How Joe Biden and a $150 Grill Create History at This Local Barbecue

The Enquirer is commemorating Black History Month this year through a TikTok series that highlights different Black-owned restaurants and the modern history makers who founded them.

Matthew Cuff, owner of Just Q’in BBQ in Walnut Hills, was born and raised in Cleveland and attended Tuskegee University, a historically black college in Macon County, Alabama. After earning degrees in aerospace engineering and physics, he moved to Cincinnati to work for GE Aerospace.

But a small barbecue competition in Greenville, South Carolina, changed his career path forever.

“I entered a competition for a small radio station. … I just ate a small $150 Lowe’s grill and ended up placing in three of the four categories,” Cuff told The Enquirer. “So, I started a little amateur competition team and on weekends I got busy and visited little Podunk town after Podunk town, and I was bitten by the bug.”

Cuff’s hobby competitions eventually led to the opening of a Just Q’in BBQ food truck in Cincinnati in 2009. Cuff opened his first brick-and-mortar restaurant in 2011 in Newtown, but he later closed it in 2019.

In 2016, Cuff opened its second location at 975 E. McMillan St. in Walnut Hills to continue the restaurant’s mission of being a social enterprise and Christian organization. He then opened another barbecue spot Just Q’in in College Hill in 2023.

Just Q’in BBQ serves award-winning ribs and pastrami sandwiches, featured on Cooking Channel.

President Joe Biden even visited the restaurant in January 2023, following a speech he gave in Covington on a $1.6 billion federal investment to upgrade the Brent Spence Bridge. Biden reportedly ordered the brisket plate, potato salad, macaroni and cheese, jalapeno cornbread and peach cobbler. The president also posted a photo with Cuff and his team on social media.

Faith, love, barbecue

But Just Q’in BBQ is known for much more than its POTUS-approved food.

The restaurant, founded on biblical principles, also seeks to provide opportunities to those who face barriers to employment due to homelessness, extreme poverty, incarceration and other circumstances through through his non-profit organization, Renew.

“Our mission is “Faith, Love, Barbecue”. … My goal as the owner of this organization is to impact the people that God sends me to work in this organization so that they can then impact the people that come to our restaurant,” Cuff said “Part of loving the people who come to work at our organization is providing them with the training and resources they need to overcome obstacles in their lives.”

After visiting Walnut Hills in 2014, Cuff said he fell in love with the community and thought it would be the perfect place to continue his philanthropic mission. As a Black business owner, it’s important to him to give back to other Black entrepreneurs in any way he can.

“I see it as my responsibility to make sure that other people who look like me have the opportunity to succeed or get all the resources they need, have all the information they need, have every opportunity to succeed in any field. they try to do it,” he explained.

Although it got its start in South Carolina, Just Q’in specializes in Texas-style barbecue with an emphasis on fresh, local ingredients. All meat, including ribs, brisket, chicken and the restaurant’s signature pastrami, is prepared daily in wood-fired smokers located behind the restaurant. Just Q’in also offers a variety of sides, sauces, pickled onions and white bread prepared in-house, all made in-house.

“We’re always trying to improve, always trying to improve. We’re always looking for ways to improve what we do, and I feel like we’re best in class right now,” he said. he declares.

Both Just Q’in BBQ locations are open Tuesday through Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The restaurant is closed on Sunday and Monday.

For more information, visit justqin.com. Watch our TikTok about the restaurant in the video below.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: This Biden-endorsed restaurant started with a $150 grill