Open a BBQ restaurant, they said. It will be fun, they said

Thanks, guys.

Just a quick update since a few things are starting to fall into place finally. Contract signed with the builder today and fingers crossed, work will begin next week. It's expected to be a 3 week project, but you know how that goes. The list is somewhat extensive with a new drop ceiling and lighting in the rear kitchen, new flooring in the dining room, new walls and new order/pick-up windows, and the most important, a hole cut in the exterior wall for a through the wall smoker installation with new ventilation and outside enclosure.

So, while the delay on smoker delivery was a blow, I think in the end if we can get the interior all squared away, by the time we finish the painting, cleaning, decorating, and stocking the kitchen, the smoker will arrive just in time and we'll be on track for an October 4th open date. Granted, it's a few months behind schedule and I hate missing out on the tourist summer season, it's better than nothing.

Finally, I've got four cords of wood being delivered this week. A couple cords of oak on Wednesday, and a few of apple on Saturday. It's going to be a brutal week or so stacking wood, but at least having the wood here and ready to fire will feel like we're one step closer. It's like I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, even though it's still quite faint.

Oh, and thanks to 82's BBQ for helping put on the CBJ class on Friday. It was a long trip, but with some idle time with this restaurant nonsense it was nice to meet some other people interested in BBQ and finally get my CBJ cert.

Bbq Bubba said:

What smoker did you end up with?

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A southern pride 300.

coastal said:

Have you got all the city/county/health permits squared away? What was that process like. That can Sometimes be the worst of all.

Did you have to pay a impact fee for the water/sewer/road for restaurant? Around here restaurants have the highest impact fees and it can kill a project

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Well, fortunately, I did most of that stuff even before I bought the building. So I had the health inspector and township inspector meet with me on site before anything else to get their thoughts, see what would need to be fixed, etc. So, that has minimized a lot of those headaches.

Also, I'm located outside of the city, don't have sewer, etc. so there are even far fewer hurdles to jump through there as well. And thankfully, since the building has been a restaurant for decades, there was no need to worry about zoning changes, occupancy changes, other fees and permits, and so on.

sbshaveice said:

Did you do the sign design? I really like it. Hated the previous owner's name and design.
Your building is cool too, though it doesn't look commercial -- looks like a converted house. That the case? Hope to see shot of the new floors, I like your pic of wood. What is it? Wood flooring is not cheap.

I like the wisdom buried in the section on the HD's walkthrough prior to purchase. I think one needs a relationship with the HD, you don't have to be sleeping with the inspector, but some people make it an adversarial thing. That won't work. You lose. Know their name, and them knowing you're earnest and not a corner cutter is the best approach.

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Thanks. My sister in-law designed the logo. She's a graphic designer, so I take advantage of free work wherever I can. :mrgreen:

And yeah, I'm not a fan of the exterior of the building. It's always been a restaurant and isn't a converted house, but the cheap blue siding sure makes it look like one. One day I hope to change that, but I just need to get the doors open first.

The flooring is laminate, so it actually wasn't too bad. It came out to a little over $2 per square foot. Has a 5 year commercial warranty.

And while I'm here, one more quick update. My t-shirt designer just emailed me a proof of one of the shirt designs. Can't wait to get them to all my friends and family and beg them to walk around town with one on every day for the next two months. :mrgreen:

trza said:

This is a long thread, and I admittedly haven't read through it all...but did you find insurance? I've found that the Independent Insurance Agents are the place to be most of the time. They tend to be smaller, so service is a big deal to them. And their group arrangement gives them access to many insurance companies that they can write policies with. That's a lot of market to shop with a single application.

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Yes, insurance was a bit hard to come by. I worked with a local broker who had access to many different companies and specialize in commercial policies. Ended up getting coverage with Auto-Owners Insurance company.

raginranger said:

Hello marubozo,

Long time thread lurker. First time poster.

I'm from SC so I admittedly am not very familiar with your area at all; however, I noticed that it's only 10 miles from the University of Notre Dame.

I noticed that you were a little upset about missing the summer season, but do you expect to get much traffic from the Notre Dame football season.

Seems like some people that come in for the games will stay in your area, and it could potentially increase business a good bit.

Don't know the culture up there but down here in SC tons of people buy BBQ for their tailgate menu on gameday saturdays.

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That's a great question.

I do hope that there will be some football traffic as like you said, we are pretty close. It's just an odd setup here. We're only about two miles north of the Indiana border, and it's kind of odd because it seems like EVERYTHING is just on the other side of the border. Even though it's only a couple of miles, it's as if people have no need to go north of the border so everybody seems to stay down there.

Now, if there was a good reason to make the couple mile drive, say, to get five pounds of awesome pulled pork to take to your tailgate party, then that could get people in. But it would take some targeted marketing to those fans down there and let them know about us. There's also a good opportunity to advertise game day party packs or something where people can call in ahead of time and place an order for X amount of people and we put together everything they need to pick up on game day.

So, it will be interesting to see if I can convert on any of the football activity this fall.

Neil said:

There are hundreds of fans north of you that go to the games every week. It might be worth looking into placing an ad in the Herald Paladium or WSJM's Dining Deals.

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Yeah, good point. I was mostly referring to all the people who travel in from out of town to the games. But there are quite a few who are still local.

Rusty Kettle said:

hey just a thought if you want to get Notre Dame fans to come and buy your food give them a discount on food when they wear team apparel in. Also maybe you should get some Notre Dame stuff to put up. Make them feel at home and they will come. Good Luck!

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There will be no ND stuff going on the walls in the restaurant. That's for sure. Now offering discounts on game day with apparel, maybe. I may live here, but that doesn't mean I like ND. I will try to attract their fans, but I won't stoop to littering the place with their paraphernalia. It's a college football thing, and some lines cannot be crossed. :mrgreen: