Is there still a niche for simple BBQ in the food business?

[Bamabuzzard]

Me and a buddy of mine (who owns a small Q restaurant here in Shreveport) were talking a few weeks ago about how people's palate's and expectations when eating out has changed so much over the years. He said "You know, when I first started in the BBQ business my menu was less than half a page of what it is now and we did great. I had pork (ribs or pulled pork) and brisket (chopped or sliced) as the meats. Then bbq beans, potato salad, coleslaw or a bag of chips as choices for the sides with choice of drink. But over the years it seems people have grown tired of the simple things of bbq. Now I've got smoked chicken, turkey, a loaded potato (chopped brisket on a huge potato with toppings), sliced turkey sandwich etc." and he want to name several other things on his menu.

I got to thinking that he's right. You RARELY see places anymore who serve JUST basic bbq (or what we in the south call it) where you go in and the choices are simply Pork or beef, ribs or pulled pork, sliced or chopped brisket and a choice of two maybe three sides and a drink and actually survive. Now you've got all these other items that I guess these places think they have to have to stay open. You see smoked turkey, chicken, loaded potatoes, smoked sausage, macaroni and cheese etc.

Has the marketplace pushed out room for just "simple" Q anymore?

 

[oldbill]

Down here in Texas, the most famous establishments are also the ones that are the most basic and traditional. For instance in Lockhart TX, we have a place called Kreuz Market that is considered one of the oldest and best Q joints in the state. I can go in there and order exactly what my Grandpa ordered 40 years ago and it will be givin to me the same way. If you order some brisket and link sausage, they'll give you some bread slices, some onions and pickles and roll it all up in a piece of butcher paper, they don't even give you sauce unless you ask for it! About as simple as you can get and the lines of people waiting for their turn to order lets you know that people still like the old ways of doing things.:wink:

 

[Bamabuzzard]

Down here in Texas, the most famous establishments are also the ones that are the most basic and traditional. For instance in Lockhart TX, we have a place called Kreuz Market that is considered one of the oldest and best Q joints in the state. I can go in there and order exactly what my Grandpa ordered 40 years ago and it will be givin to me the same way. If you order some brisket and link sausage, they'll give you some bread slices, some onions and pickles and roll it all up in a piece of butcher paper, they don't even give you sauce unless you ask for it! About as simple as you can get and the lines of people waiting for their turn to order lets you know that people still like the old ways of doing things.:wink:

That's good to hear. There aren't many places like that anymore. There are several smaller bbq joints right outside of Shreveport that started putting fried catfish on their menus. I guess that might be a good idea. I just don't know how the smell of fried catfish and BBQ mix. LOL!

 

[Swine Spectator]

One of the best "restaurant" BBQ experiences I have had was at the original Dreamland in Tuscaloosa after a football game. I don't know if its like this all the time, but the menu that night was a few choices:

1. Whole Rack or 1/2 Rack?
2. Coke, Sprite, Dr. Pepper, Tea, Bud Light, Miller Lite, Coors Light?

and it came with some Wonderbread.

That's about it.

 

[oldbill]

That's good to hear. There aren't many places like that anymore. There are several smaller bbq joints right outside of Shreveport that started putting fried catfish on their menus. I guess that might be a good idea. I just don't know how the smell of fried catfish and BBQ mix. LOL!

I suppose in Louisiana fried catfish sells pretty well and would be a good thing to add to any menu. Overall though, it seems to me that if you stuck with BBQ and just did it better than anyone else, you'd have all the business you'd want!:wink:
Here's a short Youtube video of Kreutz that pretty much shoes you how they serve their Q!:-D
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rchBE2hd5tY"]Food Wars - Kreuz Market BBQ - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Bamabuzzard]

One of the best "restaurant" BBQ experiences I have had was at the original Dreamland in Tuscaloosa after a football game. I don't know if its like this all the time, but the menu that night was a few choices:

1. Whole Rack or 1/2 Rack?
2. Coke, Sprite, Dr. Pepper, Tea, Bud Light, Miller Lite, Coors Light?

and it came with some Wonderbread.

That's about it.

That's it all the time. LOL! I've been there.

 

[GrillsGoneWild]

What has changed is the perception of the owners and thinking the need to please everyone. If you cook great BBQ on a CONSISTENT basis, you can stick with it being simple. If you don't have good Q, then your customers are going to want something else.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

What has changed is the perception of the owners and thinking the need to please everyone. If you cook great BBQ on a CONSISTENT basis, you can stick with it being simple. If you don't have good Q, then your customers are going to want something else.

You know that's a good point. I didn't tell my buddy (because I didn't want to get in his business) but personally I didn't think he needed to add all those other items to his menu. He serves good enough Q to stand by itself.

