SAN FRANCISCO—CatHead’s BBQ in San Francisco closed permanently on August 2 due to its continuing financial difficulty, the owner’s announced on their website.
CatHead’s BBQ’s owner, Pam & Richard, made the decision to close the restaurant permanently “with a very heavy heart.” They had been struggling with the uncertain pandemic situation for the last few months, but they said that they have to face the reality and move on to the next stage in their cooking journey. They said that would not give up on cooking, in the closing statement on their website. “This isn’t goodbye for good. It’s goodbye for now!!”
CatHead’s BBQ, was founded by a married couple, Richard Park and Pamela Schafer in 2008. It did not have any specific regional style, but rather focused on “good ol’ country cooking” in the form of BBQ. Richard was born and raised in Cleveland, Tennessee, while Pamela was in rural Michigan. Both of them love regional American recipes and they were trying to revive them with two old school brick BBQ pits and the seasonality that San Francisco offered them. Some of their specialties were CatHead Biscuits, Coca-Cola Smoked Brisket, Slow Smoked Pulled Pork & Sweet Tea BBQ Chicken.
Ahead of their last day, August 2, they posted on Instagram and announced that they would sell Hot Link Sandwiches and some cold packed items from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. On the day for wrapping up their twelve and a half years as CatHead’s BBQ, a small group of customers gathered at the table outside of the restaurant, enjoying their food together.
