Telegraph photo by ADAM URQUHART Monday, owner of Riverside Barbeque Co. Dave Manganello sits inside his Main Street restaurant just days before it is set to close.

NASHUA – A popular downtown restaurant will close up shop this weekend, as Riverside Barbeque Co. at 53 Main St. will serve its last plates of brisket and ribs on Saturday.

“It’s a lifelong journey, this barbeque thing, and I’m not done with it,” owner Dave Manganello said on Monday while sitting at a table inside his restaurant. “It just may be the storefront is done with me.”

However, he is certainly done with having as many moving parts as he does at his brick-and-mortar business, which he took over nearly a decade ago and made his own.

Originally, when he took ownership of the prime real estate on the edge of Railroad Square along the Nashua River, it was known as The Sausage King. In 2012 he bought some smoking equipment and started making his own products under The Sausage King label, before converting to Riverside in 2013.

Manganello said a restaurant owner can have great food, offer the cleanest place possible and provide the best service from the most upbeat staff. For whatever reason, he said he simply doesn’t have enough business to keep it going.

Manganello also mentioned it is difficult to compete with different online delivery services, which allow people to order meals from plenty of restaurants and have them delivered to their doorsteps.

“It’s about butts in chairs and we’ve got lots of empty ones,” Manganello said.

Manganello has considered taking the food truck route for years. With the brick-and-mortar restaurant’s closure, he may take this route to deliver food to the hungry mouths of the area on the go. Nothing is definite at this point, but he is considering the food truck option, while also continuing on with catering.

Manganello said he was dipping into personal finances to supplement business shortages and meet payroll. He and his wife, Jen, have already met with many staff members to discuss the closure, and have made arrangements to supplement two weeks pay on top of their last checks. Additionally, he plans to reach out to friends in the food industry to find places for his staff so employees can find work.

“We’re here through Saturday, and we never had a grand opening, so I think we’re just going to call Saturday our grand closing party,” Manganello said.

In the meantime, while Manganello weighs his options, he wants to do something that matters for the next coming months, perhaps working with children. He appreciates everyone who has supported the business through the years, as well as his staff members.

He described the restaurant’s current situation as being a pirate ship crew whose ship has run aground, and they are now trying to perform the same functions that a nautical vehicle would do, but it is on the rocks.

“So, we need to find a smaller, lighter more portable thing, and that seems like this brand’s perfectly serviceable in a vehicle that is designed to move this door to where hungry mouths are,” Manganello said.

Adam Urquhart may be contacted at 594-1206, or at aurquhart@nashuatelegraph.com.