Phil Pace isn\u2019t Col. Sanders. Nor does he want to be.
\nThere is no beard, no bow tie and no plans to franchise Phil\u2019s BBQ, which Pace created 16 years ago as “a small place serving a little bit of barbecue and having fun doing it.”
\n“Look at what I am today. Something went wrong,” joked the 52-year-old Pace.\u00a0\u00a0
\nAn Ohio transplant, Pace\u2019s “barbecuedom” now includes 400 employees at three full-fledged restaurant sites on Sports Arena Boulevard in the Midway District, in Santee and San Marcos. He recently opened a smaller outlet with a more limited menu in San Diego Lindbergh Field\u2019s new airport terminal.
\nPhil\u2019s BBQ moved from cramped quarters in Mission Hills a few years ago to its headquarters site at 3750 Sports Arena Blvd., close to everything: the airport, freeways, motels and hotels, the beaches, SeaWorld and Petco Park and downtown San Diego.
\nThe son of an Italian restaurateur, Pace continues to follow his father\u2019s advice, which was, “The only person you need to compete with is yourself,” and “Just try and wake up every day and not make the same mistakes you made yesterday.”
\nAnd one other pearl of wisdom imparted from father to son, “Do what you do best.”
\nThat\u2019s why Phil\u2019s will always be Phil\u2019s: Pace knows \u2014 and respects \u2014 his limitations.
\nPace ticked off the qualities \u2014 consistency, service, cleanliness, quality \u2014 that make his or any other restaurant a cut above the rest.
\n“The idea is to keep the consistency going,” said Pace, noting you can\u2019t do that if you grow your business too fast.
\nReasonable prices are part of the successful mix, too.
\n“People work hard today for their money,” said Pace. “They can come here and have a great meal. Not too often do people ask for seconds.”
\n“I really enjoy what I do,” he said, acknowledging that meeting and relating to customers is what he enjoys most, and that staying in business in the face of continually rising costs is always a huge challenge.
\nAnd barbeque lovers countywide have responded to Phil\u2019s philosophy of giving customers what they want and keeping it simple. They\u2019ve turned out in droves daily to satisfy their craving for mesquite-grilled baby back and beef ribs, chicken and sandwiches.
\nPace has also become involved in philanthropic causes. Phil\u2019s BBQ has a tailgate fundraiser every summer at Petco Park, where all proceeds are donated to Big Brothers and Big Sisters of San Diego County, which pairs children facing adversity with professionally supported, one-to-one mentoring relationships with adults to improve their lives.
\nLike his restaurant, the charity tailgate event has taken on a life of its own, raising $72,000 this year by serving more than 3,000 guests. The annual $25 ticket fee includes the Phil\u2019s tailgate experience and a Padres game ticket, with all ticket sales benefiting charity.
\nA dog lover, Pace also supports the San Diego Humane Society and Labrador Rescuers organizations.
\nPhil\u2019s BBQ is also big into catering, owning 16 trucks. At Phil\u2019s, catering is made to order. A customer can come and pick it up, have it delivered, have it cooked right there at the venue and served by restaurant staff if they wish.
\nSixteen years into barbecuing in San Diego, things continue to look good for Pace and Phil\u2019s BBQ.\u00a0Asked what it is about barbecue that keeps customers licking their fingers and coming back for more, Pace replied, “It\u2019s down-home. American.”
\nNoting barbecue is “spelled many different ways,” and “cooked many different ways,” Pace said, “We just try to serve something that\u2019s good. We\u2019ll be in business as long as the customer still wants to eat.”
\nFor more information on Phil\u2019s BBQ, call (619) 226-6333, or visit www.philsbbq.net.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Phil Pace isn\u2019t Col. Sanders. Nor does he want to be. There is no beard, no bow tie and no plans to franchise Phil\u2019s BBQ, which Pace created 16 years ago as “a small place serving a little bit of barbecue and having fun doing it.” “Look at what I am today. Something went wrong,” […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":277775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"Ever-popular Phil\u2019s BBQ continues to sizzle and grow","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11561],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-277774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-peninsula-beacon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}