Opening Weekend Stories!

[Smoky Bro]

So after many months of plotting and planning, my wife and I opened our roadside spot last weekend. We got a great location in a field right next to Rt. 2, which is the main east-west state highway and also a major tourist area in the summer and fall, the Mohawk Trail (first scenic highway in America). We're right next to the Trading Post, an old school gift shop thats been there since the '50s, selling moccasins & arrowheads, stuff like that.

Our set up is real basic, EZ-Up tent, couple picnic tables, a Camp Chef double-burner propane stuff with steam table, a few coolers, and the smoker I built last summer (2 55 gal barrels for the smoke chamber & a big 1/4 inch steel firebox underneath).

Since it was our first time out I didn't promote it too much, no advertising yet, just a big 4ft sandwich board out front & lots of smoke. We lucked out with the weather, it was a little overcast sunday but no rain any of the days. We did friday, saturday, sunday, noon til 7. Didn't get rich but definitely made back our costs plus a little extra, and everybody really liked the food.

Being that we're in rural western Massachusetts, there's very little BBQ around here. Closest spot is one well established 30+ year old place about 25 miles away that gets a lot of press (Esquire & Good Morning America last year), has a big menu, great dining room, and is right by UMass, but they don't actually smoke their meats. Other than that there's a fancier take-out place a few miles over but they're more on the pricey, organic free-range scene.

A few things we learned:

Ribs were BIG sellers. When we've done events in the past, pulled pork outsold ribs probably 8 to 1. I bought a case of each thinking that would be enough, we went thru the whole case of ribs day one, did 2 total for the weekend and maybe half a case of butts tops.

Nobody went for the kielbasa. There's a lot of Polish people around here, and a fantastic local spot that makes great sausage. It's about double the price of Hillshire Farms but well worth it. I bought 4 pounds and sold exactly 2 orders in 3 days. Will be taking that off the menu, maybe do it as an occasional special instead.

Some people are just weird. We had one older lady griping about how she hates spicy food, then demanded to try samples of our hot sauce & spicy beans, then complained about how hot it was. Another customer who loved the chicken & ribs but thought the pulled pork was "just terrible" because she had never had Carolina style, and expected it to be drenched in a sweet tomato sauce.

Rushes are unpredictable. The first 2 days, lunch was pretty slow and dinner very busy. Sunday lunch was real busy and dinner was dead (though Mother's Day may have had something to do with that).

Watch out for wind! Our menus went flying all over the place one day, and the tent almost got airborne as well. A big rock and a few lengths of rope solved that.

Have more ones than you think you need. Seems like everybody pays in 10s and 20s, and our basic sandwich & a side is $6. We went through a zillion singles.

Over all it was a great weekend. We learned a lot and still have much to learn, but it was a very encouraging start and we're both real happy about it. We plan to be open pretty much every fri-sat-sun until November, plus do a few small events in our town.

Sorry the post is so long but I just wanted to say thanks to everybody on here who has helped out with advice and also to give some inspiration to others who want to do something like this but haven't started yet. Its a lot of work, time, money, and paperwork to get going, but it's all doable if you put your mind to it. I've been wanting to do this for years and now it's finally a reality. People love the food & it's a great feeling to have somebody say you've got the best BBQ they ever ate. Also to be your own boss instead of punching the clock everyday is pretty sweet. There's pros & cons to be sure but all in all I think it's definitely worth it.

I will try to get some pictures up soon!

[SoEzzy]

If you don't want to carry a zillion singles, you might look at pricing in the $5.00 and $10.00 items / bundles, make just a sandwich $5.00 or a combo $10.00 including chips and a drink as well as a side.

Then you can carry half a zillion singles and a few million fives!

See disclaimer below!
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Here's a change Robert.

I still work here!

[Louie]

Sounds like ya got your feet wet and had a blast..good luck and keep the story coming..
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From vending to Brick & Mortar

[Dr Obvious]

[Smoky Bro]

just put up a couple pictures:

www.photobucket.com/smokybro

[Louie]

Yowza thats a wicked lookin smoker!! Nice article too.
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From vending to Brick & Mortar

[BBQMAN]

Great story, thanks for the share!

Just a suggestion-you may want to try serving the sauce on the side with the PP.
_________________
BBQMAN
"I Turned A Hobby Into A Business".
Providing "IMHO" Since 2005.

