Toledo’s Bonanza BBQ and Catering Reopens for Dine-in Service

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TOLEDO — Bonanza BBQ and Catering owners Dan and Christina Gorton began their culinary journey by barbecuing for family and friends in their spare time. Word of mouth spread quickly and before long Lewis County businesses began asking the Gortons to cater events for them.

Dan was a tire salesman for 40 years, and instead of retiring, he and Christina decided to open a BBQ joint in August 2019. They acquired insurance, a business license and a bank account, but it really took off when they bought a large Texas-style pit smoker. Soon everyone wanted the pit smoker at their weddings, anniversary parties and company picnics.

“It was no longer a hobby,” Christina said. “It was a business.”

The business has been so fortunate that it’s nearly outgrown itself. The Gortons have had to scale back and not expand further. They’ll be 64 years old this year and have enough work cut out for them as it is.

“We’re kind of trying to slow down, not speed up at this point in our lives,” Christina said. “We could have grown a lot bigger, but we chose not to.”

They decided to keep it small enough where they are in control of all aspects of the business and can run it exactly the way they want to. Christina and Dan do just about everything, including all the cooking. Dan is the pitmaster and Christina does all the baking and the business side like booking events. They have a few employees to help serve, take orders and wash dishes.

It’s no easy task. The ribs and chicken take three or four hours, but brisket and pork butt cook low and slow, as they say in barbecue talk, basking in a Southern Pride commercial smoker for 10 to 14 hours at a time, depending on the size of the meat. If the brisket or pork butt is for an afternoon meal, Dan will smoke them overnight. If it’s for a dinner banquet, he’ll put them in real early in the morning.

Before the COVID-19 restrictions that hit statewide restaurants, putting a temporary end to dining-in service, Bonanza BBQ was a buffet-style joint. They were open one day a week, every Friday from 4 p.m to 8 p.m., with an all-you-can eat buffet with all the meats, mac and cheese, beans, cornbread and a salad bar. People would drive from hours away for Friday night date nights to try the scrumptious buffet.

Bonanza had to switch to takeout orders only since day one of the dining restrictions. It doesn’t have a takeout or drive-through window so it’s been selling food out of its back kitchen door with a popup canopy and table.



“It was really popular,” Christina said. “We had a lot of upset people who weren’t able to get their Friday night buffet.”

Bonanza opened the dining room on Wednesday after Lewis County moved to phase two of the state’s four-phase plan that went into effect on May 22, which allows restaurants and bars to operate with dining rooms at 50 percent capacity and tables sizes no larger than five people. 

Christina and Dan debated whether to even open the dining room or not. They ultimately decided to and made posts on Facebook and posted that the dining room is now open on the restaurant’s 4-by-8-foot readerboard outside. Only two diners showed up and sat down to eat on Wednesday and only three on Thursday. There were three reservations set for last Friday.

“It doesn’t look like a lot of people are comfortable yet,” Christina said. “It doesn’t look like our community is ready to come in and dine with other people.”

It highlights the challenges restaurant owners have faced the last couple months during the coronavirus outbreak. Restaurants haven’t been able to predict when customers will show up and how many will arrive. The normally busy times and days have changed now that people are ordering takeout more than dining in.

“That’s what’s so scary about the restaurant business,” Christina said. “You just don’t know what your numbers are going to be. Were we going to have people lined out out the door waiting?”

Now the restaurant is open Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Bonanza has a five-star rating across 58 Facebook reviews, a 4.6 rating across 121 Google reviews and a 4.5 rating with 16 Yelp reviews. Christina said their popularity stems from three important factors.

“It’s partly your food, your service and how you treat people,” Christina said. “We try to treat everybody like they’re family or friends. We tell them we appreciate their business, because people have choices. If they choose to come to us, we feel honored. Service is really important to us.”

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Reporter Eric Trent can be reached at etrent@chronline.com. Visit chronline.com/business for more coverage of local businesses.