Veon Returns to Wheeling Area with Impressive Food Service Experience
You know you’re doing something right when your little eatery receives a review like this one:
“(It) was such an amazing experience!!!! It was our first time there. Soon as we walked it the owner or manager (whichever) came up to Chris and welcomed us and shook Chris’s hand, we were greeted by the entire staff.”
Nice! Off to a good start, huh?
“We got there an hour before closing and you wouldn’t have even known by how delightful everyone was. The food … phenomenal! I had the Gyro and it was the best I’ve had yet. Chris’s burger was amazing.”
But wait! There’s more …
“It was such a great experience, probably the best restaurant experience yet! We eat out rarely due to restaurant prices but they were so reasonable definitely in shock by how amazing the whole experience was. Can’t wait to go back!”
Now, Belmont Brewerks was a terrific brewpub when it opened in August 2020, and the fact that the original owners gutted and renovated a fire-damaged building and repurposed vacant lots where businesses burned to the ground was widely appreciated by the public in the Purple City.
“It was a terrific thing for our downtown when Brewerks opened,” said Jack Regis, a long-time councilman in Martins Ferry. “That fire felt like to gutted our downtown, but the new restaurant gave it a new life and it was great to see so many people support it. It gave everyone in town that feeling that our downtown was going to make a comeback, and it seemed like it was always busy.”
And then, in June, Wheeling resident Rick Veon bought the Belmont Brewerks. The 53-year-old Linsly graduate left the area to earn a business administration degree from Arizona State University, and then he had an extended career with Jason’s Deli, an operation in the Chicago area that included 14 units but was 48 locations.
Veon also gained experience with steakhouses in the St. Louis area before returning home to Wheeling to be with his family.
“I can ‘sandwich’ anything,” is something he insisted back in late July, and it’s a statement he’s proven to be true. Along with a full slate of burgers, Brewerks now features a number of different staples sandwiches with specials each month.
“I have enjoyed several of his sandwiches, and I think my favorite this past year was his ‘Gooey Gobbler’ because I’m a big turkey guy,” Regis reported. “I liked that sandwich so much that my son decided he wanted the other half! That’s why me and my wife went back several more times.”
Veon consistently insists he finds what he does for a living exhausting yet very fulfilling.
“I believe there are two big keys to the food service industry,” he explained. “You have to love food, obviously, but you also have to love people. If that’s the case, then you’ll care of about their experience. If you don’t love food and people, I don’t even know what you’re doing in the business.
“I have a great staff, a tremendous amount of support from my wife, Heather, and I get to do what I know best,” Veon added. “And I know great things are in store for 2023. Remember, I can’t stay stagnant, so I’m sure we’ll have plenty of good news to share soon.”
