Local Business Owner Martin Gorman Expands With Urban Bar-B-Que

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Martin Gorman knows how to keep hungry patrons satisfied. As the owner of Ledo Pizza locations in Severna Park, Millersville and Pasadena, he recognizes that the combination of great food and great service is what brings customers back for more. Now the local business owner is expanding, having recently opened a new franchise Urban Bar-B-Que location in Linthicum.

Gorman’s new business venture follows a 2013 strategic partnership between Ledo Pizza System Inc., a 100-unit pizza franchisor of the Ledo Pizza brand, and Urban Bar-B-Que Company, a D.C.-based franchise. Gorman is one of several Ledo owners to open an Urban Bar-B-Que, and he is enthusiastic about what the new restaurant has to offer. “The food is just over-the-top,” he said, crediting Urban Bar-B-Que founders David Calkins and Lee Howard. “Their belief in the brand and their product quality blew me away.”

Urban Bar-B-Que is a quick-service restaurant where guests order at the counter and can then enjoy their meal in the full-size dining room. All its meat is prepared in-house, as are the many side dishes available, such as chili, cornbread and coleslaw. A full catering menu is also available.

Gorman explained that Urban Bar-B-Que makes a good complement to Ledo Pizza because of the lunch-to-dinner ratio: Urban Bar-B-Que does about 70 percent of its business at lunch and 30 percent at dinner, and Ledo does about 30 percent at lunch and 70 percent at dinner. His expectation is to eventually open a location with both restaurants available in the same building.

The location near BWI in Linthicum meets a need for lunchtime options, as Gorman noted: Until Urban Bar-B-Que opened, the nearby offices had limited places to go during the day. “They were craving good food,” he said.

Gorman enjoys the new business endeavor also because he is able to offer more employment opportunities and to promote loyal workers from his Ledo locations. “I always look to promote from within because I know them, I know their work ethic,” he said. Shawn Harclerode, formerly the assistant manager at Ledo Pizza in Millersville, recently stepped up as general manager at Urban Bar-B-Que.

Another rewarding aspect of opening a new business is seeing something come from nothing. Gorman described the excitement of seeking out space and researching the area to find a good fit for his business, then witnessing construction take place. In the case of the Linthicum location, the building went up on what was formerly a bare plot of land, so Gorman was able to see a pile of dirt transformed into a beautiful restaurant. “To see that hard work come to fruition gives you a warm feeling,” he observed. He has another location opening in Columbia in the fall, and he hopes to open more Urban Bar-B-Ques within the coming years.

Urban Bar-B-Que in Linthicum is located at 802 Pinnacle Drive, Suite 100-101, and is open Sunday through Thursday 11:00am-9:00pm, and Friday through Saturday 11:00am-10:00pm. For more information, visit www.iloveubq.com.

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