Looking advice on vending a huge festival

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BeastMode

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 19, 2013
Location
Texas
Hello all I'm a fairly new poster but long time reader. After reading similar older threads and rather than bump those threads I decided to start a new one in hopes of gathering as much advice from those who've had recent experiences. Ok now here's my situation:

I'm teaming up with my sister on vending this large 4 day blues festival in a few months. She has a trailer and will be doing burgers and a few other things other than BBQ. She has asked me to pull my smoker and do what I do.

Now as I said before, this is a fairly large blues festival that typically draws 10s of thousands of people over the course of 4 days with gates opening from 11 am to midnight. There is only 1 other BBQ vendor who will be on the opposite end from where we'll be set up and not sure what he's selling although it really doesn't matter with the size of the crowds.

I had initially planned on doing Ribs and pulled pork but after heavy thoughts turned into stressful days I decided to scratch the pulled pork and do ribs and pulled chicken/leg quarters. This is due to the time it takes to cook the butts and more importantly the price to buy these days since I will be footing the cost up front. Chicken is a lot cheaper and faster to cook.

I have a descent size, but not huge smoker similar to the size of a Lang 60, paired with a 22.5 WSM. I can smoke about 25 St. Louis slabs at a time in about 4 hours between 275*-300*.

Now after that long intro, with a large crowd over a 4 day period, would having ribs and pulled chicken or leg quarters be a wise combination? The only reason I included both pulled chicken and leg quarters is because they are versatile. I can get a full rack of ribs for about $10ish and St. Louis anywhere from $10-12ish.

Please help with any advice and recommendations you can give and any other info you may need to give sound advice.
 
Ok. First let me say, we have never i repeat NEVER vended the size of an event you are talking about so if you stop reading now I won't be offended. i'm also not the smartest guy "Village Idiot" remember but here is my math that I just did in my head.

You stated you could do 25 racks in 4 hours. I'm thinking there are what, 13-15 bones that you could use per rack. That's what....25 x 15= 375 bones to sell every 4 hours. If you sell 3 bones per plate that's (hold on, let me take my shoe's off) 125 people served every 4 hours. Then you say "I can get a full rack of ribs for about $10ish and St. Louis anywhere from $10-12ish" . Is this your cost or what you are selling them for? I guess I'm just confused in the fact that only having 25 racks of ribs for every 4 hours seems small compared to the number of people you say are there. But again I have no idea what I'm saying as I have confused myself with math now. Are you just adding to what your sister is doing or doing a totally separate thing? Are you having sides with your meats? Where are you cooking those if you are? Sorry all the questions just trying to paint myself a picture of it in my head.
 
There will be sides served as well but im only doing the smoking meat. 25 racks per 4.5 hrs is correct. The $10-12 per rack is what I can buy ribs off the shelf but possibly slightly cheaper if the meat manager can discount for buying at case price.

The good thing as far as getting ahead with my cook is that we can set up the day prior and begin our cook on site overnight. It's a 4 day annual blues festival starting on a Wednesday with performances starting Thursday thru Saturday. Wednesday is open to public but should be a slow day which gives me time to get ready the next 3 days.
 
having only done decent sized charity cooks I am no expert

but since you are setting up early I would load that sucker up with pork butts. Much more meat for the space you have, when they are done pull them off and hold them then fire up ribs if you want.
 
BeastMode said:
Hello all I'm a fairly new poster but long time reader. After reading similar older threads and rather than bump those threads I decided to start a new one in hopes of gathering as much advice from those who've had recent experiences. Ok now here's my situation:

I'm teaming up with my sister on vending this large 4 day blues festival in a few months. She has a trailer and will be doing burgers and a few other things other than BBQ. She has asked me to pull my smoker and do what I do.

Now as I said before, this is a fairly large blues festival that typically draws 10s of thousands of people over the course of 4 days with gates opening from 11 am to midnight. There is only 1 other BBQ vendor who will be on the opposite end from where we'll be set up and not sure what he's selling although it really doesn't matter with the size of the crowds.

