Busy weekend

[chad]

I'm doing chicken for 250 tomorrow evening - chicken, potato salad, succotash, probably cookies for desert.

Then doing dessert function for 200 on Sunday.

Now, if I just had that el grande smoker I'd be in business :D Someday!!

[slat]

And I thought I had a busy weekend. If the moneys right and you enjoy doing it then more power to you and have fun.

[chad]

Wish I was getting paid :D

I figure as a cater job this would gross me about $1500 with a net off approx $625 -- and that's for Saturday. Sunday might net me another $200 or so.

I run the figures just to keep my sanity. Eventually I'll get my catering rig and be making a few bucks from it :D

Actally had the spouse talking about it last night -- she usually ignores my reading list (currently about catering business, business plan, small business tactics) and pictures of rigs from Klose, Lang, and others -- last night she didn't just shut me down. Tomorrows gig isn't my first -- I cook for between 100-200 at least once a month and have done as many as 400 a couple of 4th of July's ago -- last 4th I did brisket for 200 with tater salad, corn on the cob, etc.

Anyway -- I like doing it and dream about getting paid -- even if I don't go full-time the part-time income would sure help the cash flow around the house.

[threesticks]

250? I'll stick to the fam and the nextdoor neighbors. Doing a butt for football all the way sunday. now if I could just remember where I was on my testing. last time it was rub, but no mop. this time no rub, but mop. I can't keep it straight

[egkor]

Hi David,

So, what are these functions you cook for, but don't get paid? Like church functions for example?

When you cook for 100s of folks, what are you cooking the meat and other food items on/in if you don't already have a catering rig?

Just curious, as I'm thinking (dreaming) of a catering business.

Thanks,
-egkor (Gary K)

[chad]

Most of mine are church functions.

Tomorrow I'm baking the chicken -- sometimes I rent a charcoal or gas grill (just grillin' - no 'que). For 250 or so I'll bake the chicken. I've done brisket for 200 in the past - had to oven cook it but it was slow cooked - just no smoke :( I have a full service and certified kitchen at the church so I can make just about anything I want up there.

I'm looking for a source of a decent smoker to rent -- while hoping to come up with the $$ to buy. I may have a line on a place in Lakeland, FL, about 60 miles away but they only have a 48" model (kind of like Phil's Klose BYC) and that wouldn't do many any good this weekend.

I did Luby's Cafeteria work for about 2 years - manager. So I ran the kitchen, ordered, etc.

I'm hoping to parlay this into a full-time gig eventually. But, we'll see. Right now it's volunteer -- but I get bragging rights to all the events :D

[midnight]

sounds like you could be on your way to a life of catering!

I am trying to get my own catering business off the ground but keep running into road blocks: Need to be certified for safe food handeling, can't get insurance unless I have my Certification, bank wont give me a loan untill I have insurace, can't get insurance untill I have a state certified kitchen to work in, can't get approval for the kitchen untill I have a safe food cetification!!!!

Only good news is that I will be taking my test for the food saftey course in February, so I may be only 3 months away from starting part time.

[egkor]

David,

Sounds really good! Your experience with food service really helps.

And you get to live in Florida! I keep looking for IT openings w/ HP in Orlando, but its not happening.

I'm trying to apprentice with an established BBQ caterer, for free, just to see what its like. This is an awkward process, I see what I want to do, I'm just not getting any traction to start moving in that direction.

-egkor (Gary K)

[Bill-Chicago]

Midnight.
Sounds like you need a Democrat.

I ain't kidding.

Don't know where your from, but alot of times, you need a politician to guide you through the ropes.

Case in point. Guy here in chicago started selling jerky. People loved it. Opened a mail order. Got overwhelmed. Opened a store front. Loyal customer base established.

Write ups in the local paper. Everyone loves it.

Food inspector comes, shuts him down.

They got a regulation book the size of a bible.

So this guy is going out of business.

Local democrat reads story, contacts the guy, and spends 2 weeks sifting through the regulations, licensing, insurance, etc... Badda bing, gets the liscensing and permits needed. Back in business.

All this crap your running into is democratic lawyers bull****.

Ask Brian, our state runs on this crap out of Chicago (our meaning his home state)

How do I know this ****. I am a prodcut of it. In Chicago, it was called Machine Politics as in Democratic Machine.

Heres some insight.

Rep Mike Madigan of the 13th ward (mine) puts a bill before the House in Springfield that will grant all Chicago Park District employees of 35 years or more, plus 15 years in the Water Reclamation District, plus 20 or more years as a precinct captain, an additional $100,000 a year in pension and medical benefits.

This measure was narrowly defeated.

How many people in Illinois would a policy like this cover you ask?

One.

My Uncle. Who workded for Madigan, Daley Sr, Daley Jr etc. for 40 years. A farking appropriation bill for one farking person.

So find a democratic lawyer, make a contribution, put your wifes name on the license, and the minority contracts for catering will start flowing in!!

