The wrong answer?

I would say you are correct in your responce. I would rather produce a quality product that is managable to do than to increase productivity and decrease the quality. If you are happy with your reciepts then progress at a rate you feel comfortable with. Disclaimer- any misspellings do not count I am an Auburn Graduate. WARRR EAGLE

baldbill- slinging wood in the neighborhood

Exclusive may be a poor choice of words, it could be construed that you wish to exclude some customers from your offerings. Maybe just convey the message that you wish to have only fresh offerings for your clientele.

Not in the business, but as a customer if I came in before close and was told sorry, no food for you. I may not come back and would tell everyone I knew about the service. You may have very good food but if it was my 1st visit and got the sorry response it would make me think twice about ever going again.

From a business standpoint, I would account for how many customers are straggling in and decide if some profits were being lost.

Now if we are talking a total of 2 customers then it sounds like you have it down, with the advice from Kevin.

Maybe change to your sign to "open until 10 or when the food runs out." There are plenty of great bbq joints that only cook so much each day and when it's gone, it's gone. People will learn to get there early if they want some of your food.

afreemaniii said:

Maybe change to your sign to "open until 10 or when the food runs out." There are plenty of great bbq joints that only cook so much each day and when it's gone, it's gone. People will learn to get there early if they want some of your food.

Click to expand...

^^^^^^
thats theres what I was gonna say.

I would echo Aubrey -- add the "or until the Que is gone" -- if they need an explanation, tell them that good quality Que, takes time to complete, and you cook the amount that will allow you to produce the highest quality product each day.

If they are worried about a late pick-up, you might offer them a pre-order, since it sounds like you know their buying habits.

Keep on kickin butt!!!

Anyone showing up at 10:00pm should know Wyatt's in bed by then.

HoDeDo said:

If they are worried about a late pick-up, you might offer them a pre-order, since it sounds like you know their buying habits.

Keep on kickin butt!!!

Click to expand...

There is your answer.

If they stiff you after placing their order for the following week, ask for the $ up front the next time.

We encourage our customers to call if they plan on coming later in the day and we will set something aside for them. That way, if they don't call it's their loss.

Bigmista said:

We encourage our customers to call if they plan on coming later in the day and we will set something aside for them. That way, if they don't call it's their loss.

Click to expand...

That is the way I hande it. If you call before noon I garuntee I have your food for you at the time you request. After 2pm it's a crap shoot. Course I close at 6pm, or when I sell out. ( so you methods may vary) I can only do 120 racks a day and they are almost all spoken for by 2pm. I always keep 6 racks set aside for those just in case customers. Makes me look good by makin a big deal out of trying to make something happen for them.

My sign says I'm open till 6 or until sold out!
If its happening a lot, your losing money.I push flyers & cards stating call ahead & pre orders are accepted, works great!

Bbq Bubba said:

My sign says I'm open till 6 or until sold out!
If its happening a lot, your losing money.I push flyers & cards stating call ahead & pre orders are accepted, works great!

Click to expand...

I'm not in the selling business either, but I am in the buying business.
If I saw a sign that said "Open till 6 or till sold out" I would have to respect that good Q takes a while to create, it's not just something you whip up or want to sell left overs of the next day. Add in that with a simple call, you'll set something aside for pick-up, that adds a personal touch and says you'll go out of your way for them. You may soon find you're knowing more and more customers by name. Most everybody's got a cell phone these days, and it's not like they forget that dinner happens every night.

That's my opinion, worth price charged.
-scott

Coming from both sides of the fence, I have noticed that BBQ Joints (or whatever we want to call it) is the only part of the trade that has "Or until sold out" as a closing time. Now those of us in the biz understand why this is. But to the average consumer this may not be acceptable and may give them a reason to move on. I am not condoning this thought process, but I can see where they would be coming from.

Of course this is all hypothetical on my part and may never happen...:mrgreen:

I like a place in Houston called Thelma's BBQ her sign says
"When It's Gone It's Gone"

It kinda sux when you're hungry and the place is sold out when you
get there.

You might consider making extra of one thing that will hold well for longer
periods.....perhaps "Pulled Pork"....that way when you get those late
customers, you can tell them...."It's been a busy day and all I have left
is some Pulled Pork.....would you like me to make you a Killer Pulled Pork
sandwich?"

Just an Idea.

Try to put yourself in the customer's position. Tell the customer something that means something to him.
-- We BBQ fresh every day to insure that our customers are being served the best BBQ they can get. We could BBQ a ton of meat and freeze it, then microwave each order as it is sold, but we want you to have the best---not the easiest.

---Start a VIP Club with special pricing on call ahead orders. The only requirement to be a VIP is to have your restaurant's phone number programed into their cell phone. Your phone in orders will double---You have made your customers feel "special"

---Is there a bar nearby? We always cooked extra ribs, and if it looked like we were going to have leftovers----I would send an employee over to the bar with a rib plate and have them buy a drink and sit there and eat the ribs. It never failed---the bar patrons would order food.

--- leftover ribs will make good rib sandwiches the next day, and rib meat stripped off the bone goes great in greens.

---Todays consumer has been taught that they are always right----and that if you close at 10:00 --that means that they can show up at 9:59:59 and get whatever they want. It is very dificult to keep BBQ at it's optimum for all hours that you are open. BBQ restaurant is kinda like a BBQ contest ---only as you are getting ready for your 2:00 turn in time----the time gets changed to 8:00

There are no easy answers----try to make each customer feel important---call them by name---as they leave say "It was great seeing you again. If you have one or 2 customers that buy ribs 3 or 4 times a week ask then for their phone number in case you have left over ribs at the end of the day. If you must discount something---at least discount it to someone who is spending a lot of money with you.

There have been several very good BBQ places around here that posted that they do their best, but, that they do run out as they only have so much room in their smokers to do a quality job. The thing that will lose me every time is the see a good place increase their volume and lose the quality of the food. If I sense that this is the case, I will not return, it tells me the owners do not care about the food.

Very simple solution IMO. Cook more food. Running out of food is the worst thing you can do. How pissed of would you be if you went to Olive garden and they were out of pasta. What if you went to Mcdonalds and they had no burgers? You know where I am going. You are in business to make money. You need to figure out a way to service everyone who walks through your door, word of mouth will either make you or break you. Make sure you make it positive.