Transporting the smoker

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RacrX

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Hey guys-

Looking way into the future as I think about catering...is it necessary to have the smoker with you? Do a lot of folks bring it all in Cambros and possibly a warming oven?

Some of the units are so heavy, without having them bolted to a trailer I could see it being a huge PITA.
 
I found it necessary to have a smoker with me to be in compliance with our county food handling laws. The health department stated that if you are not cooking and preparing your food onsite, you would need to be cooking on a smoker that is parked at a commercial kitchen. All food preparations would also need to be done at the same facility. The food could them be transported in a Cambro to the catering location as long as it was kept as a safe and monitored temperature. I learned from my own experience that it helps to set the mood with clients when there is smoke blowing around in the air. Your local HD will work with you to get in compliance. Just be ready to make several calls as you will get different answers depending on the individual. You gotta love government employees...I only catered for a short time but would be more than willing to answer any questions on Sunday when you come to pickup the Cambro.
 
In "most" parts of the country there can be 3 types of catering. Full serving lines with table service, buffet set up and pickup and drop off. Also, in the areas where there is no mandatory on site cooking or the appearance of such many add a charge for cooking on site or bringing a cooker for ambience. Depending on the client this can run $250 for a smug pot or $450 for a show and tell. To me it's a pain in the butt so it should pay well.
 
Great info, thanks guys. Sounds like if I'm not operating with a smoker bolted to a trailer, a heavy unit (600 lbs+) could be a big issue hauling it around.
 
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We cook at our location, transport in hot boxes, then once onsite the food goes into a electric hot holding cabinet unless it's a short event.
 
It all depends on what the client wants. We have the ability to cook at our location and then transport and we do if its under a certain milage from our location. If they are over that milage then we either charge a rate per mile or push for on-site cooking which then leads to us serving.
 
HB-BBQ said:
I found it necessary to have a smoker with me to be in compliance with our county food handling laws. The health department stated that if you are not cooking and preparing your food onsite, you would need to be cooking on a smoker that is parked at a commercial kitchen. All food preparations would also need to be done at the same facility. The food could them be transported in a Cambro to the catering location as long as it was kept as a safe and monitored temperature. I learned from my own experience that it helps to set the mood with clients when there is smoke blowing around in the air. Your local HD will work with you to get in compliance. Just be ready to make several calls as you will get different answers depending on the individual. You gotta love government employees...I only catered for a short time but would be more than willing to answer any questions on Sunday when you come to pickup the Cambro.
Click to expand...

Why not just bring a smaller smoker like a WSM to have onsite and be in compliance?

Not saying that's the solution, I'm actually looking for feedback for my own situation. :)
 
medic92 said:
Why not just bring a smaller smoker like a WSM to have onsite and be in compliance?

Not saying that's the solution, I'm actually looking for feedback for my own situation. :)
Click to expand...

I don't know about where he lives but you cannot serve food to the public here in Minnesota off a WSM.
 
So how would one sell BBQ at a farmer's market (Pecan Lodge out of Dallas) and still be compliant with the local HD?
 
medic92 said:
Why not just bring a smaller smoker like a WSM to have onsite and be in compliance?

Not saying that's the solution, I'm actually looking for feedback for my own situation. :)
Click to expand...
Ideally yes, however our local HD required a little sticker on the smoker that says NSF. That takes you into higher end smokers such as Southern Price, J&R Oyler etc. CA has to be one of the worst places to start a catering business among other things.
 
As with all things, go to the health department first.

In my city, cooking on-site requires a lot of hoops to jump through. The much more common model is cooking at a commercial kitchen and transporting hot-held cooked food. That's how all the BBQ food trucks are doing it here. Other places, you can haul a smoker out and sell straight out of that. Still other places will let you cook on-site, but only on a NSF-certified smoker.
 
I'm guessing something like a LSG cabinet isn't going to have one of those little NSF labels?
 
RacrX said:
I'm guessing something like a LSG cabinet isn't going to have one of those little NSF labels?
Click to expand...

You have to pay to get your products NSF certified... I am sure Lang has not done that or they would have advertised it on their website (like the others).
 
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