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

marubozo said:
Thanks for the kind words, kzoo mike. It was great to meet you.

As for an update, I hope to on Monday. But as a teaser, yesterday set a record in terms of business. Incredibly, today beat that. It has been insane.

And some ugly employee issues and firings, new hires, and so much more. I had no idea what I was getting into. But it's still the most incredibly fun thing I've ever done.
Click to expand...

You just need to quit hiring ugly employees ! :grin:
 
When I was managing a radio station in Mobile, we hired a sales staff of amazing looking women. They broke all kinds of sales records. But OMG the other issues.
 
HarrynVegas said:
When I was managing a radio station in Mobile, we hired a sales staff of amazing looking women. They broke all kinds of sales records. But OMG the other issues.
Click to expand...

You can blame the issues on the way good looking women act, or this, or that, but what really happens is that when you are "breaking records" or "setting the pace" it gets real complicated and stressful.

The take away for Marubozo and for any one who wants to achieve more is that yeah you are dealing with this, but 100 people want to know what you are doing right and/or want to be you. This is living the dream.
 
First of all, just wanted to thank everyone for their support when I put out the request for help next weekend. It's amazing to see so many of you step up. Unfortunately, I've decided against trying to take on the extra orders this weekend. I've got so much going on as it is just running day to day operations that even if I had another smoker and good help, I sense problems would certainly arise. Yes, it sucks to turn down what would otherwise be about a $10k weekend, I figure it's best to continue taking things slowly and do a few things well rather than try to do a lot that only ends up mediocre. But I can't thank you guys enough for the willingness to help.

So, I guess an update is in order, especially since I'm basically at the six month mark, which is a milestone itself.

I know the staff issue I brought up was just a teaser and everybody loves the dirty details, but being a public forum, I really can't go into it much. But I will say that it was an employee who was more and more bringing people down with their attitude and performance, and something was said this week that was the last straw and they had to be fired on the spot in the middle of dinner rush. That resulted in a lot of cussing, a tantrum, and middle fingers pointed to the entire staff as they exited the building. I've had to let go of three people so far, but this was by far the worst.

On the other side of the coin, I just hired someone else who is starting next week. They are a bit older and have many years of experience in the restaurant industry. They have even helped open a few restaurants in the area over the past few years, and didn't know it at the time, worked with one of my other cooks for a number of years at another place so I've already got a good personal reference.

The main reason for this hire is that I need to remove myself from working the line 9 hours a day. I love it and as much as I want to be in that role, the business is suffering because of it. Paying bills, placing orders, working on marketing, attending local business events, shopping vendors, managing the finances, managing employees, and so much more is just being swept under the rug. I can't spend 12-14 hours a day at the restaurant and be expected to tackle all of the administrative tasks without it eating up my only day off or trying to do it after work and try to survive on 4 hours of sleep a night.

So, getting another capable chef in the kitchen who can work alongside the rest of my crew that allows me to step back and be more owner and less employee is sorely needed. This change will also allow me to promote two of my people to management roles. One that will keep the front of house in order, and another in the back. I knew this had to be done, but letting go of some of the control was a very difficult decision. But if I can be in a position where I can get away for a few hours a day to take care of the rest of the business, it will be a tremendous help.

Speaking of the business, if you haven't been following on Facebook, the past three days has just been record after record. Thankfully, even though we're running at capacity, as we've streamlined processes and timing we have been able to squeak out a little more food each day.

To give you an idea, for the past 30 days (23 days of actual business), we sold 3,408 meals. This just includes sandwich and platter orders. It does not include the hundreds of pounds of BBQ that was sold just by the pound. So not even counting that, it means we're averaging 150 meals per day. Not too bad considering it's only a 34 seat restaurant :shock:

It still blows my mind. Every day I'm meeting new customers who sometimes drive up to 3 hours just to check us out. People say the are hearing about the restaurant in Indianapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, and even in the Carolina's and Florida.

