Blackwood BBQ

What Blackwood BBQ does

Blackwood BBQ & Catering is a privately held, Chicago-based barbecue restaurant chain founded in 2013, operating seven physical locations across the Chicago metropolitan area including downtown Chicago, Schaumburg, Oak Brook, and an on-site restaurant at Northwestern Memorial Hospital's Feinberg Pavilion. The company generates revenue through four primary channels: in-store dining and takeout at physical locations, drop-off and full-service catering (including on-site pitmaster backyard BBQ events with a $1,500 F&B minimum), proprietary mobile app orders with rewards, and digital gift cards. Core menu offerings center on slow-smoked meats — beef brisket smoked up to 15 hours, pulled pork for 14 hours, pulled chicken, brisket burnt ends, and a vegetarian smoked-jackfruit option — paired with scratch-made sides and a six-style regional BBQ sauce lineup. The company also operates a breakfast menu with smoked-meat bowls and wraps.

Name

Blackwood BBQ

Legal name

Blackwood BBQ & Catering

Website

https://blackwoodbbq.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Blackwood BBQ & Catering is a Chicago-based, privately held BBQ restaurant chain operating seven locations across the Chicago metro, serving slow-smoked meats, scratch-made sides, catering, and on-site pitmaster events to consumers, event customers, and hospital diners.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Casual Dining / Barbecue Restaurant

NAICS

Limited-Service Restaurants (722513)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810)

akta.pro primary industry

BBQ & Smokehouse Fast Casual (THAFABAH)

Keywords

• BBQ restaurant
• Smoked meats catering
• Event catering services
• Casual dining
• Food service

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices8 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. In-store dining and retail sales: Revenue generated from customers dining at physical restaurant locations or placing takeout orders at any of their seven Chicago-area locations.
2. Catering services: Full-service catering including drop-off catering, backyard BBQ events with on-site pitmaster, boxed lunches, and party platters. Catering generates revenue through per-event minimums and per-person pricing.
3. Mobile app ordering and rewards: Customers use the Blackwood BBQ app to order ahead, earn rewards, and access exclusive menu items. $5 discount on first order for new account creation.
4. Gift cards: Digital gift cards sold in any denomination, redeemable at all Blackwood BBQ locations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Blackwood BBQ & Catering operates a multi-location barbecue restaurant chain in the Chicago metropolitan area, serving slow-smoked meats (brisket smoked up to 15 hours, pulled pork smoked 14 hours, pulled chicken, brisket burnt ends, smoked jackfruit) alongside scratch-made sides and six regional BBQ sauce styles. Revenue is generated through dine-in and takeout at storefront locations, full-service catering (drop-off packages and on-site backyard BBQ events with pitmaster service), a proprietary mobile app for order-ahead and rewards, and digital gift cards.

Product overview

Blackwood BBQ is a Chicago-based BBQ restaurant chain offering a unified product portfolio centered on smoked meats and BBQ cuisine. The core offering consists of in-store dining with lunch/dinner and breakfast menus featuring smoked brisket, pulled pork, chicken, and vegetarian jackfruit options. The company operates a mobile app for ordering-ahead and rewards. Service extensions include drop-off catering with various package options and backyard BBQ events with on-site pitmaster service. Gift cards serve as a complementary gifting product. The portfolio functions as a single restaurant brand with multiple service channels rather than a modular platform architecture.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Breakfast Menu BBQ breakfast items served at Chicago-area Blackwood BBQ locations, including breakfast bowls with smoked meats and breakfast wraps with brisket, pulled pork, or vegetarian jackfruit options, targeted at morning diners.
• In-Store Lunch and Dinner Menu Slow-smoked meats including beef brisket, pulled pork, pulled chicken, brisket burnt ends, and smoked jackfruit served as sandwiches, tacos, platters, or salads with housemade sides and a six-style regional BBQ sauce lineup for dine-in and takeout customers.
• Drop-Off Catering Full-service drop-off catering offering traditional catering packages, boxed lunches, party platters, and a la carte meat options, with delivery and setup available throughout the Chicago area for corporate and private events.
• Backyard BBQ Events On-site pitmaster service for backyard events with a $1,500 food and beverage minimum, including two hours of meat carving and sides, with each additional hour at $100/hour, targeted at individuals and businesses hosting outdoor events.
• Gift Cards Digital gift cards sold in any denomination and redeemable at all Blackwood BBQ locations, targeted at customers purchasing gifts.
• Blackwood BBQ App Proprietary iOS mobile application (App Store ID 1606048328) that allows customers to order ahead, save $5 on first order, earn rewards, and access exclusive menu items at Blackwood BBQ locations.

Quantifiable outcome

• For every meal eaten at Blackwood BBQ, a nutritious school meal is donated to children in poverty

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• One Feeds TwocoreGTM or Marketing PartnerBlackwood BBQ partners with One Feeds Two, a nonprofit initiative that brings together food brands and customers to provide nutritious school meals to children living in poverty globally. For every meal eaten at Blackwood BBQ, the company donates a nutritious school meal to children in some of the poorest regions of the world, turning hunger into a force for good.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Smokey Bones: Casual-dining BBQ and American grill chain with full bar, dine-in, and catering services; directly comparable sit-down BBQ restaurant format competing for similar dinner and group occasions.
• Dickey's Barbecue Pit: Large franchise-based BBQ chain focused on slow-smoked meats and catering; competes in the same fast-casual BBQ category and offers comparable catering services for events.
• Famous Dave's: National BBQ restaurant chain (BBQ Holdings) offering smoked meats, regional sauces, full-service dining, and catering — closely comparable concept, menu, and multi-channel distribution to Blackwood BBQ.
• Mighty Quinn's Barbeque: Fast-casual craft BBQ concept with dine-in, takeout, and catering in multiple locations — a closely matched multi-unit urban BBQ peer with comparable menu and positioning.
• Mission BBQ: Multi-unit American BBQ chain with dine-in, takeout, and catering across the U.S., competing for the same lunch/dinner BBQ occasions and event catering as Blackwood BBQ.
• Sonny's BBQ: Long-established Southern BBQ franchise chain serving slow-smoked meats with dine-in, catering, and to-go formats — directly comparable menu, format, and catering model to Blackwood.

Others

• Bonefish Grill: Casual-dining chain in the same broader restaurant industry as Blackwood; useful reference for casual-dining unit economics, catering build-outs, and suburban footprint expansion patterns relevant to Blackwood's suburban Chicago locations.

Broad incumbents

• Chipotle Mexican Grill: National fast-casual chain referenced by Thrillist as the conceptual benchmark for Blackwood's BBQ concept; comparable assembly-line fast-casual service model and digital/app ordering infrastructure.
• Qdoba Mexican Eats: Fast-casual Mexican chain offering dine-in, takeout, delivery, and catering — a broader fast-casual comparable for digital ordering, catering operations, and suburban unit economics.
• Sweetgreen: Large fast-casual chain emphasizing fresh, scratch-made food, mobile ordering, and rewards — adjacent fast-casual peer benchmark for Blackwood's mobile app and scratch-cooking positioning.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/blackwoodbbq
• Xx.com/blackwoodbbq
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/blackwood-bbq

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Blackwood BBQ