Wrentham's Commonwealth BBQ Owner Likes Working for Himself

Chris Vireira said he’s worked in the restaurant industry for 18 years, but always for someone else.

He said now that he’s opened Commonwealth BBQ in Wrentham, that’s all changed.

“It’s working for somebody else ultimately and at the end, you have very little to show for it,” he said. “In corporate, they’re not in the business of employees retiring, especially in the restaurant business. I decided to invest in myself and my family instead of working for another chain.”

Vireira opened Commonwealth BBQ two years ago Sunday. He said it’s been going very well. Statistically, 75 percent of restaurants close in the first year and 50 percent of those that don’t close in the second. Vieira said he’s been fortunate.

“It’s a very nice little town,” he said.

Commonwealth BBQ is located right in Wampum Corner, a short distance from the Wrentham Outlet Mall. Vireira said he’s thought of a way to utilize that. He said he’s now selling direction cards to the mall for a dollar, since people come by so often asking.

“At least 20 cars a day come in asking for directions,” he said. “We charge a dollar and donate it to local charities. We ask them to breathe first before they leave so they can smell the food.”

Vireira, originally from Dartmouth, said he looked at a lot of locations before deciding on Wrentham.

“I looked at 50 locations near me first,” he said. “I was shown this place and knew immediately this was going to be the restaurant. It’s just the coolness of it.”

Vireira said he started in the food industry as a cook and worked his way up to partner.

He said the key to his recipes is simplicity.

“I always say there’s no rocket science here,” he said. "It’s simple, the meats are handled and cooked the right way.”

He said he uses a hand spit and a southern pride smoker among other cooking implements.

“The recipes are our own creations, but they’re very simple,” he said.

Vireira added anyone can come in the back and see what they’re doing and how they’re cooking.

“There’s no smoke and mirrors here,” he said.

He said he developed the recipe after a lot of research into Southern barbeque styles.

“I traveled around a lot prior to opening to look at what made a barbeque restaurant successful or, maybe more importantly, not successful,” he said. “Success down south, whether you were a restaurant, a chain or a guy on the side of the road, all they did was barbeque.”

Vireira said his customer base is built completely on word of mouth.

“One customer at a time,” he said. “We do very little advertising. We’re in there behind those windows and cusomters are out here and we deal directly with them. They see how it’s prepared and we invite people in to see.”

Commonwealth BBQ is located at Wampum Corner at 659 South St. and is open everyday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., excepting Friday and Saturday when they’re open until 9 p.m.