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

[marubozo]

Originally Posted by NickTheGreat

Sometimes I doubt guys who claim to work 70-80 hours a week. Especially in "office" type work.

But I don't doubt it one bit here. Glad it is working out for you.

7am to 6 or 7pm usually six days a week. But I'm on a 16 day stretch without a day off so it's been a bit of a heavier load.

It wears you down at first, but then you get used to it. And when you wake up every morning excited about what you do, there's never a case of the Mondays.

And I don't know if this will be a good thing or bad thing, but we're renovating the apartment right above the restaurant and I'm moving in there in January. I will literally be living at the restaurant. But it has to be better than a 30-40 minute commute, right? I hope...

[Mikhail]

Commuting is a lot of lost time.

[marubozo]

Originally Posted by Mikhail

Commuting is a lot of lost time.

It is. And extra terrible in the winter. I'm just concerned about work/life balance living literally right on top of the place. It will be way too easy to just walk downstairs and work, or check in on things, or staff knowing I'm only a few hundred feet away if I need something off hours, etc. Just have to try to set clear boundaries I guess.

[Mikhail]

Setting boundaries will be a lot less time than an hour or two a day, especially where you live.

[Nate749]

Originally Posted by marubozo

It is. And extra terrible in the winter. I'm just concerned about work/life balance living literally right on top of the place. It will be way too easy to just walk downstairs and work, or check in on things, or staff knowing I'm only a few hundred feet away if I need something off hours, etc. Just have to try to set clear boundaries I guess.

Do you have any friends or people you know that work from home? Because that is basically what you'll be doing. To make is simple you have to separate church and state. But you also seem very smart and have that good gene of common sense so I think you'll pick it up fairly quick.

I am in total awe of your journey, my friends and I had the opportunity to open a brewery locally and backed out a couple years ago. I understand loving what you do and you'll never work a day in your life, but you set the bar real high sir

[marubozo]

We are now entering stage two here at the new place. It's finally time to begin the bar buildout. Just had a new back bar cooler delivered last night. And after we get through Thanksgiving, we'll be shifting toward the draft beer system. This place doesn't have any of that so we are starting from scratch.

That means we are putting in a walk-in keg cooler, running beer lines upstairs and installing an 8 tap system, and rebuilding the entire "bar" that's in there and putting in a custom wood bar top and shelving for liquor.

Just last week we had to build a separate counter/bar thanks to Indiana's ridiculous alcohol laws that say the bar area has to be physically separated from the rest of the dining room. It's not ideal, but it also allowed us to expand the bar area by 5 more seats so we can comfortably fit 10 people in the 21+ area.

Again, we're not cutting any corners and this project will probably be another $25k investment, but that cost should be recovered very quickly. With our current volume alone, not even taking into account staying open late for typical bar hours, we're projecting about $3,000/week in alcohol sales.

Obviously, there's a lot more potential in alcohol sales, but staying open past 7pm to capture a lot of that potential has been troublesome due to the high demand. So, what we're looking at doing is creating a late night bar menu. Sure, we might not have brisket or ribs at 9pm, but doing things like our smoked wings, jalapeno poppers, pulled pork nachos, soups/chili, and other items like that will still allow people to come in, grab a beer, catch a game, and get a bite to eat.

Still a lot of work to be done and the logistics are complicated trying to do all of this without having to shut down for a few days, but it's a new adventure to be sure. It's an exciting time!

[NickTheGreat]

I've been to Indiana for work several times and agree with the weird liquor laws! Sounds like a good addition, though.

[marubozo]

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.

[Radrob]

CONGRATZ

[Smoke Avenger]

Originally Posted by marubozo

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.

Congrats, bro! From one Jeremy to another, that all looks super delicious and I need a sample. Now help me talk my wife into taking our next vacation to Mishawaka, Indiana.

[PatAttack]

Congratulations, Jeremy!

I'm glad to see all the hard work is starting to pay off.

Hire a couple of smokin' hot bartenders and watch the sales soar, Brother!!

[Smokin D@wg@77]

very cool , great looking plate I might add

[THoey1963]

Congrats Jeremy. Glad to hear you are back in business and doing well...

[LYU370]

Hey Jeremy, if you get a minute. What brand of salt do you use for your pickle recipe? Asking because it's listed in TBSPs. and a TBSP of Diamond Crystal vs Morton Kosher vs Morton Pickling salt are totally different amounts of salt.

I'm thinking that may be the reason the pickles I made were way too salty.

Thanks.

[food4thot]

Originally Posted by LYU370

Hey Jeremy, if you get a minute. What brand of salt do you use for your pickle recipe? Asking because it's listed in TBSPs. and a TBSP of Diamond Crystal vs Morton Kosher vs Morton Pickling salt are totally different amounts of salt.

I'm thinking that may be the reason the pickles I made were way too salty.

Thanks.

Been a few salt debates here. Never made pickles but this salt has not failed to be excellent in/on anything I've made the past 20 years.