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

batboy said:

Marubozzo - please come back. It's been 17 days since you posted in this thread. Need updates!!!!

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Time sure does fly. But nothing major to update really. Things are just chugging along. The seasons have changed things up a bit from this summer though. It has slowed down a bit, but it's not as much that it's slower, but a lot more random. Like this week, Wednesday was insane and went like a Friday even though Wednesdays have historically been the slowest day. Then you have one Sunday that's killer, and the next week it's dead. Very unpredictable. It all seems to even out at the end of the week, but every day is a guessing game, which is hard when you're talking BBQ.

But because of some of the seasonal changes, I am changing our hours of operation starting next week. Since Sundays seem to die out by around 4pm, we're going to only be open 11-4 on Sunday. This also helps me, and everybody else, get home early and still have time to do stuff with the family, hit up evening church, etc. And since we've been closed on Tuesday but still at the restaurant cleaning, prepping, and getting deliveries, I'm just going to open for regular business on Tuesday now. Even when we weren't open but there cleaning, there would be cars pulling into the parking lot all afternoon.

To be sure, I'm not going to add another 12+ hours to my week by opening on Tuesday, so as it stands now we've scheduled it so that I can keep that day off. Can I stay out of the restaurant all day? That's another story.

I need to try though because to be honest, it's wearing me down. The problem is that I love it and want to have my hands in every part of it, but it's impossible to play superman and do it all. I want to be on the carving board plating every single thing that goes out, but I can't. I want to constantly make the rounds in the dining room and chat with guests, but I can't. I want to be in the back trimming brisket and ribs, but I can't. I want to be manning the smokers all day, but I can't. It sucks because I love doing every aspect of it, and want to do it, but I can't. I try, and I know it isn't going to work.

And then even though you want to do all of those things, you rarely have time as it is because somebody has to pay the bills, play plumber when something breaks, play electrician when a piece of equipment goes out, deal with the dozen phone calls a day from vendors, advertisers, and take catering orders, etc.

It's no wonder my doctor had to put me on blood pressure medication a few weeks ago. :shocked:

Sorry for the bit of a rant, but I guess the takeaway is this. If you think that opening a restaurant will simply allow you to cook BBQ every day for a living, you will be sorely disappointed. That is, unless you can afford to hire enough people to actually run the business for you while you just handle the meat. So, just a little heads up

Royalslover said:

Jeremy if you've already covered this I apologize. How much of a difference have you noticed between the characteristics of meat from the SP and meat from the PS?

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I haven't mentioned it yet, but that's a great question.

On big cuts like butts and brisket, there really isn't a noticeable difference. On ribs, and chicken especially, there is a noticeable difference. The big cuts still only take so much smoke before the rest of the internal cooking is just from heat, so I don't think most people could tell a difference.

But ribs, and especially chicken, because there's a much bigger fire going with even more smoke, they seem to suck it up and you can taste the difference.

jeffjenkins1 said:

Ok, about to leave Detroit and head to Chi-town. Plan on stopping in to say hello!

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Did you make it in today? If so, I must have missed you. I was out running errands all afternoon picking up stuff for this big catering gig we've got tomorrow. If you came in and I missed you, sorry. I would have loved to chat. But if you did make it in, I hope you at least had a good experience.

markrvp said:

Which flavor profile do you prefer on the ribs and chicken? More smoke from the Shirley, or less smoke from the Southern Pride?

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Chicken on the Shirley hands down. Chicken needs all the help it can get, and the smoke I can get into them with that pit is amazing. That's why for our turkey cooks we're doing everything on that. As for the ribs, since they get a good flavorful rub anyway, they are both equally as good. Bigger/thicker ribs turn out better on the shirley, but thinner ribs, it's a wash.

Speaking of the Shirley, it's going to be in a TV commercial here soon. One of the local stations came out and shot some stuff for a commercial and there should be a shot of the pit and it being opened up, showing meat, etc. Can't wait to see the final cut.

And just how I mentioned last night about how random business has been lately, today was a new record. Sold out by around 6:30. Who would have thought? We also did a little political event today and got to serve a state senator. He was very impressed and said next time he's campaigning or doing a fundraiser in the area, he's going to call us. I'll believe it when I see it, but either way that was pretty cool.

Oh, and did I mention I about had a heart attack tonight? Some guy walks in at 4 for his pickup order and he says it's for 20 pounds of brisket (plus full pans of sides, 30+ pieces of corn bread, etc). I stood there and basically soiled myself because we had no tickets on the board for that order and I had no idea what to do. Thankfully, we all pulled it together and made it happen even though we didn't prep for it, and he was very understanding, but holy cow, somebody dropped the ball on that order and I'll be addressing that in the morning.