Medway restaurant ditching smoker after odor complaint

MEDWAY, Mass. — Following an odor complaint, a Medway restaurant will have to get rid of their infamous smoker, the backbone to their entire operation.

The husband and wife who run PJ's Smoke 'N Grill said they poured everything they had into opening a smokehouse in Medway. However, they didn't think their smoker would bother neighbors to the point where they would ultimately be forced to ditch the smoker.

"Everything in that restaurant is based on that piece of equipment," said Paul Rogers, owner of PJ's.

The town of Medway says that, in approving the restaurant's opening, it was not made aware of the smoker that would be parked out back.

"The presence of the smoker was first identified by one of our inspectors who was there the day before the opening," said Michael Boynton, the Medway Town Manager.

Boynton says that was last October when the town was going by a schematic provided by the restaurant as a site plan. However, the smoker isn't pictured out the back door in the schematic.

"The building commissioner handed them their certificate of occupancy on Day One and said, 'we need to talk about that,'" said Boynton.

Boynton said the town could have chosen not to give them the certificate because, without a variance, Medway's zoning laws prohibit items emitting smoke that could pose a present or potential hazard to human health,

The town says the smoker would have remained a simple zoning violation if it hadn't been for a complaint from the neighborhood behind the restaurant, where one person objected to the smell of smoke.

In order to resolve the smoke issue, the smoker would need an exhaust fan, a roof, walls, and a fire suppression system, additional things that will add up to a cost Rogers and his wife aren't ready for.

"We just opened a year ago," said Rogers. "I mean we put a large investment into opening this restaurant. I just don't have 65-thousand dollars to put towards a structure that ultimately I don't need."

With the smoker gone, Rogers says the restaurant will be reborn as a steakhouse.

"I have confidence in my chefs, my staff and in myself that no matter what we put on that table it's going to be good quality and we will be successful," said Rogers.

A GoFundMe has been set up to help out the restaurant, which you can find here.

Cox Media Group