Smoker on truck/trailer question

Pete's Meat · May 19, 2016

I've been looking into getting a food truck/trailer to expand on some catering I've been doing recently and possibly turn it into something a little more full time, and to use for the couple of competitions I do a year.
I've seen the trailers with space to mount a smoker on the back, and I was wondering if any of you guys had any set ups like that, and if that was your primary cooker or if that smoker was the equivalent of having the "show smoker" out in front of the restaurant, when it came to catering/vending. I know in a competition it would get used. But is it worth taking up space on the trailer?

backdraftbbq · May 19, 2016

I mainly do comps but I'm hoping to do some vending and catering. My trailer has an 8' porch, 12' box and 3' V nose. So far it is working out very well. You can see photos of it on my Facebook page www.facebook.com/backdraftbarbq

Pete's Meat · May 19, 2016

That's kind of what I'm thinking of. I may do an open back version, since in Reno we have over 300 sunny days a year. I'm just don't know how much the on board smoker would get used on site, not wanting to drive around with a fire burning

pharp · May 19, 2016

I have a very small catering trailer that I use for comps. I am wishing I had gotten a bigger trailer and left the porch off. At the comps I have plenty of room for my cookers, so I could use the porch, but I don't need to. 90% of my catering jobs are not prepared on site, so the porch is not used, but I sure could use the extra space. Just my two cents, and I am sure every set up is a little different. Backdraft's set up is way nicer than mine. I wanted something very small so I could zip in and out of places (and to minimize the expense) and I am wishing I had left the porch off and gotten more enclosed space.

BriskQueT · May 23, 2016

I'm about to light the fires and kick the tires here in Fort Worth. I've got about a $35-$40k budget and I thought of getting a rig much like the one Backdraft has but the comment Pharp about doing 90% of his cooking offsite has me thinking. I'd love the flexibility to do competitions as well as sell at weekend/multi-day events. Where do you do your smoking/prep work? Brisket is going to be the centerpiece of my business because...well, Texas. That means anywhere from 9-12 or more hours for a cook, depending on which smoking philosophy you adhere to. This leads me to several questions.

1. If I cook on my trailer, does it have to be parked at a commissary when I do so? I seem to recall the rules were different for trailers vs true concession trucks here in the DFW area.

2. How can you cook quality BBQ at a commissary? Part of what makes BBQ special is the way it's cooked and most commissary setups don't have the type of smoker I use. As a matter of fact, I'll be smoking on a custom insulated vertical upright that I'm building right now.

3. How about paying for kitchen time at a restaurant? I've got a potential partner who owns a gormet grilled cheese restaurant. He's interested in an arrangement where I provide him with smoked meats to incorporate into his creations in exchange for kitchen time.

pharp · May 23, 2016

BriskQueT said:
I'm about to light the fires and kick the tires here in Fort Worth. I've got about a $35-$40k budget and I thought of getting a rig much like the one Backdraft has but the comment Pharp about doing 90% of his cooking offsite has me thinking. I'd love the flexibility to do competitions as well as sell at weekend/multi-day events. Where do you do your smoking/prep work? Brisket is going to be the centerpiece of my business because...well, Texas. That means anywhere from 9-12 or more hours for a cook, depending on which smoking philosophy you adhere to. This leads me to several questions.

1. If I cook on my trailer, does it have to be parked at a commissary when I do so? I seem to recall the rules were different for trailers vs true concession trucks here in the DFW area.

2. How can you cook quality BBQ at a commissary? Part of what makes BBQ special is the way it's cooked and most commissary setups don't have the type of smoker I use. As a matter of fact, I'll be smoking on a custom insulated vertical upright that I'm building right now.

3. How about paying for kitchen time at a restaurant? I've got a potential partner who owns a gormet grilled cheese restaurant. He's interested in an arrangement where I provide him with smoked meats to incorporate into his creations in exchange for kitchen time.

I am in Arkansas, and I had the inside of my trailer certified as a food prep space to get my food permit. The smoker part is where it gets tricky. I have a removable "screen" to go off/on my BBQ porch. This is not required for comps and in some states you don't have to have the screen. If I am going somewhere overnight I take the smoker and put the screen on my porch. I could have accomplished the same thing if I had bought a good tent/screen to put my smoker under and then had the extra prep space. The only way that causes you trouble is if the local ordinance's require the cooker be "affixed" to the rest of the unit. For a normal roadside set up, this doesn't matter to me because I will prepare the food at home, under my bbq screen, load it up and then sell out of the concession trailer. Hope this makes some sort of sense.

RangerJ · May 27, 2016

BriskQueT said:
I'm about to light the fires and kick the tires here in Fort Worth. I've got about a $35-$40k budget and I thought of getting a rig much like the one Backdraft has but the comment Pharp about doing 90% of his cooking offsite has me thinking. I'd love the flexibility to do competitions as well as sell at weekend/multi-day events. Where do you do your smoking/prep work? Brisket is going to be the centerpiece of my business because...well, Texas. That means anywhere from 9-12 or more hours for a cook, depending on which smoking philosophy you adhere to. This leads me to several questions.

1. If I cook on my trailer, does it have to be parked at a commissary when I do so? I seem to recall the rules were different for trailers vs true concession trucks here in the DFW area.

2. How can you cook quality BBQ at a commissary? Part of what makes BBQ special is the way it's cooked and most commissary setups don't have the type of smoker I use. As a matter of fact, I'll be smoking on a custom insulated vertical upright that I'm building right now.

3. How about paying for kitchen time at a restaurant? I've got a potential partner who owns a gormet grilled cheese restaurant. He's interested in an arrangement where I provide him with smoked meats to incorporate into his creations in exchange for kitchen time.

It sounds as if you have not done your research on BBQ Trailers / Trucks in the DFW area. I made this tactical error here in Houston, luckily I survived and managed to haul a 20 ft trailer around for about 18 months before opening my brick and mortar.

Find out what is required to get a BBQ Truck or Trailer approved in the DFW area. Once you know that you'll know all you need to know.

Typically, you can cook where ever you want to, on whatever you want to as long as your rig meets the local authorities approval. How and when you have to go to a commissary are totally city / county dependent.

Best of Luck!

sunrise · May 27, 2016

Smokers on the back of a trailer (although I think its great) are not allowed in Ventura Co CA. If you use a smoker, you have to have it inside the truck, or trailer. There are only 2 that are approved, a fast eddys 160, or a CTO

Pete's Meat · May 29, 2016

Sunrise, that's good info, I hadn't thought about it not even being allowed. I've seen another trailer or two in my area with a smoker on the back. I'll make sure I check with the health department on this area before making my purchase

GottaQ · Jun 12, 2016

We have a Very successful BBQ FoodTruck that is going on it's 3rd year and does catering and very large (including KCBS) events all over New England! We do operate from a commercial Kitchen/Commissary which is required but have 4 commercial smokers that we can use.
The Foodtruck has a CookShack FEC 120 pellet smoker which we use for Butts, Briskets, Chicken, Ribs and sausage. The Big meats are cooked overnite the nite before an event, wrapped and put into hot hold early morning and Chicken & Ribs are loaded to cook while we are driving to the events. Onsite we once again wrap, pan and hothold the meats and put in the sausage. During the event we can cook another load (30 racks) of Ribs or more chicken as needed and have fresh product as the earlier batch runs out!
You're welcome to contact me if you want help moving forward!
Mike

Smoker on truck/trailer question

Pete's Meat

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backdraftbbq

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Pete's Meat

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pharp

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BriskQueT

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pharp

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RangerJ

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Pete's Meat

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GottaQ

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