Tell Me something catering gurus

so like i have mentioned before i am planning to start a vending/catering gig (hopeful to turn into a solid located joint at somepoint)

i am thinking of building my own spicewine/stumps/backwoods/....something..of the vert cabinet genre...then popped into my wee lil brain..NSF.... it probably wont be "NSF"... what the heck is NSF...

#1 can my smoker be "inspected" and deemed NSF compliant...

#2 after a few runs when all the BBQ goodness is spread throughout on all the racks and sides and bottom and top...wouldnt that be breeding ground for all kinda bacterial goodies...thus rendering it NSF non compliant???

if it turns out that a homemade pit cant be NSF... how do the brick pit's pass and what not

again if i cant build my own NSF compliant pit what should i shoot for...

FEC

Spicewine

Stumps

Backwoods??

am i missing any? VERT CAB type pits... i just figure they will allow the best time management and allow sleep so i can be rested for a busy day the next day.

Thanks for yall's time

Kevin

well here's the rub... say im doin vending a location X...but i actually cook at my house (on the same trailer that will be at location X) does that have to be NSF then since i actually cooked off site?

i'd love one of the PROVEN smokers out on the market now, but if i could build one for 1/3 the price...heck why not?? and if i was goin all out to build one it would be my best work, i wouldnt be goin for the "ugly" look as GRUNTER has gone, but rather i'd go the whole 9 yards with painting it, making it look professional, to grab that first impression from potential, customers.

indianagriller said:

not necessarily a cabinet type, but another option to look at would be the CTO from Ole Hickory.

Click to expand...

tell me more, this is an option i had not considered (mainly cus i didnt know bout it) is it gas heated like it's bigger brothers?? if a cat was to wanna jump in a competition would i not be allowed to use it because of this??

i guess i should have thrown that out there too, which ever way i go, i want to be able to head out to a comp and throw my name around there for a lil advertising, and what not

i've thought about it... but there are already a few roamin around my lil town ..small town say less than 50000... the city is like...3 miles long.... that being said, there is NO BBQ. period, so i was thinkin/ to get into a big/ decent size trailer "enclosed" so that i may be able to handle anything the desert may throw at me as far as weather is concerned... another "rub" is if lookin at say a 22-24ft enclosed used, i'll be spending roughly the same on the new smoker as i would trailer, say around 7000... so i do want the best investment available

whats it about the CTO that would make it perfect for me?? have any insights that could potentially sway me towards them?? like for instance.. a price better than the competition? or features as such

well that's def. in the running now, tell me about the comp switch... is it just something to put on so that the organizing body, and other competitors have no doubt you are not runnin on gas. and when you are runnin on gas (if you do) is it propane, natural gas, how much do you go thru in a typical cook.. im sure a couple of them 5ft tall propane tanks would last a while?? maybe???

thanks!