please share your thoughts on my small family bbq joint

jujuboy77 · BBQ Fan Joined: 15 Mar 2007 Posts: 253 Location: Adams TN

up front forgive my spelling errors it 2am and i cant sleep after taking a sleeping pill.
i have waited to make this post for a couple of years now and i have been filled with excitement, fear, joy, worry and a wealth of many emotions for a couple of days now since my wife said that she is beside me in this venture, and by the grace of god we are starting the process of starting our first small bbq joint.

i have a strong support staff from a mother that worked in upper level reasturant mgnt for most her life and an aunt and uncle with ownership exp. in our local community, as well as having reasturant mgmt. exp. myself. and 7 years of biz ownership in finance and construction.

i have a prospective location that is a small 5 table w/drive through reasturant, fully equiped with tables, chairs, no decor as of yet (i will go with a standard small town theme local sports town pride kinda thing) a standard equiped kitchen and walk-in.

its on the main road through our town of 6k people but three small towns nearby that would pass my place on a daily comute as well as five good sized plants/dairies that comute by daily. did i mention there are no reasturants other than fast food ie sonic, taco mayo, mazios pizza. for over 20 miles.

based on the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) school of thought the biz would be mostly carry-out ,drive-through, with limited dine-in (five tables). not a large menu with choped pork, ribs, brisket and chicken, cold sides ie slaw, tator salad, beans. mabey a pie desert, limited drink selections. priced up in family meal deals, pound sales, sandwiches, and of course lunch specials for the high school kids.

i have found decent resources for all food and expendables with pretty fair prices and availablity. thats the nice thing with a limited menu: not alot of stock on hand of all diferent foods.

biz hours would be 11-9 tues-sat, i can staff it with myself my wife, 16yo son and my aunt untill the cashflow justifies bringing on actual employees. this will save my rear on insurance and taxes for a while.

bottom line, im not looking for a huge "trendy" place just that little family ran road side q joint that everybody loves, i have a good product (damn good in fact) there is a need and room for it in town, and i have a passion for this, and a family that will stand beside me. i believe that this can be a sucess, im not looking to make a million or anything like that i just want to sell good Q for a good price and make a living doing what i love to do. i know there is alot im not mentioning here and there is alot of hard work and headaches ahead, im not blind to the pitfalls and heartaches of ownership

the big question is what smoker to buy? i need an out door unit for daily use, i will build on a leantoo on the back but there is no room in the kitchen, as the whole resturant is around 900sqft.

anyway just seeing this in writing is making me nervious and excited at the same time. please share your thoughts
_________________
Jp
oklahoma joes longhorn smoker

JimmieOhio

I'm not in the restaurant business, but have run other businesses most of my adult life. My observations of your post is as follows:

marvsbbq · BBQ All Star Joined: 15 May 2005 Posts: 6186

On the smoker issue, I would suggest you purchase one that you will not have to "babysit" while it cooks. Something like the Ole Hickory Pits and others like them. You can get one in a size that would fit your needs for a very decent price....sometimes can find used if used is up your alley.

Pit Boss · Posted: Apr 12 2009 Post subject:

JuJu...I hope we both have some good juju! We're both on the same wavelength here.

I'm currently working on cleaning up the ~900 square foot building that I leased less than two weeks ago. I will also be doing pork butts, brisket, and chickens. Haven't made up my mind on ribs as yet. I've not cooked a lot of ribs in my life so I'll need to get that process down before trying to sell them. I am also going to sell a sausage product (Hillshire Farms) that it finished in the smoker for a couple of hours. My sides are much like yours also...slaw, beans, mac & cheese, potato salad, and maybe a pasta salad. I will also have South Carolina hash & rice...pretty much a prerequisite around here.

Much like you, I will only have five tables and will rely heavily on walk-in take out business. My building does not have a drive thru window. I will also be putting two or three picnic tables outside...hopefully the South Carolina heat and humidity won't kill anyone.

I have an Ole Hickory Convecture Tri Oven on order at this time. Will this be large enough? I HOPE NOT!!! I pray that after two months in business I have to order another pit for volume reasons. The CTO seems to be a good unit and has alot of satisfied users. It's small, but can handle a good amount of food for a small establishment. They also don't cost a fortune. Mine is costing me well under $5,000 delivered. I've worked with Ole Hickory before. I would suggest at least giving them a chance. In my state we have to cook inside the restaurant or in an outdoor "bbq pit room" built to certain standards. I an lucky in that the building I'm currently leasing is a former bbq restaurant and already has a proper pit room built.

I plan on having a single employee with me during business hours. I may try to open the business by myself without an employee, but again, I'm hoping there's enough business to need a little help.

The area I'm in is similar to yours in that there is no mom & pop bbq place in close proximity. You can drive 15-20 minutes on the other side of town and find a few, but where I am there's only one higher end chain store to compete with.

