Mighty Quinn's: 'We Have Never Waited for a Line to Form'

In his review of Smorgasburg this week, GQ's Alan Richman claims that an employee of Mighty Quinn's Barbecue refused to serve him until a line had formed. Richman writes:

I asked the lady at the counter for a sandwich. She smiled sweetly, and in a reasonable tone told me that she wouldn't serve me until there was a line, and my best bet was to start one.

I've experienced a lot of atrocious customer service in my life, but this was a milestone. What's worse, the ploy worked. New Yorkers don't think much in life is worthwhile unless they have to stand in line to get it.

A line started forming behind me. After five minutes, it numbered 20. Not good enough for her. The awful woman began taunting her customers. "Soooo close," she cooed. "Soooo close." Soon there were 25 people in line plus three baby carriages. I suspect she was eagerly awaiting the wail of tiny babies suffering in the summer heat.

Yesterday, Mighty Quinn's partner Micha Magid called this report "categorically false." And now, Mighty Quinn's pitmaster and co-owner Hugh Mangum chimes in with a response to Richman's review:

Mangum tells Eater that his employees were finishing their set up around 11 a.m., and possibly taking bathroom breaks before the shift started. Mangum explains:

We have three employees that work for us every weekend, and once we start, we don't stop until we're sold out, so he must have shown up when we were almost ready. If a line starts to form at this point, we have no control over that. We have never, ever, ever waited for a line to form...

I have no issues with Alan. He has a right to print whatever he wants to print. But we've never had to create a line — in no way shape or form would we try to create that. The story is being made out that it was this mountain of time, but it was literally three minutes. Once we stop, there's no breaks...

I've prided myself on building a company with people that have really friendly interactions with customers. He just didn't realize we weren't ready yet, but none of my employees would have said, "Wait till there's a line." We just wouldn't do that.

If Richman has a problem waiting in a hot concrete lot for Mighty Quinn's, perhaps he should consider going to the two-star East Village outpost.
· At Smorgasburg, the Tastiest Street Eats in Brooklyn [GQ]
· All Coverage of Mighty Quinn's [~ENY~]
[Photo Credit]

Smorgasburg

90 Kent Ave., Brooklyn, NY