gettinbasted
is Blowin Smoke!
Holy crap. I don’t know why I didn’t find this thread earlier, but I’m glad I found it after I opened my restaurants! A great read for sure. Congratulations on your new venture!
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working on DNS.. links may break temporarily.
Open a BBQ restaurant, they said. It will be fun, they said
- Thread starter marubozo
- Start date
marubozo
is one Smokin' Farker
I use Diamond Crystal kosher.
Thanks! That explains it. I used Morton's which is almost double the weight of DC for the same volume.
frankenfab
Take a breath!
Today was a good day. At noon we were granted the ability to sell alcohol. And it's serendipitous that today is also the anniversary of the end of prohibition back in 1933. So, we celebrated with the first beer to be served with BBQ.
It's exciting. We are now the only BBQ place around that also sells beer. Can't wait to see how this impacts business.
That looks awesome! Do you cook your fries twice?
marubozo
is one Smokin' Farker
Yes, fry at 300 for a few minutes until cooked through. Then we drop them at 350 until crisp to order.
kevrol
Knows what a fatty is.
Are your taps functional yet?
marubozo
is one Smokin' Farker
So close...
New bar is installed, taps are in and lines ran to what will be the keg cooler, but we're waiting on our new walk-in cooler to arrive and get installed. We need to get that going so we can empty out the current walk-in and make room for the beer. Unfortunately that's not getting here until the 28th now so we're set back a little bit. Again.
Mikhail
Babbling Farker
Looking good.
Packmanjim
Full Fledged Farker
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Congrats on your latest venture. I have owned my own business before so I know how much work you put in to it. Doesn't seem like work it seems more like an adventure. If I wasn't 700 mile away I'd stop by for lunch.
ArtBQ
Is lookin for wood to cook with.
I love that this thread and story continues.
marubozo
is one Smokin' Farker
What a long 4 months it has been since the doors opened. You think the story had drama before, you have no idea the drama when it's a full-service restaurant with 20+ employees. Holy cow, nobody prepared me for some of this nonsense.
And construction delays continue. Had delays 7 years ago, and have them the same today. Our new walk-in cooler got pushed back a few weeks longer than promised, so we're still without draft beer. The cooler did come monday and we built it, but still need to get an electrician in here to get it up and running. So, draft beer finally ready by next week fingers crossed.
One thing I don't know if I touched on before was the constant beating you get from customers and even the public. Even when 9 out of 10 comments you read online are great, the occasional negative comments are still hard. People flat out lie oftentimes. Just talking trash for the sake of being a jerk. And I get it, I realize these comments are always in the tiny minority, and most of the time not even completely true, it still feels like a personal attack. I've been doing this for years now and it never really gets easier to shrug those off.
We are also gearing up for festival season and on the prowl for a mobile smoker and/or food truck or concession trailer. We have a number of events this summer in sight, and also have a number of requests for family reunions and weddings with on-site cooking. Another major expense, but with business being good and a lot of event/catering possible, now is the time to start planning.
Finally, we've had a commercial on TV for a while now, I just forgot about it. This was shot early on so the restaurant is bare and it doesn't talk about the bar, but they are coming out as soon as our tap system is going and will shoot more video so they can add that info to the spot. I know some of you may be interested, so here's that:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzD8ww7psz4
And construction delays continue. Had delays 7 years ago, and have them the same today. Our new walk-in cooler got pushed back a few weeks longer than promised, so we're still without draft beer. The cooler did come monday and we built it, but still need to get an electrician in here to get it up and running. So, draft beer finally ready by next week fingers crossed.
One thing I don't know if I touched on before was the constant beating you get from customers and even the public. Even when 9 out of 10 comments you read online are great, the occasional negative comments are still hard. People flat out lie oftentimes. Just talking trash for the sake of being a jerk. And I get it, I realize these comments are always in the tiny minority, and most of the time not even completely true, it still feels like a personal attack. I've been doing this for years now and it never really gets easier to shrug those off.
We are also gearing up for festival season and on the prowl for a mobile smoker and/or food truck or concession trailer. We have a number of events this summer in sight, and also have a number of requests for family reunions and weddings with on-site cooking. Another major expense, but with business being good and a lot of event/catering possible, now is the time to start planning.
