• working on DNS.. links may break temporarily.

Open a BBQ restaurant, they said. It will be fun, they said

Crazy Harry said:
best of luck. beer license or is that later
Click to expand...

It will be later if I do it at all. I'm a big beer fan as a brewer myself, so getting at least bottled beer in there would be nice. But we'll see how things go.

---k--- said:
You got balls. Opening a restaurant is tough. Good luck.

I'm back and forth between Three Rivers and Chicago. Keep posting and I'll try and stop in some time.
Click to expand...

Less balls and more stupid/crazy I think. :mrgreen: And yeah, you probably don't pass too far by if you go to Three Rivers from Chicago.

Toast said:
To the OP. Fantastic post Sir. You mention the plain outer siding. Some of the best BBQ in my town are known by "Look for the blue building off this street". You can build a mystique around it.

I'm a mechanical guy and would recommend you keep the grass cut well away from that condenser unit/heat pump to save a lot of headaches and money down the road.

The product will speak for itself. If it's good, you'll be expanding soon. Folks don't really care about what a place looks like IF the food is good.

Just my .02 and Best of Skill in your venture.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Yes, that's why I figure the exterior is the last on the list of things to fix or update. But the siding really is in disrepair in a few spots, mostly on the other side of the building and the health inspector was giving me a bit of trouble with it, so if the budget allows it would be nice to update and get away from the cheap baby blue.

Good call on the grass around the AC units. The previous owners decided to skip mowing so far this year since they knew it was under contract, so it got out of control. I planned on nuking the grass in that area and just putting down gravel or stones or something. No reason to have grass growing there anyway since it would just be a pain to maintain, but knowing that it's also a potential issue for the AC units, even more of a reason to get rid of it. Thanks for the suggestion!
 
Good luck to you. :thumb:

Here's a few suggestions.

Don't spend a lot on decor. You need to make that place look like a hole-in-the-wall. Que is always better at a BBQ joint than at a BBQ Restaurant. If you can find a laminate floor that looks like distressed wood, you'd get an economical and code compliant floor that is BBQ joint worthy.

Get rid of all those chrome stools, and get some garage-sale chairs. Make the walls look old. If it were me, I might even park a smoker in the dining room and smoke the room out for a day or two. :shock:

I'd lose the plain white ceiling, too. Maybe some fake tin tiles, or better yet, some re-cycled tin tiles.

When you get around to replacing the siding, think about materials like recycled corrugated steel and barnwood.

A BBQ joint should be clean, but not pretty, IMO.

Sorry for rambling. It is the Art Major in me. That, and the BBQ joints people tend to talk about are, basically, clean and sanitary dives. That kind of eating environment just seems to set the right mood for eating smoked meats.

CD
 
marubozo said:
Hah! I like that because I'm a Michigan State alum. :cool:
Click to expand...
I had to look it up, but that's where my D-I-L went. I just know that green is good and blue and yellow are bad. They're in Auburn Hills and we head that way once in a while so maybe you'll give us an alternative to Redamak's.

Good luck with your endeavor!
 
Good luck. I first read your original post time as 7:08 AM and thought that must have been a long 3 months to have a glass of whiskey at 7 in the morning.
 
marubozo said:
It's in Niles, so if you ever went to South Bend or Mishawaka Indiana for something, you may have passed it since it's on US 12.
Click to expand...

Ha...I knew it!! I stay in Niles frequently (know a lot of folks in the area) and used to work in Dowagiac. I think I am going to be over there (Buchanan or Niles) in a couple of months, keep us posted, looking forward to stopping by.
 
Good luck on your venture. This will be a must check post hopefully for a long time.
 
Wait! Is that a flying cow over the register? You have to save that. Save the Flying Cow!

Save the Flying Cow!
Save the Flying Cow!
Save the Flying Cow!
 
Congrats on livin' the dream. I've got family up in Elkhart, next time I'm up there I'll have to come up your way.
 
You took the plunge and it is time to swim. Good luck on your venture, it sounds like you have a great sense of business and a great plan. Remember even if the outside isn't what you like with the cheap blue vinyl, if you do great bbq people will come!
 
Hey Marubozo.

Congratulations on your decision. I really do hope it works out for you. I was wondering if you could give us some pics of the kitchen and working areas where the action is going to happen. Most of us are probably more interested in that than the decor!

Cheers! (Subscribed)

Bill
 
One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is using social media as much as possible. FB, Twitter, and Yelp are all great free marketing tools and many people use them to find new/good Q.

Best of luck to you. I can't wait to hear about your progress.

- Frank
 
TroyA65 said:
+1 for cow...need a pig to match (I've seen them around)
Click to expand...
Well, pig will be in the new name, so I may have to do that. Those details will come later. :wink:

fat_bastard said:
Congrats on livin' the dream. I've got family up in Elkhart, next time I'm up there I'll have to come up your way.
Click to expand...

Nice, that's not far at all. Stay tuned and hopefully we can hook up the next time you're in town.

SmokinAussie said:
Hey Marubozo.

Congratulations on your decision. I really do hope it works out for you. I was wondering if you could give us some pics of the kitchen and working areas where the action is going to happen. Most of us are probably more interested in that than the decor!
Click to expand...

Thanks. Kitchen pics are coming. Only ones I have now are when I was touring the building when the electricity was still turned off so it was too dark to get anything worthwhile.

The kitchen is a blessing and a curse. It's HUGE, which isn't needed at all for this small of an operation, especially one that isn't cooking food to order like a typical restaurant. Kitchen area is probably around 800 sq/ft, and it has an 8x8' walk-in cooler, and 6x6' walk-in freezer on top of that. I just need to find a way to maximize the space.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
TX Folks will laugh at me but...
2
Replies
25
Views
1K
SmokinAussie
SmokinAussie
D
Main smoker chamber grates. Slide out or not Yes or no ?
Replies
11
Views
302
Big George's BBQ
Big George's BBQ
T
Pitts & Spitts adjustable charcoal grill. Reviews?
Replies
7
Views
1K
Nuco59
N
Hotch
You're All Invited to The 2024 Texas BBQ Brethren Spring Bash on April 6!
2 3
Replies
51
Views
4K
Hotch
Hotch
J
Premium/high end offset
2 3
Replies
55
Views
4K
cayenne
cayenne
Back
Top