By Morgan Bryce
Associate Editor
A grand opening celebration for Opelika’s Butcher Paper BBQ will be held Sept. 7 at the business’s permanent home at 128 Columbus Parkway.
According to Butcher Paper BBQ owner and operator Mark Coxwell, the event will kickoff with a joint ribbon-cutting ceremony with members of the Opelika Chamber of Commerce at 11 a.m. Following the ceremony, he said the first 20 customers to walk through the doors will receive a free small pork sandwich.
“It’s very exciting to be so close to getting open. During the last few weeks, the staff has started to work itself out, which is just a great group of people and team behind me,” Coxwell said. “I’ve got very high hopes for the restaurant, including the catering service, deliveries and participating in special events. We’re going to be attacking a lot of new fronts here in the next few weeks and months ahead.”
Coxwell opened Butcher Paper BBQ as a mobile food-catering service in 2016. By participating at pop-up stops across downtown Opelika, he said he built a loyal following based on word-of-mouth and the void left by the closure of the legendary Papa Joe’s Bar-B-Que which closed its doors last year.
Influenced by barbecue cultures from across the country, Coxwell said his menu is full of diverse offerings whose roots can be traced from the Midwest to the East Coast.
Once opened, Coxwell said his business will be open 10:30 a.m. Tuesday-Saturday, with a focus on catering to Opelika’s lunch crowd. Among some of his plans to achieve this fall are the expansion of business hours, addition of breakfast and dinner dining options and opening on Sundays.
For more information or updates, follow the business on Facebook or Instagram, or call Coxwell at 706-247-1215.