When RAGBRAI rolls into town, cities plan months in advance to work out how to handle the sea of 20,000+ cyclists. The riders need places to sleep, things to do, and of course plenty of food! That’s where eateries like Bubba-Q’s BBQ comes in. The restaurant is based in Ottumwa, Iowa, and it’s one of the dozens of vendors that pop up in other RAGBRAI host cities. They dish up hundreds of sandwiches, drinks, and sides in the span of just a few hours. The owner, Bubba Knapp, enjoys doing it. “A lot of the time these are slower times these are slower times because there are festival and fairs going on. Family vacation, property taxes and back to school shopping. So anything extra to help the bottom line at the restaurant is always good,” said Knapp. Even on just a half a cup of coffee and an hour of sleep, the Bubba-Q’s crew gets it done, He looks forward to the upcoming break coming their way. “We work hard in the summer because we like to go to the Caribbean in January,” Knapp says.
