Lessons in vending

[ricksrealpitbbq]

Today I got my feet wet in vending. I learned a few things about myself and hopefully will have a better experience if I do this again.

Lesson #1
Don't over estimate what you think you'll be able to sell.
I went into this with 6 butts ( 2 full pans after it was pulled), a packer brisket, 36 italian sausages, a pan of beans ( 2 # 10 cans ), 100 bags of chips,48 bottles of water, and 96 cans of soda.
The economy isn't that great and the weather was very hot which I think killed some appetites.

I came home with more than half of the pulled pork, 1/2 of the brisket, 35 sausages, almost all of the beans ( nobody wanted the beans ? ) 90 bags of chips and half of the drinks roughly.

We've got a foodsaver vacuum sealer, and most everything is in the freezer now. It won't go to waste, but I sure wish I didn't spend so much money. We did sell enough to make a profit after expenses, but no where near what I had anticipated.

Drinks on a hot day sell well

Lesson # 2

I had better be able to hold all the food I cook, before it's time to serve. I had the brisket and butts done a day early and just assumed I'd be able to refrigerate them until the day of the event.

I am lucky I have a creative wife. Somehow she packed it all in our refrigerator until this morning when they went back into the smoker to warm up. Serving out of the smoker is not easy. I would have done better having some warming trays to serve out of.

Lesson # 3

Organization can not be over emphasized. I didn't get to set up where I wanted so the layout of my site was kind of last minute planning. The site was not level and numerous times my wife and I were in each others way. I need to work out a smoother flow. No customers complained, but I felt like I wasn't efficient in serving.

Lesson # 4

I need to plan on blocking all access to my working area by the public. People cut through our set up to get to the street and from the street to the vending areas. Next time I'll try to get some orange cones and maybe some caution tape. This was a big irritation to me.

Lesson # 5

Not all people will be buying food to eat immediately. Luckily we had some foil with us to wrap plates of food for people. But we would have done better if we had the styrofoam to-go containers. It's a real pain having to wrap plates to go.


All in all we had fun, people who ate our food loved it. I hate wearing latex gloves, my fingers looked like prunes

Here's some pics of our setup and a few from the 4th of July parade.














_________________
Not eating meat is a choice, Eating meat is an instinct

Proud member KCBS

[Jarhead]

Yesssir, I can definitely relate to everything you said.

1. Promoters should belong to the Liars Club. I cooked 10 butts and brought home 8-1/2. Beans and slaw, there was hardly a dent in full size pans.

2. I had electric, and served out of crock pots and the heated Cambro. I would have gone with the chafers if I had no electric.

3. My site was level. It was just out in the middle of BFE. We were scattered out over 30 acres of city park. I was in the last row of vendors. They were all full of other stuff before they saw me.

4. I used my EZ-Up with a serving screen around it. It was really windy that day, so I didn't extend the canopy all of the way up. That made the serving windows at about 36".

5. Clam shells and Handy Wacks are great. 4 oz squat cups with covers. I made 50 beans and 50 coleslaws up ahead of time. Expecting the rush that never happened.

I hate those latex gloves too.

I hired a friend's boy, that had so many other things to do besides work.
He was in the way, he had to go milk, he had a family emergency, he had to go jump start his mom's car and on and on.
Out of 10 hours, I may have seen him 2 hours, and that is what I paid him for. I guess he thought he should have been paid for the entire 10.

I lost my ash on that one. Won't be going back there again.

I'm sticking with roadside.
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Gunny 3073/4044/8411

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

[kurtsara]

after about 14 months of vending we love it so far, although we have the warmers, cambros, commercial fridges, and now a new trailer with a porch coming in about 3 or 4 weeks to make it even easier
_________________
Kurt

2 Ole Hickory CTO's

[Texman]

Wanted to show comparables:

Lesson #1
Don't over estimate what you think you'll be able to sell.

We attend a one-day Chamber http://www.friocanyonchamber.com/ sponsored event in a small Hill Country tourist town called Leakey (pronounced Lakey) and have for years – we have a good following.

The Frio River is the major draw for this area, which because of the severe drought is almost to the point of not flowing.

Normally we take 500 lbs of spare ribs and sell out by 2:00pm, but due to drought, high fuel prices and the economy in general we took 328 lbs. We sold out at 1:15pm and due to the heat the crowd was gone by the time we packed up. We know we couldn’t of sold more!