[Jarhead]

Looks like you had a great soft opening.

That is one great looking smoker.

For wind problems, I use 4 bags filled with sand that I got from WM. They strap onto the legs. I don't know if they still carry them or not. My original tie downs were a 12x12x4 block of concrete with a bolt sticking up from it. Stick it through the hole and put a washer and a nut on it.
Easy to make. Just build the frames out of 2x4's using duplex nails, oil up the inside, put about a bag of redi-mix in each one and insert the bolt leaving an inch or so exposed. Tap around the forms with a hammer, so you get a nice finish on the outside. Let it set for a couple days and remove the forms.

Let the customer put their own sauce on. Makes life easier.

Just checked on the bags, and they are NLA @ WM. Here's what they look like.
http://reviews.walmart.com/1336/10237197/first-up-sand-bags-reviews/reviews.htm
http://www.walmart.com/ip/First-Up-Sand-Bags/10237197

Good luck and thanks for the share.
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Gunny 3073/4044/8411

Jarhead's World Blog
KCBS CBJ & HMFIC Debbie's Q Shack

[daddywoofdawg]

Yes, let the customer add the sauce.
I agree with so easy price your items so you don't have to give ones with every purchase.
I have used 4"dia PVC about 2.5-3' long filled with sand and strapped to the legs.
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Good BBQ is all smoke and beers!
The Dawghouse Custom vertical Gasser
Custom Made offset smoker
Char grill smoker
Weber kettle

[Smoky Bro]

thanks for the advice guys!

with the PP I serve sauce on the side but reheat it with an apple juice & cider vinegar blend. I was doing 50/50 but now its more like 75/25. personally I like it nice & vinegary but not everybody does.

tweaked the prices too so that most everything is divisible by 5. we still serve a sandwich & side for $6 but now I know to stock up on the ones!

our second weekend went well, friday was our busiest day so far, saturday was slower (spotty weather) but we had probably half a dozen repeat customers who said they loved the food & just had to come back. we also had a big family come thru from nyc who came for lunch, then came back a few hours later for dinner, so that was cool.

sunday we got rained out completely, didn't even bother setting up. we had a lot of potato salad & beans left, plus a few pounds of pulled pork, so we donated it to the local family shelter place, they were psyched! good karma plus a tax write off for us.

we also had the local paper come by & they're gonna do a follow-up story. its a tiny paper (literally like 10 pages, every 2 weeks) but every little bit helps.

offered our first special - rib tips - to try to unload the piles of them I have in the freezer. nobody knew what they were, but once they tried a free sample we sold a bunch of them, big piles for $5.

hoping that next weekend will be even better & business will continue to grow!

[Proetus]

Where abouts are you settign up? I live in Ware, down the road from Amherst about 25 mins. Wouldn't mind stopping by!
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UDS!
Modified Brinkman (retired)
Gasser - Chargriller Pro!

[Bestiverhad]

"we had a lot of potato salad & beans left, plus a few pounds of pulled pork, so we donated it to the local family shelter place, they were psyched! good karma plus a tax write off for us."

That's really thoughtful of you to do that and I commend you for it. There's also nothing wrong with good karma and tax write offs, but...
There's nother wrong with chilling and reheating if you do it correctly.
In my county, I can chill and reheat once.

It's a good sign for your food, that you are having several repeat customers.
I hope for the best for you in your venture.
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Tender - Juicy - Smoky - Goodness

"What would you like to drink with that?"

[Smoky Bro]

Bestiverhad: the pork was cooked, iced down all day, and hadn't been reheated at all yet. I only heat up small batches at a time, so anything that's still hot & in my steam table I toss at the end of the day. usually I end up tossing a little after the lunch rush, then do another batch & toss leftovers from that when we break down. if anything, Im overly paranoid about food safety & make sure everything is heated/cooled extra good. better safe than sorry!

Proetus: we are in Shelburne on the Mohawk Trail (rt 2) about 5 miles past the Greenfield rotary, on the way to Shelburne Falls. we're outside next to the Trading Post, with a blue ez up tent & a giant smoker, you can't miss us. right now we're only open fri-sat-sun 12-7, but definitely come thru if you're in the area, it'd be great to meet a fellow Smoke Ringer!

[Kronk]