Blue Smoke wins Belden Village Mall's Taste for the Space competition; to open this fall
JACKSON TWP. ‒ Blue Smoke is the winner of the Taste for the Space culinary competition hosted by the Belden Village Mall.
Guests gathered Monday afternoon in the food court in front of the space Blue Smoke soon will occupy to hear the highly anticipated results of the June event.
“Amazing! Just amazing," Blue Smoke owner Jamie Moore said when asked how it feels to be the winner.
The crowd of about 30 people cheered when mall workers unveiled the space, showing Blue Smoke would be the new tenant.
"I'm super grateful, not just to Belden Village (Mall), but to the community because they believed in my food and my mission. They wanted Blue Smoke, and now they have it, so I'm super thankful to them," said Moore, who calls Canton home.
He has spent his career working and cooking in restaurants but always has had the dream of owning his own restaurant. He perfected his technique over the years with his backyard smoker, preferring post oak and hickory wood.
The coveted prize was worth $140,000 — including a $50,000 investment and six months worth of free rent at the eatery space in the mall. Blue Smoke will be the first restaurant on the left when entering the mall's food court from outside.
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"It literally has given me the opportunity to start my dream almost debt free. That's amazing. That never happens," Moore said of this opportunity. This will be Blue Smoke's first brick-and-mortar location.
What is Taste for the Space?
Blue Smoke competed against eight other restaurants: Big A#$ Salads, The Cheesecake Bar LLC, Daisy Pops, iRiE Jamaican Kitchen, Merrybrook Baking Co., Poagies BBQ, SOL Pie Pizza and Taco Buddy. Each restaurant shared a signature dish, or dishes, with the sold-out crowd of more than 850 people at the June event.
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The crowd at the Taste for the Space event voted for their favorite restaurant through text messages after tasting the dishes. A panel of judges also scored the competing restaurants and shared their thoughts.
The mall tallied votes, reviewed the restaurants' business plans and met with its leasing team to see which restaurant would be the best fit long term.
Blue Smoke fit all the criteria.
At the event in June, Blue Smoke shared its pulled pork sliders and armadillo eggs with guests. The crowd loved them. Moore is planning to offer about 14 items, including smoked brisket, smoked mac and cheese, watermelon chunks and baked potatoes.
"It's going to be a limited menu, but we're going to do what we do best," Moore said. "And we do it very well."
Barbecue lovers will be happy to know the tentative opening date for Blue Smoke is Nov. 1, but it may be mid-November.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Blue Smoke wins Belden Village Mall food competition; to open in fall