[Oldtimer]

Amen

[parrothead]

Don't even get me started on minority contract BS.

[Bill-Chicago]

Hey, for and extra "donation", I can get you certified "Kosher"

[Mark]

Hey Bill, your uncle: That wouldn't be Uncle Farker would it?

Geez: I never imagined the red tape relative to starting a catering business. However, I suppose that the rationale for establishing certifications, to protect the public health, is probably sound. But then, the petty bureaucrats who enforce the regs get their hands on it and that is where the trouble begins.

I don't think these issues are necessarily restricted to the Democrat party. They pretty much all do it. Case in point: "comprehensive energy policy." The only thing comprehensive about it is how it comprehensively spreads out the subsidies. Senator McCain aptly dubbed it the "Leave No Lobbyist Behind Act of 2003."


http://mccain.senate.gov/index.cfm?f...ontent_id=1189

http://mccain.senate.gov/index.cfm?f...ontent_id=1187

http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=1592

There isn't nothing new about this type of behavior either:

"Mankind soon learn to make interested uses of every right and power which they possess or may assume. The public money and public liberty, intended to have been deposited with three branches of magistracy but found inadvertently to be in the hands of one only, will soon be discovered to be sources of wealth and dominion to those who hold them; distinguished, too, by this tempting circumstance: that they are the instrument as well as the object of acquisition. With money we will get men, said Caesar, and with men we will get money." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia, 1782.

PS: Maybe this thead should be moved to the discussions forum.

[chad]

"can't get insurance untill I have a state certified kitchen to work in, can't get approval for the kitchen untill I have a safe food cetification"

I userstand completely. I use the kitchen at the church. If you've read any of the catering books they often recommend you check medium to large churches in your area -- especially if they have a school (school lunches mean certified kitchen!). Check them out.

I get the use of mine for sweat equity -- ie. I cook for these events and it lets me try out recipes, too.

I did about 320 chicken halves with rosemary and thyme -- came out great. Brought in the potato salad (didn't want to be wasting time doing 85-100 pounds of salad, and made succotash (corn and lima beans) -- cookies for dessert since the dinner was between conference sessions and only had an hour.

Tonight did desserts for 200 -- cheesecake bites, eclares, cream puff, choco cake, apple and pumpkin pies, more cookies, etc., etc. Got everyone served (including the pigs!! :D) in about 22 minutes.

Church administrator (she's on my side about getting a food service paid position at the church) says there is some talk about remodling the open area in front of the kitch and dining area -- open patio (could seat 200-300) with a gazebo and she said "I'd like to see a smoker out there" -- man, this happens and I'm going to be on the phone to D. Klose for a stationary model with horizontal and vericle cabinets -- can you say brisket for 500??

Anyway, I'm trying to back my way into full-time catering -- gotta start somewhere so I'm angling to buy a portable rig and start doing it part-time -- hire me a corner and sell ribs and chicken by the dinner or pound and even do office parties. It'll happen -- all it takes is time and MONEY!! :D

[egkor]

David,

The thoughts you are describing are exactly the thoughts I've been having. I'd like to cook and sell.

But from there, things got complicated quickly. And I'm not talking about gov'mt regs.

From my wife's point of view, how could we do this with a minimal investment? She's concerned I might see what the work for this business realy takes, then back out, after putting in serious $'s.

So, do we do a trailer smoker and corner arrangement like you describe? If so then, this would be like a community BBQ vendor, ready made meals type thing. It would be desireable to have folks call in in advance to help know how much meat to cook. This is especially true for brisket, since it takes such a long time to cook. Call it a "reservation".

Then what about overage? Can any overage be saved and used the following day, with no loss in quality?

Smoker? I'd have to make an investment in a trailer smoker. Which is fine, but is it suited to a street corner operation? What about nights? In other words, someone could hitch up and drive off with the smoker, overnight. But if I trailer it home, I might have to be cooking the brisket on it to have ready for the next day, neighbors might object to that after a while. Good news is, I think the Health reqs. are less for a corner type operation.

Then, is it a one person operation? If so, you need a smoker that runs with minimal babysitting. You can't babysit a smoker and tend to customers. Then there's side orders, what would they be? What if you run out? I myself don't like to be told "sorry, out of (what you ordered)". What if there's too much? Donate to needy?

Advertising... I'd want to snail mail notices to the surrounding neighborhoods/homes to let people know I existed, with a map, and to provide the phone number for advance orders.

Is there any profit in it? If I do all this, cook, and sell, is it profitable enough given the effort involved? How do I go about doing a business plan with the calc's to determine this?

Would I have to make my product and therefore myself available when everyone else is "off", which is nights and weekends? Would I be an "absent" parent? Would I be tending the business so much, would my wife and kids still know me?

This list of thoughts and concerns is partial, but it gives you an idea of what I'm thinking about doing, and what my wife can "get on board" with. She has started her own small business, and knows how to do the financals and the necessary filings and paperwork.

-egkor (Gary K)