Smokin J’s BBQ restaurant near Old Poway Park plans to spend a $5,000 grant from the California Restaurant Foundation on software that can better track its inventory, pricing and staff schedules.
Smokin J’s, a popular barbecue eatery, is one of 18 food businesses in San Diego County and among 184 independent restaurants in the state receiving one of the grants.
The food industry trade group started the Restaurants Care Resilience Fund in 2020 to help independent restaurant owners survive the COVID-19 pandemic.
In its third year, this round of awards is aimed at upgrading kitchen equipment, investing in technology and employee retention as restaurants continue to deal with inflation, increasing labor costs and pandemic hardships.
Josh George, who co-owns Smokin J’s BBQ with his brother and sister-in-law, Jeremy and Mckenzie George, said the grant will help the family keep up with their business growth. The Georges plan to use the grant funds to purchase Restaurant365 software that runs on a monthly subscription.
“That software will allow us to better track our inventory and food costs,” Josh George said. “So in current locations we can really dial it in and offer our customers as fair of pricing as possible.”
The company just started onboarding the software and intends to start using it within the next couple of months, George said.
“We’re excited to use the dedicated software to streamline our processes and that in turn will allow for a better restaurant experience for all of our customers coming into our restaurant,” said George, who just found out about the grant award last week.
The Georges opened their first Smokin J’s BBQ in the Old Poway Village Shopping Center three and a half years ago. They opened a second location in Miramar in February and are now on track for a third restaurant in the Gaslamp Quarter in Downtown San Diego that would open in July.
They’ve expanded each step of the way, starting with the 1,200-square-foot outlet in Poway, moving up to a larger shared space with Serpentine Cider and Lost Cause Meadery in Miramar, and future plans to open a 3,800-square-foot location in the Gaslamp.
“We have been doing well,” Josh George said. “We’ve always been a little ambitious and figured now is a good time to try to open up some more spots.”
George said the Restaurant365 software is common in the hospitality industry, but generally used by larger restaurants. The family learned about it when they opened their first location, but thought it didn’t make sense to use it considering the size of their restaurant and the cost of the software at that time, he said.
But due to Smokin J’s growth, the software will come in handy to organize the three restaurants and manage its inventory, pricing and staff of 28, George said.
“One of our mottos at Smokin J’s from the time when we started as a mobile food company was to have the luckiest customers,” he said. “We want to make sure our customers feel like the luckiest customers when they are dining with us.”
Smokin J’s serves a variety of barbecue menu items, from the popular Smokin J Sandwich made with brisket, pork belly and coleslaw, to a pulled pork sandwich, smoked chicken and spare ribs. The restaurant is named after the George siblings — Josh, Jeremy and Jennifer.
The foundation’s Resilience Fund is backed by contributions from California utility companies — San Diego Gas & Electric, Southern California Gas and Pacific Gas & Electric. This year’s fund offers the largest grants in the program’s existence and totals $2.1 million.
California-based restaurant owners with no more than five locations and less than $3 million in annual revenue (combined across all locations) are eligible to apply.
For a full list of grant recipients in San Diego County and across California, visit restaurantscare.org/resilience.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Natallie Rocha contributed to this article.
