it Feathered Friends, in honor of his family’s love of birds.
They’re optimistic. While their establishment officially sits in what’s labeled as the South End, the street is close enough to the core of downtown to be viewed as a direct extension, not too far from the action on Main Street.
Vinnie’s Pizza has always served as the informal gateway to the South End. Other projects are in the works, led by a soon-to-be-built 192-unit apartment complex in the area that will include six residential buildings, a clubhouse and two commercial units.
The homes have already been approved by the city. That means more people will be flooding the area.
“I think the South End is desperate for something like this,” Jadczak said. “There’s not a whole lot in the South End with beer and food, so we’re hoping we can make an impact on that side of town.”
Gfroerer opened the Smokeshow Barbeque five years ago and said it’s been successful, with a large share of business coming from catering and weddings. Now he needs more room.
He’s shown leadership skills as far back as middle school, saying he captained all the sports teams he played on once he reached 13. He played hockey, football and baseball in high school.
And he cooked. Loved to cook. He said his mother was a great cook. “I always cooked with her,” Gfroerer said. “Italian food and fish.”
Gfroerer played hockey and rugby at Norwich University in Vermont, the oldest private military college in the country.
Then he moved to Austin, Texas, 20 years ago. He learned that barbecues are more than just barbecues in certain areas, with the community spirit and partying and competition among barbecuers mixing nicely with the smokey scent coming from a revolving spit.
In North Carolina, towns celebrate their pulled pork. In Memphis, it’s ribs. In Texas, brisket.
Brisket so tender, it fears a butter knife. Even a dull one. On his website, Gfroerer said, “The place was called Rudy’s, down the street from my apartment. I was instantly hooked. The smokey flavors, the hunks of meat and the sauce. I couldn’t get enough of it.”
He meant it sincerely. He quit his good-paying job working for a software company and mailed letters to all the barbecue places in his area, asking for a chance to learn everything there was to know.
“I told them I wanted to bring this back to New England,” Gfroerer said. “I told them, ‘We’ve got nothing like this in New Hampshire.’ ”
He managed a local barbecue place in a former auto shop in downtown Austin. He was the managing partner and the face of the dining hall at his beloved Rudy’s. He opened a Rudy’s branch in Corpus Christi, Texas. He opened a chain of barbecue establishments in Baltimore, managing the operations for owners based 1,500 miles away.
Gfroerer returned to Concord with his wife in 2012. His progression toward becoming what he’d later call the Pit Master continued at KC’s Rib Shack for four years. Then he chose to take stock in himself. For the first time, he opened his own place, on Fort Eddy Road in 2016.
“With Concord being my hometown, it was easier for me to start here,” Gfroerer said. “I had a good following before it opened.”
He said his equipment – sinks, walk-in coolers, smokers – is late arriving, stuck on some cargo ship in the Pacific Ocean. He’s waiting for city permits as well.
He’ll sell beer, too, both his own and tapped supplies from his neighbor. Gfroerer said he anticipates no problems selling a competitor’s beer and his own simultaneously.
The bond here appears strong.
This marks Jadczak’s debut in the business world. He grew up in Warner and played hockey at Bishop Brady.
He studied music business at Northeastern University. He worked at the House of Blues in Boston, in production and as a stagehand. He did security work and managed musicians.
His claim to fame was managing a band called Pat and the Hats. Plus, he managed acts at the well-known Governor’s Ball on Randall’s Island in New York City.
That was not his calling, however. Jadczak had family ties, strong ones, to beer and its place in history.
His great grandfather, D.J. Reardon, opened a Budweiser beer distributorship in 1933, just in time to cash in on the repeal of prohibition. Reardon was issued the first wholesale liquor license in Massachusetts. He paid his dues, once selling beers from a truck, at fairs and flea markets.
Dan Reardon – D.J.’s son and Jadczak’s grandfather – took over the family business and retired in 1998. The business was sold in 2008.
As a little kid, Jadczak would walk into the back area, where the beer was stored. That left an impression on him.
“I always had the family vision in the back of my mind,” he said. “I’d see 30 racks of kegs and beers and said, ‘I want to do this for a living.’ ”
He did the corporate thing for a few years, then continued at Concord Craft Brewing for two more years, learning what he could to become a successful businessman.
And now – after the landlord of their new business site suggested this brisket and beer partnership to cut the rent in half for both – he’s the boss.
Throughout his career, Jadczak brewed at home, leaving that fine, delicate art to others, while assuming an administrative role, one of organization and leadership.
He recruited Chichester native Ryan Connor, the assistant to the master brewer at Concord Craft and Jadczak’s boss there, to create.
Jadczak said to expect a traditional India Pale Ale, which he said was hoppy; sours, using different strains of yeast for an acidic taste, mixing it with fruit; a pilsner, a traditional lager; and stouts, a winter beer, darker, full bodied.
A nine-piece speaker system will share the stage with live acts. Feathered Friends will close at 9 p.m.
“We’re not going for the real bar atmosphere,” Jadczak said.
He and Groefer believe this marriage will last. They get along great. Their products play off each other beautifully.
“I live in the South End and he does too,” Gfroerer said. “It’s exciting to try to bring something cool there. I met Tucker and told him how great it would be to have a beer place next to a barbecue place. It just made sense.”