I'm still waiting for someone to pinch me because I still can't believe this is real.
 
just finished reading this over a week or so and wow what a journey congrats from aus on your hard work keep the updates coming!
 
marubozo said:
... Unfortunately, I've decided against trying to take on the extra orders this weekend.
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Not unfortunate at all, IMO. Expanding out of desperation would be a risky business move. Bringing in an untested assistant to handle this work could do more damage if they are unable to meet your standards. No doubt they would enter into this with the best intentions but without the opportunity to work together ahead of time gives you little control over the final product and that is critical toward maintaining your momentum.

Potential customers will appreciate the fact that you turned down their business rather than risk delivering something over which you would have so little control. (They should, anyway.)
 
It's the things like this that still amaze me. Today I was getting coffee at a Starbucks about 20 miles away from the restaurant. While the girl was making my coffee she did a double take and was like wow, are you the prized pig guy? Mind you I'm just in street clothes and not wearing any restaurant gear. So I said yes I am, and she explained she hasn't been there yet but her best friend keeps saying it's the best food in the world and wants me to cater their wedding next year. Then she gave me all her contact info to set that up.

What the fark? How does someone who lives that far away and has never even been to the restaurant recognize me? But on the bright side I guess it looks like I've got another wedding to cater. :wacko:
 
It really is an amazing story and we all are vicariously enjoying your success (and floods, out of propane, employee firings, etc, it's easier for us that way.)
I know in my biz when it 's looking I'm gonna get slammed, I raise my prices -
and most of the time people don't blink.
The girl at Starbucks wants YOU - she gotta pay. I like my clients to
feel they are getting value for the $, and they are, and yours are.
ANYONE can get a ton of cheap clients w/ low prices - and all their references will be cheapskates as well.
I like the higher price, higher quality reference model (for your catering side).
You might not have a choice anyway, meat prices are not going down.
I bet you got 100's of folks subscribed to BBQBrethren because of your thread.
 
marubozo, I share your frustrations! We've been open 3 months, and it's definitely trying. One of the best decisions I made was putting a competent chef behind the line. It takes me out of things, but I need to be able to get my hands into other aspects of the business. Managing that guy is the hardest job. We're ringing up about 2500 sales a month, it's an awesome feeling getting recognized out on the street. It becomes annoying as well. People are always looking in your shopping cart, they always seem to show up at the worst times! Keep up the good work!
 
Hi Marubozo
I really respect your decision on keeping your product to your standards with out compromising it . With all the bean counters out there ,they only look at the money,not the product . Doing that it will pay you back 10 times in the long run ,keep up the good work it will pay off . I will be doing road trip soon and be stopping by to check your food . keep me in mind if you need any back up
Thanks BillyG
 
marubozo said:
It's the things like this that still amaze me. Today I was getting coffee at a Starbucks about 20 miles away from the restaurant. While the girl was making my coffee she did a double take and was like wow, are you the prized pig guy? Mind you I'm just in street clothes and not wearing any restaurant gear. So I said yes I am, and she explained she hasn't been there yet but her best friend keeps saying it's the best food in the world and wants me to cater their wedding next year. Then she gave me all her contact info to set that up.

What the fark? How does someone who lives that far away and has never even been to the restaurant recognize me? But on the bright side I guess it looks like I've got another wedding to cater. :wacko:
Click to expand...

Whatever. When Kate Upton starts recognizing you then I'll be impressed. :wink:
 
My wife and I will be there on Saturday for lunch... celebrating our anniversary in Harbor Country, but making a slight detour to support another brother. Looking forward to seeing you then! If you have an adult medium t-shirt, I'll take one!
 
castlepines said:
Whatever. When Kate Upton starts recognizing you then I'll be impressed. :wink:
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I had to fire my Kate upton connection.

But tomorrow, well, later today I guess, is a new chapter. Two people are getting promoted an for the first time, somebody else is getting keys to the building. Being such a control freak this is probably the most difficult decision I've ever made. He'll, my wife doesn't even have keys to the restaurant. But once this is done I will have so much potential freedom to take care of other things that it can only be a big help.

Speaking of stress, I'll let you in on a little secret. The back of the house is fully stocked with six nerf guns and at least 100 darts. Before we open, after we close, or just taking a break outside, an impromptu nerf war puts everyone in a good mood. If you can't have fun at the place you spend the majority of your life, then you're destined to be miserable. Life is too short for that nonsense.
 
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