Sean "Puffy" Coals
is one Smokin' Farker
Yeah, I was a little concerned about it myself after looking at the initial numbers. Oh well, more for me I guess!
BBQ Food Truck Business???
- Thread starter Sean "Puffy" Coals
- Start date
Yeah, I was a little concerned about it myself after looking at the initial numbers. Oh well, more for me I guess!
castlepines
is Blowin Smoke!
Yep. More of EVERYTHING for you. :wink:
Sean "Puffy" Coals
is one Smokin' Farker
Yea, i know. more work, more responsibility too. Will also be easier to make decisions and stuff, so that's a good thing.
Pyle's BBQ
Babbling Farker
Your questions would get a better answer over in the Catering section of the forum. We do not sugarcoat anything over there, just so you know. If we think you are full of it we will tell you.
A general rule is to charge 3 times your food cost.
Kjonge
Knows what a fatty is.
This truck in Seattle always has huge lines http://maximus-minimus.com/ I wouldn't really call it BBQ but it is different, tastes good and the truck is amazing ��.
Know Bull
Knows what a fatty is.
I am not in the food business, but have considered investing in a mobile BBQ business. While I think food trucks are a great business model, I am not convinced that a BBQ food truck is a successful business model. My thoughts are:
Most mobile BBQ businesses that I see have one or two locations that they work from (along with catering jobs they pick up). For example, they may work a large manufacturing facility for lunch, and then move across town to the same convenience store parking lot in the evenings/weekends. I don't really see highly successful BBQ 'food trucks' that set up at different sights every day.
The common thread that I see in the successful food trucks is that they serve 'handle' food. They serve menu items that can be held and eaten with one hand - such as slice of pizza, something served on a bun, or served in a wrap, or served on a stick. Good BBQ really needs to be eaten at a table with a side and utensils. Having a food that requires a table and silverware to eat takes away from the magic of the food truck.
While a BBQ sandwich can be a great value item on the menu where traditional BBQ is served, I think a menu of only sandwiches is too limiting for someone serving quality BBQ product. I am always skeptical of a mobile business that is serving BBQ sandwiches, as I am automatically expecting cheap shredded meat in cheap sauce served from a crockpot - and it is usually just short of inedible.
In fact, I submit that a good pulled pork sandwich, by the time you have sauce on it and coleslaw on it (yes Virginia, even if Santa is not real, a great pulled pork sandwich still always has slaw) it is too messy to be a good 'handle' food.
The old days of setting up in the grocery store parking lots are long gone. They do not want you poaching from their deli business. But I still think you need to find a great location with high visibility to set up your mobile business and work that location for all it is worth. Or find a couple of busy bars with no kitchen and work a deal with them to set up outside on weekends.
Most mobile BBQ businesses that I see have one or two locations that they work from (along with catering jobs they pick up). For example, they may work a large manufacturing facility for lunch, and then move across town to the same convenience store parking lot in the evenings/weekends. I don't really see highly successful BBQ 'food trucks' that set up at different sights every day.
The common thread that I see in the successful food trucks is that they serve 'handle' food. They serve menu items that can be held and eaten with one hand - such as slice of pizza, something served on a bun, or served in a wrap, or served on a stick. Good BBQ really needs to be eaten at a table with a side and utensils. Having a food that requires a table and silverware to eat takes away from the magic of the food truck.
While a BBQ sandwich can be a great value item on the menu where traditional BBQ is served, I think a menu of only sandwiches is too limiting for someone serving quality BBQ product. I am always skeptical of a mobile business that is serving BBQ sandwiches, as I am automatically expecting cheap shredded meat in cheap sauce served from a crockpot - and it is usually just short of inedible.
In fact, I submit that a good pulled pork sandwich, by the time you have sauce on it and coleslaw on it (yes Virginia, even if Santa is not real, a great pulled pork sandwich still always has slaw) it is too messy to be a good 'handle' food.
The old days of setting up in the grocery store parking lots are long gone. They do not want you poaching from their deli business. But I still think you need to find a great location with high visibility to set up your mobile business and work that location for all it is worth. Or find a couple of busy bars with no kitchen and work a deal with them to set up outside on weekends.
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I'd very dodgy about starting such a business without getting one hellava lot of things lined up.
I'm also very concerned about listening to friends and family that say you should do this. The restaurant highway is littered with the failure of people who had the best of intentions, followed the advice of their friends and family and lost everything... and the first things to go are the friends and family.
Ask yourself this ONE question: Are you a businessman. If the answer is no, then don't do it. Maybe go and work in a BBQ joint part time first and pick the owners brains, but if you are not a businessman, you won't make it.
It does not matter if you can cook great BBQ if you can't manage your money, manage your suppliers, manage people, market your products and MAKE SALES.
If you don't know how to do that, then just don't do it. Keep it a hobby.
Personally, I like the idea of doing it too. But it's just the idea. I want my passion to remain a hobby. I don't want to be dealing with trying to fill orders on a busy friday night and having people complain about anything that may not please them. My idea of loving BBQ is that I get to eat it with friends and family and a beer in hand. You get your compliments and it makes you feel good when they say " Hey, you should open a BBQ place... maybe a food truck"
All you have to do is take their compliments humbly, give them a wink and think to yourself... This bloke has not got a clue what it takes to do that....
Me? I can cater for 200 people within a few days notice with my existing kit. Purely a hobby. I don't do it for profit. I can do it when I am asked because it's fun... about once every 6 months. I plan the menu, I run it by my "clients" they pay me to get the ingredients and the rest is me effetively donating my time. It is exhausting work and very rewarding. But if this was a job... there's not a chance I would like it or be good at it.
Maybe you should think about that sort of option first...
Hope that helps.
Bill
I'm also very concerned about listening to friends and family that say you should do this. The restaurant highway is littered with the failure of people who had the best of intentions, followed the advice of their friends and family and lost everything... and the first things to go are the friends and family.
Ask yourself this ONE question: Are you a businessman. If the answer is no, then don't do it. Maybe go and work in a BBQ joint part time first and pick the owners brains, but if you are not a businessman, you won't make it.
It does not matter if you can cook great BBQ if you can't manage your money, manage your suppliers, manage people, market your products and MAKE SALES.
If you don't know how to do that, then just don't do it. Keep it a hobby.
Personally, I like the idea of doing it too. But it's just the idea. I want my passion to remain a hobby. I don't want to be dealing with trying to fill orders on a busy friday night and having people complain about anything that may not please them. My idea of loving BBQ is that I get to eat it with friends and family and a beer in hand. You get your compliments and it makes you feel good when they say " Hey, you should open a BBQ place... maybe a food truck"
All you have to do is take their compliments humbly, give them a wink and think to yourself... This bloke has not got a clue what it takes to do that....
Me? I can cater for 200 people within a few days notice with my existing kit. Purely a hobby. I don't do it for profit. I can do it when I am asked because it's fun... about once every 6 months. I plan the menu, I run it by my "clients" they pay me to get the ingredients and the rest is me effetively donating my time. It is exhausting work and very rewarding. But if this was a job... there's not a chance I would like it or be good at it.
Maybe you should think about that sort of option first...
Hope that helps.
Bill
rickv14623
Full Fledged Farker
What Pyles said. I do not cater, but find that section interesting.