Finally, we've had a commercial on TV for a while now, I just forgot about it. This was shot early on so the restaurant is bare and it doesn't talk about the bar, but they are coming out as soon as our tap system is going and will shoot more video so they can add that info to the spot. I know some of you may be interested, so here's that:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzD8ww7psz4
Yeah, don't give any credence to naysayers. There are always some not comprehending the complexity of whatever (not just the restaurant business) you are trying to do and lashing out negativity. Some seem to thrive on it for some reason.
Best of luck to you!
Best of luck to you!
Beef
Full Fledged Farker
When researching a restaurant, I take the negative online feedback with a grain of salt! Sometimes it drives me out of spite to try it , too
Too many d-bags . . . . roll on Brotha'
Too many d-bags . . . . roll on Brotha'
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Don't worry about these too much. As a reviewer myself in Melbourne ( I am up to 200 or so reviews) you have a look at previous reviews and those that are really negative stand out in such a way that those reading the review can figure out the author is an idiot. Typically, it's their only or first review with no followers, very poorly written and complaining about something that is out of line within the scope of the other reviews.
If there really is something going wrong with an establishment, you see a pattern. If you see a bad pattern in your reviews, then there is a smoking gun you have to fix.... like constantly dirty floors, toilets or a smarmy waiter across 6 months of reviews. You do not need to worry about this at all with your record.
Cheers!
When researching a restaurant, I take the negative online feedback with a grain of salt! Sometimes it drives me out of spite to try it , too
Too many d-bags . . . . roll on Brotha'
Exactly this!
When traveling we do not eat chain restaurants, sometimes times enough over the top bad comments gives us the “oh hell we gotta try this!”
Keep doing what you do and stop reading the comments. :thumb:
Bigbears BBQ
is Blowin Smoke!
Haters are going to hate, keep up the good work and thank you for taking us along for the ride.
Lynn Dollar
is Blowin Smoke!
I don't even bother with Yelp. Its like any on-line reviews, I don't completely trust the positive and question the negatives.
I really don't think I know any more after I've read the reviews, so it boils down to a waste of time.
I really don't think I know any more after I've read the reviews, so it boils down to a waste of time.
EricD
is Blowin Smoke!
I agree with Lynn, reviews are a waste of time to me too. I don't even bother reading them, I like to find out for myself.
The haters are probably F'in vegans anyway!
The haters are probably F'in vegans anyway!
gettinbasted
is Blowin Smoke!
I couldn’t disagree more about the review sentiments expressed so far. Love them or hate them, they are part of the reality of running a business and that influence will only continue to grow.
I own 3 restaurants and I read the major review sites for each of them every single morning. I also do a general google search at least once a week.
Yes, some negative reviews are ridiculous (and easy to spot), but most of them are legitimate and someone had a bad enough experience in my establishment to log in somewhere and tell the world about it. Burying my head in the sand does not fix their experience. Some you can’t do anything about (prices, parking, wait at the door, etc...) but listen and care, others are mistakes that need to be addressed or, more importantly, trends that show a deeper problem.
I had a kitchen manager that was watering down our sauce to help with food costs thinking he’s doing me a favor. I found out about it by a couple of reviews that hit me in thin sauce. We can have blinders on from day to day operations, reviews can give us a new perspective!
I own 3 restaurants and I read the major review sites for each of them every single morning. I also do a general google search at least once a week.
Yes, some negative reviews are ridiculous (and easy to spot), but most of them are legitimate and someone had a bad enough experience in my establishment to log in somewhere and tell the world about it. Burying my head in the sand does not fix their experience. Some you can’t do anything about (prices, parking, wait at the door, etc...) but listen and care, others are mistakes that need to be addressed or, more importantly, trends that show a deeper problem.
I had a kitchen manager that was watering down our sauce to help with food costs thinking he’s doing me a favor. I found out about it by a couple of reviews that hit me in thin sauce. We can have blinders on from day to day operations, reviews can give us a new perspective!
Mikhail
Babbling Farker
I agree with gettinbasted. Yeah, the reviews can be nonsensical either way, but they are what the public is reading about your business. You cannot please everyone, but when I read a response from the reviewee that is rational and trying to make things right, whether they were in the wrong or not, it says a lot to me.
Me, I love to leave a good review if I am so inspired. You would have to deliberately do something for me to leave a bad review about a business that someone has worked hard to build.
Me, I love to leave a good review if I am so inspired. You would have to deliberately do something for me to leave a bad review about a business that someone has worked hard to build.
