From grease to grill: Busted Knuckle BBQ fires on all cylinders

Lori Kaye Lodes

Contributor

June 23, 2025

NEW RICHMOND – Working much of his adult life as a mechanic, Corey Johnson – owner of Busted Knuckle BBQ – said he could have finished his career working with wrenches.

But he said he was drawn to the togetherness that BBQ brings.

“I fell in love with the art of BBQ years ago – it’s wood, fire and food,” he said. “You’re making memories when you invite people over, fill the cooler, throw something on the grill and (let) the kids run around. I like the togetherness BBQ brings.”

Before he knew it, Johnson said he had a food truck, then a brick-and-mortar presence.

At first, Johnson said he continued working his full-time job and worked Busted Knuckle BBQ on weekends – but that didn’t last long.

“I only made it a month,” he said. “It didn’t take long to figure out that if I tried doing both, I’d be doing something halfway. I enjoyed wrenching – it was a critical part of my life. But I took it as far as I wanted to go. It wasn’t really how I wanted to see the rest of my life.”

BBQ happens

Busted Knuckle BBQ just kind of happened, Johnson admits. 

Growing up, he said he often witnessed his dad run the smoker, and then got into dabbling with it himself – enjoying how versatile the art of BBQ is.

Johnson said he started with a food truck/trailer that he purchased and overhauled and proceeded to take that around the area for about six months.

Last fall, however, he said he recognized the need for a building with the winter season ahead and struck a deal with Lift Bridge Brewery.

“We were already there every weekend with the trailer, so we leased space in the taproom from them,” he said. “I run the food, they run the beer – it’s a partnership.”

The in-brewery restaurant runs five days a week, starting at 11 a.m. and closing at 6, 8 or 9:30 p.m. – depending on the day of the week.

As a self-professed glutton for punishment, Johnson said he opted to keep the food truck active as well.

The food truck, he said, makes an appearance onsite once or twice a week, as well as at area events – such as art fairs and festivals.

On a recent summer weekend, Johnson said he had the truck at an art fair on Friday and Saturday, catered a wedding and ran the restaurant. 

“I’m all ‘go’ with the business,” he said. 

The BBQ fans, Johnson said, keep coming.

When he initially opened the trailer, Johnson said his first menu offered jumbo chicken wings (available in Louisiana dry rub, competition BBQ or spicy buffalo) and St. Louis-cut ribs and rib tips with their signature rib rub or competition BBQ, alongside fries.

That first go with the truck, he said, sold 350 wings and 70-75 racks of ribs within two and a half hours. 

Since then, Johnson said he’s broadened and revised the menu numerous times, educating people that BBQ is far more than the pulled pork sandwich.

“There is a lot of BBQ around, but it’s all focused on the Midwest flavors and includes a lot of pulled pork,” he said. “But every country around the world does BBQ, and it’s more than people give it credit for.”

The meat

Johnson said he creates recipes as he goes, most often starting with one ingredient that “gets in his ear” – a recent one being chili peppers – and then rolling with it.

He said the same can be said for cuts of meat.

Lately, Johnson said he’s embraced Korean BBQ ribs – which are different because they are like St. Louis style ribs with the pork belly still on them, making them two and a half inches thick.

He said he adds Korean BBQ flavor, scallions and sesame to create an Asian-inspired BBQ.

Johnson said his creative side in the kitchen has proven to be a hit time and time again, whether it’s the Korean BBQ ribs or the pastrami ribs made from St. Louis ribs brined and smoked. 

“I just follow the dopamine,” he said. 

Though fueled by a love of all things BBQ, Johnson said it is a juggling act. 

“Transitioning between cutting and prepping meat and then customer service while maintaining cleanliness is probably the hardest part of prepping and serving out of a trailer,” he said. 

Great BBQ is time-intensive – which Johnson said makes it challenging to adjust if he doesn’t calculate the right amount of BBQ to make for a given day. 

“You can’t just chuck it on the grill and have it be done in 20 minutes,” he said. “It’s a 24-hour process for brisket, a 14- to 16-hour process for pork and a good six-hour process for ribs.”

Judging the amount to make every day, Johnson said, is a bit of a guessing game, and one he doesn’t want to get wrong.

“You have to gauge how much you will sell and how to use what’s left over without sacrificing quality,” he said. “You can’t put out something that’s not good.”

Inside the brick and mortar, Johnson said the BBQ platter for one or two is a huge hit – which includes meat, side(s) and bread(s) so people can get exactly what they like.

In the sandwich category, he said Papa’s brisket sandwich wins hands down – offering slow-smoked brisket, poblano cheese, pepper jelly, bacon and arugula on toasted, crusty ciabatta.

“It’s about a pound, and it’s really well done, featuring a cream cheese blend and pepper jelly we make here,” he said. 

Favorites in the trailer include the birria tacos, which Johnson said “are the best thing I’ve ever made.”

“I’ve never done those tacos and not had a parking lot full,” he said. “I haven’t sold fewer than 200 when we do them.”

Other favorites, Johnson said, include the brisket birria nachos, mac and cheese, smoky cubano sandwich and competition baked beans with as much homemade and in-house as possible, including all the sauces.

A team effort

Johnson said he estimates the brick-and-mortar restaurant brings in about 60-70% of sales, with the food truck making up the rest. 

Between the two operations, he said business is busy – which is balanced with about 12 employees with whom he said he couldn’t succeed without. 

“This thing blew up fast,” he said. “Fortunately, we have some great people in the kitchen, running the front and in the food truck.”

In addition, Johnson said his wife, son and daughter often pitch in as well.

He said he also credits the local health inspectors for their help in making Busted Knuckle BBQ a success – educating him on the dos and don’ts as he got the business up and running.

And, Johnson said he is “extremely grateful” for the door that Lift Bridge Brewery opened to him.

“Brad, the owner, has been nothing but solid and supportive and has had my back since day one,” he said. “People around the area know about Lift Bridge, and that helped us, too.”

Johnson said word of mouth has been the most effective advertising, in addition to an intentional social media presence and good, old-fashioned customer service.

“I’m genuine, and I think people pick up on that when meeting them,” he said. “There are a lot of regulars who come through who know me on a first-name basis, and I know them on a first-name basis. We’re just cooking a backyard barbecue as long as people keep coming.”

A cut above

Thus far, Johnson said Busted Knuckle BBQ has been able to carve a name for itself in the short time it’s been open – and not only with customers. 

Recently, he took home first place in the St. Croix Economic Development Corporation Scale Up Pitch Competition, winning a $5,000 grant for the business.

He said he plans to invest the funds in raw materials for a new smoker.

“The one we have now, I originally thought was just huge, but we’ve outgrown it,” he said. “So, that’s what we’re going to do with the grant money – put that (money) into some raw materials for the smoker we’ll build custom.”

That will figure into Busted Knuckle’s continued growth, which Johnson said he anticipates will surge during summer as people are out and about and the food truck continues to grow in popularity.

“It’s definitely summer, and I hardly have time to think,” he said. “But the next step for us is to keep growing while keeping up with business.”