Less than four months after the ribbon was cut on their Main Street business, Smokin’ Bear BBQ announced this morning via social media of the “permanent closure” of their restaurant.

 

The announcement led to a flurry of inquiries and comments on the original post as well as shares of the post off of their Facebook page. Connect-Bridgeport was also hit with multiple inquiries, including several that were concerned about the health of those involved in the business including owners Tyson and Susan Oakman as well as Sean Snider.

 

“I want to assure the community there are no health issues with anyone,” said Tyson Oakman. “Susan, Sean, along with myself and our staff are all fine.”

 

That, of course, led to the reasoning for shutting the doors one day after a previous announcement stated that there would be a Sunday closure of the restaurant.

 

“We just began to lose customers after a strong start,” said Oakman. “At the end of the day, people had stopped coming in. There were likely a lot of factors that played into it.”

 

Sadly, the move comes a short time after the business instituted what could be described as an expansion. Recently, Smokin’ Bear BBQ launched a food truck to take its food to other locations in the region.

 

Oakman added that what made things extremely difficult was that he believes the restaurant still has “the best BBQ in West Virginia.” The quality, he said, was never an issue. Money, however, was an issue.

 

“Our sales were not meeting our financial obligations to continue the way we needed to continue,” said Oakman. “We had to make a decision in the best interest of the family and that was to pull the plug on the business.”

 

Despite the difficult and abrupt ending, Oakman had kind words about the community and those that frequented the establishment.

 

“We are very appreciative for those that did support us and we’re very sad not to be able to provide the product for those individuals,” said Oakman. “It’s been a tough few days and we hope people understand.”

 

Editor's Note: Photos from Smokin' Bear BBQ Facebook page.