I had initially planned on doing Ribs and pulled pork but after heavy thoughts turned into stressful days I decided to scratch the pulled pork and do ribs and pulled chicken/leg quarters. This is due to the time it takes to cook the butts and more importantly the price to buy these days since I will be footing the cost up front. Chicken is a lot cheaper and faster to cook.

I have a descent size, but not huge smoker similar to the size of a Lang 60, paired with a 22.5 WSM. I can smoke about 25 St. Louis slabs at a time in about 4 hours between 275*-300*.

Now after that long intro, with a large crowd over a 4 day period, would having ribs and pulled chicken or leg quarters be a wise combination? The only reason I included both pulled chicken and leg quarters is because they are versatile. I can get a full rack of ribs for about $10ish and St. Louis anywhere from $10-12ish.

Please help with any advice and recommendations you can give and any other info you may need to give sound advice.
Click to expand...


I don't know about others but I would rather have a pulled pork sandwich than a chicken sandwich.

Do you not have a restaurant depot or costco or sams club to buy ribs at? $10.00-$12.00 a rack your cost sounds high.
 
Scrap the ribs and cook butts if room is an issue. You'll make way more money going this route.
 
First off, you competition is not just the other BBQ guy, it is everyone around you. Assuming that you will have a potential customer base of 30,000 over 4 days, the only way you are vending to all of them is if there are no other food options. Let's say that there are 15 vendors, that you mean your potential customer base comes down to around 500 covers a day. Figure that you can sell to only about that many, and even that would be optimistic.

This is not a restaurant or catering gig, you can run out of food, it won't be the end of the world. However, ribs are a problem unless you have a big rig. Pork and chicken, if you can spend some time before the festival, or have a commissary, make for a lot more meat for a lot less effort. On the other hand, ribs are a huge seller and guarantee a huge sales day. I have never seen an event where ribs did not sell out. Even the guys who cheat and use store made pre-cooked ribs, sell out.
 
Food vending is a form of gambling that is legal in all 50 states.
Festival organizers always count chickens before they are hatched----they are not blatant liars, but their viewpoint is tainted. Do you know this festival? Did your sister cook there last year? Talk to someone who cooked there last year to get realistic feedback. Does the event charge a flat rate for your space? Does the event charge a percent? Is it at a government owned facility like a fairgrounds, where the health dept is required to show up? Does your state charge sales tax on prepared food? Do you need to get a permit for 4 days from the health dept. Will you be set up in a food vending area or next to a high end guitar vendor that does not want smoke on his instruments? Every question not asked is potential for learning something the hard way. Do not ask me how I learned.
 
Now the food----Is there a sit down area for people to eat? If there is not a sit down area to eat then ribs or anything else with a bone will not sell well. Space on a BBQ pit is money---ribs require space. Pulled pork is the logical answer. People will walk around eating a sloppy sandwich, but for some reason do not want to deal with bones. If you decide to sell ribs anyway---your cost seems way high. Buy medium weight spareribs---cut them into St Louis cut ribs----then sell both ribs and rib tips. Chicken leg and thigh meat comes in 40 pound boxes boneless---load the chicken in perforated trays and smoke it---tossing it around on the tray every so often---it is easier to do than trying to pull chicken during a rush--plus no waste. f you are cooking in a smoker make sure that you have some sort of open pit ---even if it is small----to place meat on for an enticing display--your sales will double with this one trick. Event folks buy food with their eyes--smokers do not make good displays to people not familiar with BBQ---but ribs on an open pit make an awesome display. If you use a steam table or chafing trays---put liquid smoke in the water trays. How many people will be staffing your booth? NUMBER ONE mistake in vending is not having enough change---or you will have one person running around all day trying to get change. Price your meals so as to conserve change--if you have something that is priced at $6----then get even more one dollar bills. Events have ATM machines that hand out 20 dollar bills----expect every sale to be paid for in twenty dollar bills
 
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