We do not sell drinks.

Lesson # 2
Serving out of the smoker is not easy.

We serve ribs directly off of the pit, using a staged cook format and put some in a cooler for short periods if needed, but with multiple products we can see yours would be hard to do so.

Lesson # 3
Organization cannot be over emphasized.

We have the same dedicated site yearly, but if we are not there before other vendors, access is near impossible.

Our flow goes from the pit to cutting board, to scale, to wrapping and payment – a total of 4 people.

Lesson # 5
Not all people will be buying food to eat immediately.

Nor do our customers, so we keep rolls of foil handy.

Certainly an established reputation creates sales – but we still use the Smoke Sells principal for protection and added market value.

[BBQMAN]

Thanks for the review Rick (never mind my other post, have just gotten home and didn't see this one).

Nothing like a little OJT ehh?!
_________________
BBQMAN
"I Turned A Hobby Into A Business".
Providing "IMHO" Since 2005.

[daddywoofdawg]

Lesson #1
Don't over estimate what you think you'll be able to sell.
I went into this with 6 butts ( 2 full pans after it was pulled), a packer brisket, 36 italian sausages, a pan of beans ( 2 # 10 cans ), 100 bags of chips,48 bottles of water, and 96 cans of soda.
The economy isn't that great and the weather was very hot which I think killed some appetites.

I came home with more than half of the pulled pork, 1/2 of the brisket, 35 sausages, almost all of the beans ( nobody wanted the beans ? ) 90 bags of chips and half of the drinks roughly.

We've got a foodsaver vacuum sealer, and most everything is in the freezer now. It won't go to waste, but I sure wish I didn't spend so much money. We did sell enough to make a profit after expenses, but no where near what I had anticipated.
and the next event you could sell it all.never cook on the last day of the show if you still have precooked

Drinks on a hot day sell well Yes

Lesson # 2

I had better be able to hold all the food I cook, before it's time to serve. I had the brisket and butts done a day early and just assumed I'd be able to refrigerate them until the day of the event.

I am lucky I have a creative wife. Somehow she packed it all in our refrigerator until this morning when they went back into the smoker to warm up. Serving out of the smoker is not easy. I would have done better having some warming trays to serve out of.
I refrigerate in gal zip locks and dump in a pan to reheat.Ebay you can get warming cabinets for under 100,and nesco roasters which is HD approved in every state I have sold in.Great to keep pulled pork and beans in.


Lesson # 3

Organization can not be over emphasized. I didn't get to set up where I wanted so the layout of my site was kind of last minute planning. The site was not level and numerous times my wife and I were in each others way. I need to work out a smoother flow. No customers complained, but I felt like I wasn't efficient in serving.
I would have my smoker at the back then a prep table in the middle and a table up front,the person takes the order gives it to the cook/server,they fix the oder and by the time the customer has paid, there order it ready for the cashier to hand out the order off the middle table.

Lesson # 4

I need to plan on blocking all access to my working area by the public. People cut through our set up to get to the street and from the street to the vending areas. Next time I'll try to get some orange cones and maybe some caution tape. This was a big irritation to me.
Put up rope all the way around it or put up table on each side or coolers,blocks the flow


Lesson # 5

Not all people will be buying food to eat immediately. Luckily we had some foil with us to wrap plates of food for people. But we would have done better if we had the styrofoam to-go containers. It's a real pain having to wrap plates to go.
use 2lb boats,much cheaper can serve out of them,not hard to wrap a piece of foil around.

_________________
Good BBQ is all smoke and beers!
The Dawghouse Custom vertical Gasser
Custom Made offset smoker
Char grill smoker
Weber kettle

[BBQMAN]

[ricksrealpitbbq]

I appreciate all the comments,and I'm taking notes
_________________
Not eating meat is a choice, Eating meat is an instinct

Proud member KCBS

[daddywoofdawg]

Sides are wierd vending,some weeks I sell all the coleslaw I can make other events I can give it away.same with beans.and it could only be 30 miles away.
_________________
Good BBQ is all smoke and beers!
The Dawghouse Custom vertical Gasser
Custom Made offset smoker
Char grill smoker
Weber kettle

[bmarley5780]

We also learned we needed something that was easy to serve off of. This fit the bill nicely

http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=183402