Hog Wild Smokehouse in Toano will close its doors on Feb. 28, but the owners have hopes to find a new location.
Blanche and BillLee Watkins opened Hog Wild in April 2005 after moving to the area from Louisiana in 1989. The restaurant is closing for a number of reasons including a lack of traffic, possibly due to increased gas costs, and the economic impact on its customer base. Blanche said a number of their patrons are self-employed and don’t have any disposable income to go out to eat anymore.
“The lease is up and the economy is down,” BillLee said.
Blanche said they have been told to close the restaurant without telling people, but they want to give their customers the opportunity to come back before closing.
The Watkinses have been working on finding a new location to rent or buy, but have not been able to secure a place yet. They are continuing to look with the Feb. 28 deadline looming. If the husband and wife team has not found a new location by close of business, they will seek jobs elsewhere.
They said it would be ideal to find a building close to their current location. They have had suggestions to move closer to town but that doesn’t fit with their style, Blanche said. The pair has created a family with several long-employed staff members and patrons.
When the couple was researching to open their restaurant, they did a demographic study of the area and at the time the restaurant opened, approximately 3,000 homes were planned to be built in the surrounding area, BillLee said. About 300 homes have been built to date.
The business open in the location prior to Hog Wild had a bad reputation and was a “problem child,” BillLee said. He and Blanche set about completely changing the atmosphere of the building and opened their restaurant with the intention of serving basics from Louisiana and “down-home, southern-style cooking,” Blanche added. “We always knew we wanted to do a family-type spot.”
It’s been a harder decision to close the business than it was to open it, BillLee said.
Hog Wild’s smokehouse offerings are different than other barbecue places in the area: Pierce’s PITT Bar-B-Que uses an open pit to cook meats and Hog Wild uses a smokehouse with dry rubs and serves sauces on the side, he said.
The Watkinses are trying to maintain normal business hours for the restaurant until it closes and plan to close after operating a full day on Feb. 28, “God willing and the creek don’t rise,” said Blanche.
Even though the restaurant is closing, Blanche and BillLee believe “when a door closes, God opens a window.”
