Pitmaster T
Babbling Farker
Okay, I know this is Catering but anyone can opine. I will give my ideas and I will look at all yours and then make up my mind. I know also so many things are different in other states and even in Texas, things are vasty different here in Galveston County, where I have one entity to deal with (that is good for Harris as well) and in Dallas/fort worth metroplex you have the counties AND cities to deal with.
But I am all ears.
I just recently bought an MKT to get my Catering Biz restarted. It is a beast like the Funkotorium. I cleared 32K part time in 2008 and maybe used the Funkotorium 6 times... most of my bulk either being served in local delis or Cambroed in.
I find most of the requests I have now (that I do ot honor because I am not legal) fall into that small under 100-200 range. And I am not talking about chairs, and stuff... just the food.
I know some of you did it the most diligent way and some built on an existing license.
In a lot of the cases.... some will admit that there is an element of Health Department approval which is subjective and personality based... some people are easy going and some are not.
I intend to get into street selling anyway. I can utilize my rather potent political connections to secure places to pitch up that I have in my home town that I didn't have in Connecticut.
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is0SEMxokx0&list=PL-FMdthfYNpRRIK_a_wY64CCBNgEQoIyr&index=2"]MKT Night Fireup - YouTube[/ame]
MKT basically
Okay as you can see... we have four burners on the left.... two of which (or all if you have another griddle) can accept a flat top. On the Right I have two burners in what they call an M59 Field range which can be used from everything from boiling or steam jacketing 10 gallons of sauce, baking up to three racks, roasting, and deep frying. Plus some counterspace and storage.
The main thing is... everything you see on that Kitchen deck can be removed within 15 minutes of you have 2 guys. I mean everything down to the platform. It comes with an icechest... which is neat but would not want to rely on and another storage cabinet, both of which you can either store on the ground or on the fold out decks on each side of the kitchen.
So... having ALSO owning one of these
I knew I would be doing a small job here and there and started to make a rolling rack for the burners and griddle and rollable 3 bay
Yes I know I need bigger wheels.
Yes I know I apparently mis-measured and made a perfect rolling 3 bay sink ==== for a 6 year old. Soon to be fixed... not that this thread is about that but I will be doing a tank on board this and a rollable grey water tank plus LP on demand heater. Already have the pump and power supplys.
So... here is the lead up to my question.
I had a guy over who has been in the mobile catering biz for quite some time in my county. My county is cool in that their CFM5 is accepted in Harris County (Houston) as well. In any case I will not be operating far from my area anyway.
He told me what the Inpectors told me Wednesday when they went through training. That as it stands now... they are so understaffed that they can only TRY to make four visits a year and only to those who typically are having repeated problems. (meaning if you fail an inspection or are close to it U get the four visits before someone who has a better record. This means you can expect two visits a year if you are under the radar and THAT is for brick and mortar storefronts.
For Mobile it is even less.
He saw my quite elaborate plans, sheets of specs and pictures on the MKT Army Tent Kitchen. He looked in my garage and said... "what are you planning to use to heat up your daily special or your line items?" It took me a while to explain. He said "no....you are going to use that electric AP Wyott dry heating unit over there and you are going to write it in right here."
I didn't get what he was saying at first... then he made it clear.
Buddy, everything you got now can be used under your canopy you have for small venues, right?" I said yep.
"And everything on your MKT here is removable and also could be used under your canopy right?" I said yep.
"Here is what you do - nix all mention of your MKT Tent Kitchen thing. If you lay this out under your Canopy as a proposal for your approval... its going to look like the proposal for about a thousand other similar tent kitchens operating in the both counties. You will get pretty much a rubber stamp approval. Keep your menu basic.... burger, dogs, one held special, water source, refrigeration, electric, waste water as if you are operating like you say the bulk of your biz will be - under a tent. Get your approval with the tent version of your biz.
Then get your approved kitchen and go to town. When the HD shows up.... your proposal is laid out with all the same elements of the tent version... its just on wheels. The only thing they will be looking at from that point is whether your temps are right and you are doing what you are suppose to be doing. After all... nothing is actually attached to your deck and the MKT is basically a tent.
