A BOIL for the BURNT BEAN BURNT BEAN Community business leaders cook up shrimp & crab in celebration

Story by Cindy Aguirre-Herrera

The tables were turned recently when some local business owners made sure that the crew at Seguin’s most popular restaurant was well fed.

Instead of the food being served to the Burnt Bean’s growing customer base, a shrimp and crab boil was specially prepared and served for the restaurant crew.

Ken Kiel and Jay Kiel, of The Grounds Guys, initiated the meal plan. Ken says it was a no brainer to give back and show their appreciation to the restaurant who has not only been successful but has brought notoriety to the town.

“Jay and I, we’ve eaten at the Burnt Bean. We love the Burnt Bean and Jay and I were talking especially when the Burnt Bean was nominated for the James Beard Foundation Awards and Jay came up with the idea, he said ‘you know what we ought to do? We ought to give back to them because they’ve done so much for the community’ and I said, ‘I think that is a great idea. Let me do something.’ We both know Blake and Blake is like the VIP customer for Burnt Bean and Seguin and so I called, Blake and I said, ‘Blake, Jay and I were thinking about doing something for the Burnt Bean’ and I don’t think I had to finish my sentence and he said, ‘I’m in!’ So, the whole concept behind it is, when there is something successful, especially in your hometown, you want to praise that. You want to celebrate that,” said Kiel.

Jay says owning several businesses, he understands the importance for businesses to also be recognized not only for their services but for their role in the community.

“It was extremely important honestly. That was really the whole thought process behind us doing it. It’s easy to sit there and say ‘hey, we want to do something’ and hire a caterer or go out and buy them something. We wanted them to know that it’s coming from our heart and like Ken said, I want to reiterate it, they’ve done so much for the community and have given a lot and so it’s important for them to know how we feel,” said Jay.

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Blake Bertling of Bertling Equipment Rental was the last of the trio of community members who did not hesitate to jump on ship to assist with the meal. Bertling says he is a fan of the downtown restaurant and believes it deserves every applause possible.

“I love this place. David and Ernest and even Anthony are the nicest people that I’ve ever met. They are good. I’ve known David since high school. They are really meticulous in what they do. They take pride in it and you don’t hardly see that anymore. I like it. They do quality stuff and I love their food and I like to promote it and like he said, it brings people to downtown. Two years ago, three years ago, you drive downtown Seguin, there’s nothing. It’s dead. Now, you drive down here on Saturday and there are people hustling and bustling all over town and people are asking from Missouri to New Mexico and Oklahoma that I know, ‘hey, I’ve heard about this Burnt Bean place,’ and I’m like ‘hey, well that’s right in our hometown, right in our back yard and it’s a good feeling to have some rock stars like that living right here in town,” said Bertling.

Burnt Bean Co-owner David Kirkland says he’s always up for someone else to do the cooking. He says for his staff to receive this as a gift of gratitude was even more special.

“I was excited because it doesn’t happen very often. It’s always us cooking for everybody else but when they offered to come cook food for us, I thought it was a good thing. I was excited especially when he said it was going to be a shrimp boil because it’s not barbecue. We eat plenty of barbecue and stuff around here so it’s a nice change of pace,” said Kirkland.

Co-owner Ernest Servantes says he too was grateful for the Friday afternoon shrimp boil. He says while he and David are typically the faces behind their success, it’s their dedicated employees who also deserve the recognition.

“When we are done every day after the shift, we eat as a family every day. We eat as a family and the reason that after the shift we eat as a family is because we talk about how the day was and everything and so they are used to eating as a family because we are a family. No one goes to every table and eat separate or have different shifts. We all clean together. We finish together and we eat together as a family and that’s what makes us so bonded as a team. I’ve always told these guys and you can ask them; I will take this team and compete against any best restaurant in the country. My team has my back and I have theirs,” said Servantes.

Among those dedicated employees is Chris Mosel. Mosel says it’s amazing how the Seguin community continues to show its support. He says they even have loyal fans who have never tasted the food but who are happy that the Burnt Bean is in Seguin.

“It’s just such a welcome gift because we cook and feed every day and we love doing it but it’s just nice to have it reciprocated back to us. Seguin has been amazing. Being someone who lives in New Braunfels and works in Seguin, I’m so welcomed by everybody here. All I have to do is wear a Burnt Bean shirt and people just talk to me and thank me and tell me how awesome it is. I even have people tell me ‘man, that is such a great place and I’ve never been there’ because they drive by, they see the line and they really want to experience it, but they are just so proud to have something like this in Seguin,” said Mosel

Anthony Hernandez, who has been a Burnt Bean employee for almost three years, says he too was appreciative of the gift that was prepared personally by Ken, Jay and Blake.

“It’s very awesome to have someone come out here and cook for us. I’ve never really had anybody come out here to cook for me since I’ve always been cooking my whole life for everybody else, so this is actually an honor, a blessing for them to come do that for us,” said Hernandez.

Ken says as a community, it’s important to count the everyday blessings that exist and to make sure that folks support one another. He says in the end, it’s Seguin who benefits.

“I watched a TV show the other day and they had three barbecue places from Seguin and she said

Seguin is a barbecue destination. So, what happens when people come into town to buy barbecue or whatever to eat at these places, guess what, they might go ‘Oh, Central Park is really cool. Oh, Starcke Park is really neat. I didn’t know Seguin had that.’ So, we are exposing people to Seguin and so we want to celebrate its success,” said Kiel.

Burnt Bean located in downtown Seguin on South Austin Street was recently a finalist for the James Beard Foundation Awards. It is also ranked No. 4 on Texas Monthly’s Top 50 Texas BBQ Joints. The restaurant continues to gain national recognition for being a leader in the barbecue industry.

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