The end of 2022 also brought an end to Danny’s BBQ Stand, dimming the lights on a Quarrier Street business that brightened the atmosphere in downtown Charleston during its short existence.
The business was opened by Danny Jones, Charleston’s longest-serving mayor, in February 2020, right before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The restaurant weathered that storm, but Jones announced in November that he would shut it down on Dec. 30. For Jones, 72, the decision was based on quality of life.
“Father time is catching up with me,” he said in a November interview. “And every part of me hurts in some way — or a lot of me hurts. I know that I need to start taking better care of myself. I can’t do it and be in that business.”
This isn’t the first time Jones has self-evaluated whether to keep going. The four-time Charleston mayor, who also served in the Legislature, as Kanawha County’s sheriff and owned several restaurants before his political career, has let it drop here and there that he’s wished he had gotten out of politics before his fourth term as the city’s chief executive.
Businesses come and go, and that seems to especially apply to restaurants, where profit margins are thin, hours are long and employees can be difficult to find. Factor in the pandemic, which shut down restaurants or had them restricted to a carryout-only business model for several months, and its not surprising that some didn’t survive.
Danny’s stayed around, though. Perhaps that’s a testament to the tenacity Jones showed in his political career over the years. Maybe Jones had the means to stay at it when others could not. He said the restaurant remained profitable, and only saw downturns in business when Jones shut it down to take vacations. Whatever the case, the past two years and change can’t have been easy, and Jones said keeping the business profitable was going to take longer hours of operation and less time off, not something he was looking for.
Still, the food was good and it’s hard to think of another restaurant where a four-term mayor is standing behind the counter, making recommendations to customers, just about all of whom he knows by name. It’s a shame to see that end, especially on a part of Quarrier Street that is coming back to life.
But Jones believes he hung in there too long once and doesn’t want to make the same mistake again. It’s hard to fault him for that.
