Sept. 4, 2020

With increased demand for carryout food because of the pandemic, Backyard BBQ & Grill has permanently closed its downtown restaurant.

“The lease for our downtown location was up this year, so we decided to close that,” said Eric Elenkiwich, director of operations for the business owned by his father, Alan. “Having downtown parking is kind of an issue, and for carryout and takeout customers, they don’t have to worry about that at our Western Avenue location.”

Brookings-based Backyard BBQ expanded to Sioux Falls in 2014 with the restaurant at 3705 S. Western Ave. and added the location on Phillips Avenue five years ago.

The downtown restaurant closed in March as the pandemic began to affect the city, but the Western Avenue location remained open and experienced a shift in customer traffic.

“We don’t have near as many customers eating in as we did at this time last year. … Right now, we’re probably about 40 to 60 percent carryout,” Elenkiwich said. “From mid-March to May, it was about 80 percent carryout.”

Before COVID, takeout was 20 percent to 25 percent of sales, he estimated.

The Western Avenue location wrapped up an exterior renovation in March, and a new patio opened late last month.

There’s seating for 28 on the patio on the north side of the building. It’s covered by a pergola with a canvas canopy to help block the sun.

“We’ve actually had a patio in mind for some time,” Elenkiwich said. “With COVID-19, now is the time to do it. More customers are preferring to sit outside. It’s a nice addition to the store.”

Instead of operating two locations in Sioux Falls, Backyard BBQ will “start focusing more on catering and on our food trucks,” Elenkiwich said. This summer, the employees at the downtown restaurant have been working on the two food trucks, Backyard BBQ and Ollies.

The Elenkiwiches are looking at operating Ollies at a food truck park in Naples, Fla., for the winter.

“If that goes well, we’ll send the barbecue truck down too,” he said. “Before COVID, we planned to have it down there this year.”

The trucks would return in spring.

“For next summer, we hope to add one more food truck to our arsenal,” Elenkiwich said. “It would have a different menu. We haven’t decided yet. We have three different concepts we’re kicking around.”

There’s a lot of interest in the former downtown location at 323 S. Phillips Ave., said Scott Blount of Lloyd Cos., the broker who has the listing.

“It’s a strategically positioned on Phillips Avenue,” he said. “It’s got a nice rustic interior that will appeal to a wide variety of restaurant users.”