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

[dgaddis1]

Originally Posted by airedale

Good job.

If you are not consciously working at self-promotion now would be a good time to start. You have a great story and the food columnist for the local newspaper should hear it if he/she has not. Someone in your network of restaurant friends knows this columnist and should be able to arrange a meeting for you. It's an even exchange; you have a story you'd like to get out and the columnist needs material to publish. If you have a good photo of your closed restaurant, take it along. It may get published. Your new employer would be ecstatic, too, if you get some ink.

^^Just be careful about throwing people under the bus. Easy to do when emotions are running high, but it's really not good long term.

Glad things seem to be working out Jeremy!

[marubozo]

Originally Posted by airedale

Good job.

If you are not consciously working at self-promotion now would be a good time to start. You have a great story and the food columnist for the local newspaper should hear it if he/she has not. Someone in your network of restaurant friends knows this columnist and should be able to arrange a meeting for you. It's an even exchange; you have a story you'd like to get out and the columnist needs material to publish. If you have a good photo of your closed restaurant, take it along. It may get published. Your new employer would be ecstatic, too, if you get some ink.

Right there with you. As soon as the deal is inked we will be leveraging the story of what happened at Fat Cap, and the original Prized Pig and hitting the media to get the ball rolling on this new gig.

Oddly enough, as soon as I posted this update my old boss tried calling me. I didn't pick up. lol

[Blythewood BBQ'er]

Sorry about the bad luck but you already know it was a blessing in disguise! Stick to your principles and success will follow! Take care man, glad to hear from you!

[airedale]

Originally Posted by marubozo

Right there with you. As soon as the deal is inked we will be leveraging the story of what happened at Fat Cap, and the original Prized Pig and hitting the media to get the ball rolling on this new gig.

Good. Be careful, though, that the main story is about you and not the new gig. It is very common in our market for the food columnists to follow chefs, not restaurants, and the current gig is not the main subject of the stories.

Here's an example I found with an internet search: http://www.startribune.com/these-3-m...hen/479417423/ Note that the focus is subtle but it is on chef, not the gig.

[jacobp]

Can confirm ownership of Fat Cap are some pompous, self righteous *******s. They behave even worse at their fine dining place downtown.

[Rusty Kettle]

Good luck with the new gig.

[Czarbecue]

The Salt Lick does the leftover strategy but they’re still expanding. So it can be done correctly. But man, write a book! Then work out a signing tour at other bbq joints...

[smoke ninja]

Originally Posted by Czarbecue

The Salt Lick does the leftover strategy but they’re still expanding. So it can be done correctly. But man, write a book! Then work out a signing tour at other bbq joints...

maybe he'll tell the whole story in the book. sorry but the way things were left hanging I'm not very interested in round 2 or 3.

[NickTheGreat]

Damn what a roller coaster ride! Hope it works out for you; it sounds promising!

[Kimo1]

Enjoyed reading this. Especially now, as I head down this road myself.

[nmeyer414]

Good luck jeremy!

[mrpar101]

Ive read this entire thread but must have missed why the Prized Pig actually closed? Can someone tell me so I feel like I know the whole story after reading 210+ pages.

And a big thanks to Jeremy for telling his story. Very enlightening. And ofcourse I will be making the pickles in the near future. Thank you again Jeremy.

[nmeyer414]

It was never stated why the prized pig closed......yet

[marubozo]

Originally Posted by nmeyer414

It was never stated why the prized pig closed......yet

It was a combination of a lot of things. Financialy not viable, debt, divorce, trying to open a second location, bank backing out of financing after tens of thousands spent on said new location, etc.

There was no single thing that led to its closing, but rather a lot of things that happened all at once making it clear it wasn’t going to work out. Things probably could have been salvaged, but at some point you have to decide whether to cut your losses and move on or potentially get into an even worse situation.

Life is full of opportunities. The restaurant had a good run and I learned a lot of what needs to be done, and more importantly, what shouldn’t be done. The prized pig was a success in a sense, but the location and business model I put in place, along with marital problems and expansion plans at the time, made for a situation where a decision had to be made.

I had my opportunity, and along came another opportunity. In the end that didn’t work out either. But more lessons learned. But guess what? There are so many other opportunities out there. I’m in the process of helping open two brand new bbq restaurants. I may end up becoming the executive chef. I may become a partner. I even have an investor who wants me to blow those offers off and open the prized pig again in a new location.

Closing the prized pig wasn’t the end. It was just the beginning. A stepping stone. A learning experience. That chapter may have closed, but bigger and better opportunities are abound. I don’t know where this journey will take me just yet, but I foresee good things happening in the world of bbq. And I will update when I can. But be sure, more bbq is coming.

[TheBBQJew]

“Success is going from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”