Nexus Blue Smokehouse
Ken Carson, Banker turned Brewery/Restaurants Entrepreneur, reflects on this business path as he opens the doors on his expansion of his brand with Nexus Blue Smokehouse.
He’s seen skyrocketing success and a few nose dives along the way as he rides this economic rollercoaster that we have seen in the past couple of decades. Now with several years under his belt with his Nexus brand, he reflects on what has kept him going and growing.
Perseverance and hard work with his eye on the goal is the gist of it. But to what other magic does he attribute the success of a business that can he impart for those in pursuit of similar success?
If you have a concept, stick with it. You can tweak it as you learn more and respond to the market for your business, but steady consistent forward motion – despite set-backs – is the key. Ken had a dream. His dream was to have a great BBQ place and, on the way, there, he caught the crest of the wave of micro- breweries which seemed to compliment his goal.
He was a passionate follower of Star Trek and was intrigued by the episode that featured Nexus – the planet that offered the visitor a personal Shangri-la. A utopia of their imagined perfect world. WOW. This was the name for the destination he hoped to create that would draw his patrons to enjoy his food and brew.
His food concept drew from his childhood in Albuquerque where traditional soul food met the red and green of New Mexico cuisine. This creative paring resulted in a menu for success.
Having developed his brand with the subliminal reference to the immortalized phrase from the Star Trek series: Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before! His unique concept was certainly going where no man had gone before and going to go well beyond a mere five-year mission!
But he had to come down to earth to introduce his long-awaited dream of a BBQ place. He traveled back in time to research his family roots in North Carolina where he discovered a hidden little smokehouse from the slave days of history. He felt the pull of the flavors and traditions that began generations before.
His journey took him to the best BBQ in the country where he tasted and compared, spoke with pit-masters, and gathered his material to push forward.
The celebration of his roots in Albuquerque took him to the old, nearly abandoned Elks Club on Broadway SE – located in the neighborhood in which he grew-up. This iconic building was the perfect renovation project to pay homage to so many who had played a part in his dream. This leap was a monumental task to tackle on the eve of what became our remarkable pandemic. He partially gutted and built his transaction counter, kitchen, new covered patio-pit complete with custom-made smokers, outdoor and indoor dining with more than half of the building left untouched for the postponed second phase.
Now finished and in full gear with bodacious barbecue, great live entertainment, full bar, and other fine, flavorful fixings!
