Polk County News
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • September 7, 2016 5A
Minet: Debt not in
vision statement
EMIly MEnTzEr/Itemizer-Observer
Bill Gordon serves barbecued brisket, pulled pork, turkey and Italian sausages with all the fixings.
Bar-B-Que melts in your mouth
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH — Stepping
into BG’s Bar-B-Que can be
dangerous to your stomach,
causing cravings for smoked
goodness served with home-
made sides from cheesy
taters to coleslaw.
Bill Gordon, owner and
chef, makes food from high-
quality cuts of meat — beef,
turkey, pork and locally
sourced Italian sausages.
The menu is simple, with
plates, sandwiches and plat-
ter options. Platters serve two
or three hungry diners.
“I have a fairly sharply fo-
cused menu,” Gordon said. “I
do a few things, and do them
well.”
He arrives three hours
early to get his slow-smoked
brisket and pulled pork
cooked to perfection.
“With barbecue, you have
to prepare it first and have it
ready as quick food — not
fast food, but quick food,”
Gordon said. “So people can
pop in, grab something and
take it back home, take it to
24 hour
Service
Give it a try
What: BG’s Bar-B-Que.
Where: 189 Pacific Highway S. (99W), Monmouth.
When: Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and
4:30 to 8 p.m. for dinner.
Of note: Gordon also offers catering services for small or
large parties, as well as specials in his restaurant. His sister
Marge Bauer is Gordon’s business partner.
the office and eat it there, or,
if they’re inclined to sit
here — even though we don’t
have much seating — and
enjoy a meal. It’s comfort
food, basically.”
Gordon prepares all his
meats with a rub, which he
says is essential to bringing
out the flavor.
“You can flavor meat with
a rub, slow cook it and let
that rub soak in, and that’s
basically all you need,” he
said. “You don’t need any
sauce when you’re ready to
eat this. Now if you want to
add some sauce, that’s fine,
but what I’m going to do is
serve it to you basically
naked.”
Gordon won’t be offended
if diners smother their dishes
in sauce — everyone has dif-
ferent palates — but believes
sauce can mask the taste of
the meats.
While barbecue isn’t
something necessarily con-
sidered a regular part of a
healthy diet, Gordon’s variety
isn’t too bad, he said, in part
because he uses high-quality
meats and rubs, avoiding the
sugars in barbecue sauce.
“It’s all muscle meat, noth-
ing processed,” he said.
“Even with my sausages.
They’re made in Oregon.
They’re nitrate free; they’re
gluten free. I like to eat quali-
ty food, and that’s what I’m
going to serve, too.”
Gordon didn’t expect to
get into the restaurant busi-
ness. His first career was as
an insurance agent.
Pick up &
Drop Off
this month
503-623-3117
837 Main St. • Dallas
Mon-Fri 9-5:30
Sat 9-1
“I did it for 20 years,” he
said. “I was fairly good at it,
but the industry changed a
bit. My dad was always in the
restaurant business, so we
grew up in it and around it,
so we knew enough to stay
away from it.”
And yet, here he is, open-
ing his own restaurant.
“I do love to cook,” Gor-
don said. “I do love pleasing
people with my food. I have a
passion for doing this.”
His first foray into barbe-
cue came from a recipe for
country ribs.
“Country ribs are not well-
known around here,” Gordon
said, originally from Kansas.
“When we say ribs, they’re
thinking bone-in ribs. The
country ribs are pork loin
ribs, just all meat — and
they’re real good cuts of
meat.”
He began using high-qual-
ity Dutch ovens with his rubs
and perfected his country
ribs, which are on the menu
at BG’s Bar-B-Que.
Monmouth was the per-
fect home for his business,
where he could fill the de-
sires for barbecue in a small-
er market.
Continued from Page 1A
In the last year, the cities of Monmouth and Independ-
ence have been asked to cover debt payments on behalf
of Minet of about $800,000.
“We’ve never had the most robust sales and market-
ing,” McClure said. “But now we’re going to a whole new
market. Do you need a Jefferson specialist? Knocking on
doors in Jefferson, that’s their job? Or do we need to be
taking ads out in their local newspaper? What do we
need to do to go into a new market?”
Patten said the finance committee has vetted the plan
to provide services to Jefferson.
McClure said that, while he appreciates that the fi-
nance committee is there to go over plans, the board
needs to see a plan and be comfortable with the deci-
sion.
Also at Thursday’s meeting, corporate finance officer
Mark Thoenes and finance committee member Gary Van
Horn presented the final draft of Minet’s mission and
value statements.
Board member Jon Carey said he appreciated the
sense of ownership Minet employees have taken with the
company, but noted that the debt service was not specif-
ically mentioned in the statement.
“The biggest heartburn people have about Minet is it
doesn’t meet the debt service, and the impact on city
budgets both in Independence and Monmouth,” he said.
“I don’t see that addressed.”
Thoenes said a goal mentions debt service improve-
ment.
John Cooper, Minet employee, said the debt service is
a sore subject and shouldn’t be brought into a core val-
ues statement.
“You want to say you’re making strides to improve the
situation without saying what the situation is in its en-
tirety,” he said.
McClure disagreed, requesting that speaking specifi-
cally about the debt could be done in a nice and profes-
sional way — not negatively — but it needs to be put in
somewhere.
“I appreciate what you’re saying,” Thoenes said.
“That’s not the vision or the mission of the company.
That’s not why the company was put into existence. The
company didn’t take the debt; someone else put the debt
on the company. The company is here to go out and in-
crease its value to its maximum. Then, once we have a
plan for that, hopefully it will be sufficient to service the
debt. I don’t think becoming debt solvent is a vision or
mission of the company.”
“It’s not, but it ought to be part and parcel of the
strategic plan,” Carey said.
McClure agreed.
“They don’t want Minet to become a great company
and the cities are still stuck with the debt,” he said.
In the future, the Minet board of directors will use
more executive sessions to discuss details about expan-
sion plans, board member Greg Ellis said.
He suggested they use the public records law relating
to trade secrets.
McClure agreed saying, “It’s the interesting thing as a
public entity. You have to do certain things quietly, but
the public doesn’t appreciate that.”
The next scheduled Minet board meeting is for 7:30
a.m. on Sept. 22 at the Henry Hill Educational Support
Center, 750 S. Fifth St.