Beast Craft BBQ is opening a third spot and expanding service at The Grove location

The Beast Craft BBQ Co. empire is growing. A third location, Beast Southern Kitchen & BBQ, is slated to open later this summer at 1280 Columbia Center in Columbia, Illinois. 

Visitors of the new spot can expect the same quality barbecue featured at Belleville’s Beast Craft BBQ Co. and The Grove’s Beast Butcher & Block, but with a southern twist. Although dishes at this full-service location have not been announced, they will spotlight local farms and heritage breeds and will accompany a thoughtful selection of cocktails with a focus on whiskeys. An additional late-night menu will be available to bar patrons after the dining room has closed. 

“We obviously want to showcase the barbecue that we’ve become known for, but we also want to give this menu a bit of a spin with a down-home southern feel,” said co-owner and pit master David Sandusky. “We want to branch out and try some new things, and [this new venue] will be an outlet for us to do some cool stuff.” 

Despite the state of the times, co-owners David and his wife Meggan Sandusky are committed to the growth of their brand. Even after the third location opens, expect more to come from the Sanduskys. “This is just the tip of the iceberg. We’re not done, and I can’t wait to tell you about what’s coming next,” Sandusky said in a press release. When asked for further details, Sandusky replied, “I plead the fifth.”

Services are also expanding at Beast Butcher & Block in The Grove, which is trading its casual queue-style line for full-service dining. This shift in dining style will pair well with a new full-service bar in place of the order counter. (The Belleville location will maintain its queue line.)

 “We’ll be able to seat them faster and fill the dining room faster,” he said. “We have the butcher shop attached, but we haven’t found enough ways to implement what it’s capable of into the menu, so we’ll ramp that up to increase focus on the butchery. We have the ability to position ourselves as a brand that can offer things that many other barbecue places can’t.”

A reopening date for The Grove location’s dining room has yet to be determined, but the patio is open, and delivery and carryout are available as well. 

Using a refrigerated van, Beast Butcher & Block now offers contactless delivery of your favorite local chops, barbecue cuts, deli meats, eggs, dairy, cheeses, charcuterie and other small grocery items. Interested customers must call at least one day in advance for delivery on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Online ordering for this service is not yet up and running, but online ordering for regular menu items is available. 

“There’s an open market for butcher shop [delivery] right now,” Sandusky said. “We deliver to the Belleville location and we will deliver to the Columbia [location] as well and we thought, ‘We’re already out and about. We might as well meet people where they’re at and allow them to enjoy the stuff we provide while staying safe at home.’”