Check out the Ole Hickory web site and give Ms. Margaret a call. They'll be more than happy to talk to you and give you any information they can.

I wish you the absolute best of luck!

Jay
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Somewhere in Kenya...a village is missing their idiot.

Harry Nutczak · Posted: Apr 13 2009 Post subject:

I would reconsider your open days, Sunday can and is huge sales day in many places, especially when it comes to take-out.
Maybe a Wed-Sun? but again it depends on your locality.
_________________
Just remember that the toes you may step on during your climb to the top will also be attached to the a$$es you'll be forced to kiss on your way back down!

threshold36 · Joined: 28 Apr 2008 Posts: 15 Location: Kentucky

Currently I use a DP FAT50 for my small restaurant, it is a nice smoker but very labor intensive, it requires constant feeding and regulation of temp. When I have the capital I will switch to a commercial model. As for you, it depends upon your cooking experience and how much labor you want to put into your product. I also do festivals and road sales, so the FAT50 was more suited to my needs. With hindsight being 20/20 I would now have bought a Southern Pride or an Old Hickory. Good luck.

SmokinOkie · BBQ Super Pro Joined: 16 Aug 2005 Posts: 2078

juju,

CS (FE series) are made in Ponca and for what you're wanting to do, the Pellet cookers should be in your viewing window as an option.

The key though, is to think quantity (how much of what type of meat) and timing (when you're cooking, how you're holding).

If you want to cook large cuts overnight, the FE option allows it to work overnight without baby sitting. Oylers, SP's, OH's will do the same for overnight, I'm just partial to FE's.

A stick burner will be a cheaper option, from a startup point, but you'll have to spend more time tending it.

Russ

kingconsulting · Posted: Apr 13 2009 Post subject:

I assume you checked with your HD about what is required for an outdoor barbecue?

Sounds good otherwise. I really think starting small and cheap (i.e. smart) is the way to go. If the food is great the money will follow!
_________________
Robert King
DP 70
WSM
New Braunfels El Dorado

jujuboy77 · BBQ Fan Joined: 15 Mar 2007 Posts: 253 Location: Adams TN

kingconsulting · Posted: Apr 13 2009 Post subject:

I would be concerned about the small size also. Not as familiar with your area as you are of course.

If you had one on a trailer I supposed you could use it for onsite catering if you had to move up to something larger.
_________________
Robert King
DP 70
WSM
New Braunfels El Dorado

jujuboy77 · BBQ Fan Joined: 15 Mar 2007 Posts: 253 Location: Adams TN

porky 24

go juju go, you to cape! both of ya'll are living my[ or most of ours] dream i'm a small painting contractor[just me,better quality control and less head aches] i hope one day to give it a try even with out food bus. experiance i believe that as long as the food , portions and location are good ,prices are fair and lack of reasonable competion how could you do anything but succeed! please keep us updated !

kingconsulting · Posted: Apr 13 2009 Post subject:

Yeah I know there really isn't much around that price range in the set and forget about it style. It just jumps to the $10k price point pretty quick.

The Spicewine looked like it could hold more? Maybe plan for enough room if you have to get another of the same unit?

Good luck to you! Make sure you at least have fun doing it!

Pit Boss · Posted: Apr 13 2009 Post subject:

Just slightly smaller than the EL from Ole Hickory is their EL-EC model. You should be able to do the EL-EC for under $9k.

What type of volume do you anticipate?
_________________
Somewhere in Kenya...a village is missing their idiot.

jujuboy77 · BBQ Fan Joined: 15 Mar 2007 Posts: 253 Location: Adams TN

[quote="cape_fisherman"]Just slightly smaller than the EL from Ole Hickory is their EL-EC model. You should be able to do the EL-EC for under $9k.quote]
just got off the phone with ole hickory and i think its settled at the ec mod delivered and set up for 9,200.00 or less
_________________
Jp
oklahoma joes longhorn smoker

Pit Boss · Posted: Apr 14 2009 Post subject:

Awesome! Great purchase.

Best of luck.

Jay
_________________
Somewhere in Kenya...a village is missing their idiot.

Harry Nutczak · Posted: Apr 14 2009 Post subject:

Ya know, If your budget is under 5K, and you want a set & forget unit, Maybe look at a stumps and a stoker for outside?

You can get into some pretty large units from Stumps for that number, But they will need to be an outside cooker. (Although I Brought mine inside, Just never did unattended cooks while inside) since they are not UL listed.

You can set the stoker to send a text message if your parameters are breached, and it is easily haulable for on-site use also.

FEC has some refurb models for your price also, I get a call from John at FEC at least every 6 weeks to let us know about refurb unit's they are moving.
_________________
Just remember that the toes you may step on during your climb to the top will also be attached to the a$$es you'll be forced to kiss on your way back down!