One of the area’s first brewpubs is growing in Concord and expanding into the Seacoast, bringing a local barbeque startup along with it.

Lithermans Limited, which helped bring Concord into the state’s new brewpub scene when it opened in an industrial park in 2016, is adding a bar menu as it expands its location in the Capital City, and will open in Portsmouth later this month with a fuller menu. In both places, it is teaming up with 603 Bar-B-Q, a barbecue catering operation run by Concord native Ben Normandeau to expand its food offerings.

“I’m a little bit of a barbecue snob,” said Chet Schrader, explaining the decision. He and Erin Inman bought Lithermans Limited in March from Stephen Bradbury, who had started it with Michael Hauptly-Pierce in 2016. The new owners are from Texas, which helps explain their enthusiasm for 603 Bar-B-Q, which specializes in Texas barbecue.

In Concord, Lithermans is expanding into the adjoining unit of the building – a former auto shop - and will be adding a bar menu. 603 Bar-B-Q is setting up the food truck outside that will allow ordering inside at the bar while an accessory kitchen is built in the new area.

Schrader said the move was spurred by feedback from customers who noted that the brewpub’s current snacks aren’t enough for many people to be comfortable having more than one drink. “They said, I would love it if you have some food; wouldn’t it be great if we could stay for a second beer!”

In Portsmouth, Schrader and Inman have taken over the lease for The District, a downtown restaurant on Congress Street that recently closed. They plan to open it as a second Lithermans sometime this month with a “more robust menu,” although not a full restaurant menu. That’s partly because of staffing; limiting the menu and keeping to a brewpub model means it can be operated with fewer servers than a traditional restaurant, which is a plus in this time of tight labor markets.

Schrader said the reputation for Lithermans beers will be key to succeeding in such a local beer hotbed.

“There are a lot of high-quality breweries in the Portsmouth area, but there’s not a lot in the immediate downtown,” he said. “Our name recognition is important. We get customers driving from Portsmouth, coming up to Concord to try the brewery.”

Normandeau, a 2017 graduate of Concord High, transitioned from being an electrician to catering and running a food truck realizing, “I’m a lot happier making barbecue.” 603 Bar-B-Q has been operating occasionally outside Lithermans for a while and catering has succeeded to the point that it now has three full-time employees.

Unlike barbecue in other parts of the country, Normandeau said, Texas barbecue has no sauce; just meat, salt and pepper, and careful smoking. The whole process of turning beef or pork into barbecue takes up to 30 hours, starting with 13 hours in the offset smoker, which is a complication.

“People show up at events and we’ll get hammered and sell out, and that’s it,” he said. “You can’t just drop stuff in a fryer. … You’ve got to figure out the day before what you’ll need.”

Normandeau said the expansion is exciting. “The nice thing about Portsmouth, we can do a little bit more of a broader menu, like barbecue-oriented sandwiches, if we sell out of sliced meat.”

There is some food in Normandeau’s background: His father, Chris, had a catering business “when I was younger” and his grandfather had a hot dog stand in the area. But it has been a learning experience, beginning with a cold call to Zavalas Barbecue, a well-known restaurant outside Dallas, that led to him “staging” there, to use the restaurant term for an apprenticeship.

“They showed me everything. I’m so grateful,” he said.