bett-and-bevs-with-adam-glawe-and-kyle-roeder

Bett and Bevs Jefferson Owner Adam Glawe (left) with new owner of Perry location Kyle Roeder (right)

A Jefferson-based business will soon have a new location in another town.

Bett and Bev’s BBQ will be opening a second franchise restaurant in Perry this spring. For new owner Kyle Roeder, it has been anything but a stereotypical path towards getting his own restaurant. He’s worked at the Jefferson business for the past eight years. Since his high school days, Roeder wanted to pursue opera singing for his career. After he graduated from Drake University with a bachelor’s degree in music research, he joined a performing opera group that traveled the world. However, Roeder talks about what led to him to passing up on his dream of being an opera singer to owning a restaurant.

“At the end of the day, all I really wanted to do was come back and work here (at Bett and Bev’s) because everybody here, everybody on staff was like family. I’ve spent years working for (Jefferson owner) Adam (Glawe) and he’s like a brother to me at this point. It was an easy choice to pick family over tons of stress everyday.”

Roeder says about one-and-a-half years ago he talked to Adam Glawe about expanding to another location and then the discussion developed into going into business together. And it’s because of their “family-like” relationship that Roeder says he got Glawe’s full support to open another location in Perry.

“He knows how much joy I get out of working here. To see him want to have me be happy and successful with his business is a real blessing. It’s not everyday that someone takes their life work and says ‘Here you go, take it. Go see what you can do with it.’”

The new restaurant will be at 408 1st Avenue. Roeder says the location is a lease agreement with the building owner and he would like to be open by April. He adds that he’s already received tremendous feedback about opening up the Perry location and that the menu will be similar to the one in Jefferson.