I know there will be a myriad of answers for me here... some useful to my situation, some not... and a few maybe even hostile. His point is... when getting something approved... do as little out of the ordinary as possible. Make no waves.... keep it basic, make reasonable changes afterwards.
But I am all ears.
I just recently bought an MKT to get my Catering Biz restarted. It is a beast like the Funkotorium. I cleared 32K part time in 2008 and maybe used the Funkotorium 6 times... most of my bulk either being served in local delis or Cambroed in.
I find most of the requests I have now (that I do ot honor because I am not legal) fall into that small under 100-200 range. And I am not talking about chairs, and stuff... just the food.
I know some of you did it the most diligent way and some built on an existing license.
In a lot of the cases.... some will admit that there is an element of Health Department approval which is subjective and personality based... some people are easy going and some are not.
I intend to get into street selling anyway. I can utilize my rather potent political connections to secure places to pitch up that I have in my home town that I didn't have in Connecticut.
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is0SEMxokx0&list=PL-FMdthfYNpRRIK_a_wY64CCBNgEQoIyr&index=2"]MKT Night Fireup - YouTube[/ame]
MKT basically
Okay as you can see... we have four burners on the left.... two of which (or all if you have another griddle) can accept a flat top. On the Right I have two burners in what they call an M59 Field range which can be used from everything from boiling or steam jacketing 10 gallons of sauce, baking up to three racks, roasting, and deep frying. Plus some counterspace and storage.
The main thing is... everything you see on that Kitchen deck can be removed within 15 minutes of you have 2 guys. I mean everything down to the platform. It comes with an icechest... which is neat but would not want to rely on and another storage cabinet, both of which you can either store on the ground or on the fold out decks on each side of the kitchen.
So... having ALSO owning one of these
I knew I would be doing a small job here and there and started to make a rolling rack for the burners and griddle and rollable 3 bay
Yes I know I need bigger wheels.
Yes I know I apparently mis-measured and made a perfect rolling 3 bay sink ==== for a 6 year old. Soon to be fixed... not that this thread is about that but I will be doing a tank on board this and a rollable grey water tank plus LP on demand heater. Already have the pump and power supplys.
So... here is the lead up to my question.
I had a guy over who has been in the mobile catering biz for quite some time in my county. My county is cool in that their CFM5 is accepted in Harris County (Houston) as well. In any case I will not be operating far from my area anyway.
He told me what the Inpectors told me Wednesday when they went through training. That as it stands now... they are so understaffed that they can only TRY to make four visits a year and only to those who typically are having repeated problems. (meaning if you fail an inspection or are close to it U get the four visits before someone who has a better record. This means you can expect two visits a year if you are under the radar and THAT is for brick and mortar storefronts.
For Mobile it is even less.
He saw my quite elaborate plans, sheets of specs and pictures on the MKT Army Tent Kitchen. He looked in my garage and said... "what are you planning to use to heat up your daily special or your line items?" It took me a while to explain. He said "no....you are going to use that electric AP Wyott dry heating unit over there and you are going to write it in right here."
I didn't get what he was saying at first... then he made it clear.
Buddy, everything you got now can be used under your canopy you have for small venues, right?" I said yep.
"And everything on your MKT here is removable and also could be used under your canopy right?" I said yep.
"Here is what you do - nix all mention of your MKT Tent Kitchen thing. If you lay this out under your Canopy as a proposal for your approval... its going to look like the proposal for about a thousand other similar tent kitchens operating in the both counties. You will get pretty much a rubber stamp approval. Keep your menu basic.... burger, dogs, one held special, water source, refrigeration, electric, waste water as if you are operating like you say the bulk of your biz will be - under a tent. Get your approval with the tent version of your biz.
Then get your approved kitchen and go to town. When the HD shows up.... your proposal is laid out with all the same elements of the tent version... its just on wheels. The only thing they will be looking at from that point is whether your temps are right and you are doing what you are suppose to be doing. After all... nothing is actually attached to your deck and the MKT is basically a tent.
I know there will be a myriad of answers for me here... some useful to my situation, some not... and a few maybe even hostile. His point is... when getting something approved... do as little out of the ordinary as possible. Make no waves.... keep it basic, make reasonable changes afterwards.
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