egkor
11-12-2003, 10:10 PM
I was layed off from HP (Houston) a few weeks ago. I have worked for the last 9 years with the Compaq ProLiant servers. The upside is, I have time to BBQ!
I'm considering going into business for myself cooking and selling BBQ. I started liking the idea of a trailer concession type business. But the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of a fixed location (restaurant).
I'm looking for a high quality pit that can cook a lot of food, yet not need constant babysitting for temp control. Since I'm in Houston already, I decided to finally go take a look at Klose pits. And I went to see a newer Klose competitor, Gator (as in tail-gator). Klose and Gator are both 1/4 inch steel cookers that can hold temps with minimum babysitting.
Klose: After years of reading about them on the web, and all the awards won, and all the user accolades heaped upon them, I was awestruck to walk on their grounds and see and touch actual Klose cookers. Unfortunatley, there was no one there that could talk to me about using their cookers in a indoor commercial situation. Everything I saw there was for outdoor use. My question was, are their cookers suitable for what I want to do? I wish there was more opportunity to speak with someone there. To talk to Dave Klose would have been a religious experience. :-) Granted I could have called and scheduled an appointment, but didn't.
Gator: After the wow-factor of Klose wore off, I went about 20 minutes up the road to Gator Pits. I spoke to the owner/president, Richey Robin. He took the time to show me their products and explain why he engineers his pits the way he does. And he was very enthusiastic about his work and his products, I really like that. I could see myself with one of his pits. He holds himself answerable to his customers for his claims, and evidently he delivers.
It appears I would have to locate either Klose or Gator unit outside of a fixed location restaurant. Otherwise there would need to be firewalls and whatever to conform to codes. Not sure about code at this point. Locating the cooker outside is actually nice because I could also trailer the cooker to wherever. But I'd have to pull the wheels off to keep it from being stolen.
If I bought a cooker from a Houston manufacturer, I would save shipping/transportation expenses, compared to Lang, Southern Yankee, etc.
That's my summary of each visit. Pretty good day today!
-egkor
I'm considering going into business for myself cooking and selling BBQ. I started liking the idea of a trailer concession type business. But the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of a fixed location (restaurant).
I'm looking for a high quality pit that can cook a lot of food, yet not need constant babysitting for temp control. Since I'm in Houston already, I decided to finally go take a look at Klose pits. And I went to see a newer Klose competitor, Gator (as in tail-gator). Klose and Gator are both 1/4 inch steel cookers that can hold temps with minimum babysitting.
Klose: After years of reading about them on the web, and all the awards won, and all the user accolades heaped upon them, I was awestruck to walk on their grounds and see and touch actual Klose cookers. Unfortunatley, there was no one there that could talk to me about using their cookers in a indoor commercial situation. Everything I saw there was for outdoor use. My question was, are their cookers suitable for what I want to do? I wish there was more opportunity to speak with someone there. To talk to Dave Klose would have been a religious experience. :-) Granted I could have called and scheduled an appointment, but didn't.
Gator: After the wow-factor of Klose wore off, I went about 20 minutes up the road to Gator Pits. I spoke to the owner/president, Richey Robin. He took the time to show me their products and explain why he engineers his pits the way he does. And he was very enthusiastic about his work and his products, I really like that. I could see myself with one of his pits. He holds himself answerable to his customers for his claims, and evidently he delivers.
It appears I would have to locate either Klose or Gator unit outside of a fixed location restaurant. Otherwise there would need to be firewalls and whatever to conform to codes. Not sure about code at this point. Locating the cooker outside is actually nice because I could also trailer the cooker to wherever. But I'd have to pull the wheels off to keep it from being stolen.
If I bought a cooker from a Houston manufacturer, I would save shipping/transportation expenses, compared to Lang, Southern Yankee, etc.
That's my summary of each visit. Pretty good day today!
-egkor