 

[Swine Spectator]

There's a line of reasoning that people are happier with their decisions when they are presented with less choices. The more choices you have, the more you are likely to regret the things you didn't choose.

 

[Mo-Dave]

In my case, if my wife is with me, she will not go into a bbq joint, unless she knows they have other things not bbq related on the menu. I am sure there are lots of families that have to consider the whole families taste when dinning out, sad but true.

I do hate menus that have to many items on them. In all fairness that may stem from having cooked in restaurants that had huge menus to deal with.
Dave

 

[Coat]

Pegleg Porker here in Nashville is doing great with a simple menu of ribs, pulled pork, and chicken with traditional sides. I think the hipster crowd that has so much influence in cities is really helping get folks excited about authentic Q. Hope it sticks and spreads to suburbs as well. Small towns never forgot in the first place! Ha

 

[DaveAlvarado]

I think that 90% of the time, you have an owner who feels pressure to extend the menu for some reason, without any actual experimentation. Did your buddy's sales fall off when he stuck to the same menu? Is he sure it's because of a lack of menu variety and not some other factor (slow time of year, economic downturn, etc.)?

There's certainly a market for artisanal BBQ, and having a menu like "Brisket / Ribs / Pork" certainly can convey that you're an artianal place. The flip side is, you need to be a BBQ artisan.

 

[DaveAlvarado]

In my case, if my wife is with me, she will not go into a bbq joint, unless she knows they have other things not bbq related on the menu. I am sure there are lots of families that have to consider the whole families taste when dinning out, sad but true.

Plenty of kids will eat BBQ. Way more than there are parents who think their kids will eat BBQ.

 

[gtr]

I did a short rampage through Central TX BBQ joints recently and most of the places kept it really simple, and they were thriving. Most of the places I like have a real simple menu. In fact, if I see too much stuff on the menu I get suspicious of a place and start to wonder how many cans they're opening back in the kitchen.

 

[thunter]

To me, simple is best. I tend to run when I see so-called bbq joints selling all kinds of other stuff too. Why? Because the more "other stuff" they offer, they less time they have to spend on quality bbq! In Indy, these guys sell what they think is bbq, along with fish, fried chicken, and just about anything else they can squeeze onto the menu... and I never eat there. Sure they get a lot of business, but in reality, this is Indianapolis, and most of the people here don't know what real bbq is until small-time caterers and vendor like myself, give them some bbq that makes them cry tears of joy! :-D

 

[Bamabuzzard]

I think that 90% of the time, you have an owner who feels pressure to extend the menu for some reason, without any actual experimentation. Did your buddy's sales fall off when he stuck to the same menu? Is he sure it's because of a lack of menu variety and not some other factor (slow time of year, economic downturn, etc.)?

There's certainly a market for artisanal BBQ, and having a menu like "Brisket / Ribs / Pork" certainly can convey that you're an artianal place. The flip side is, you need to be a BBQ artisan.

To be honest I didn't ask him but if I had to guess it was probably a combination of maybe sales dipping a bit and him seeing other restaurants adding stuff. Because a lot of other Q joints have added a lot to their menus as well.

 

[Mo-Dave]

Plenty of kids will eat BBQ. Way more than there are parents who think their kids will eat BBQ.

All five of my kids love bbq, one wants no sauce, three do not care, one will not eat pork. My wife will only eat bbq at home. In general you are right, although I have a 5 year old grandson who is very picky at this stage of his life, if he eats any meat he only wants ketchup on it. He would much prefer something like fish sticks, a corn dog, or maybe chicken nuggets, but I suspect he will come around someday soon. So in order for us to go to a restaurant we need to know there are more wife and kid friendly things to pick from the menu.

My in-laws when alive loved telling a story, when my wife was very young, they went to a very fancy restaurant, much to their dismay she ordered a grilled cheese when she could have had anything. :grin:
Dave

 

[MEGAHUNT]

That's it all the time. LOL! I've been there.

They opened one here in Mobile and it used to be like that. I am guessing after many complaints they now have fries, mac and cheese, salads, beans etc. All of which are good but not like TTown.

 

[oldbill]

You know, I've been reading other posts on this thread and I just thought about the TV show on Food Network called "Restaurant Impossible" with Chef Robert Irvine and one of the first things he normally does is trims down the menu to a much simpler one that focuses on what the place specializes in. On one show that I watched, he actually cut more than half of the menu and then helped the cooks to better prepare a few signature dishes. It seemed to make all the difference to the owner and employees of the restaurant, as they were able to put more effort into quality rather than quantity.:-D

 

[IlliniQ]

Plenty of kids will eat BBQ. Way more than there are parents who think their kids will eat BBQ.

The only answer my kid has to the question "what do you want for dinner?" is "Ribs."

Doesn't matter if I make 'em or stop at the local BBQ joint, it's his favorite every time. He's 2 1/2.