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

[Bamabuzzard]

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.

Since the old man died Dreamland isn't hardly a shell of its old self from a quality standpoint. Last two times we went there is was awful.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

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

It is very hard to do a lot of things (especially cooking food) very good. Odds are the more you pile on your plate (pun intended :mrgreen the greater hit in quality the things you originally did will take. So it makes sense.

 

[Bludawg]

JM2C there are BBQ Restaurants and there are Joints then there are Shacks. I don't do BBQ Restaurants!! Joints & Shacks are where it's at. You wouldn't go to a Fish house and order Pulled Pork, you go for Fish & hush puppies. Same thing goes the other way round. BBQ is meat and that is what I am after when I stop for BBQ. I'm Fine ordering by the LB and eating off Buther paper on an old wood bench. I don't want no table service, if they serve Chili or Brunswick Stew (Made from left over BBQ) then chances are the BBQ aint "All That" because if it was "All That" they would have sold out. There is nothing Wrong with Ham or Turkey or Bologna as choices as long as it is done right To me it shows the Skill of the pit man. I once heard Chef Gordon Ramsey say to a Failing restaurateur "You FARKIN need to be known for one thing Your signature Item" if your running a Q Joint stick to the Q and Do it better than every one else. Leave all the other crap to the BBQ Resturants with no smokers. OFF Rant!

 

[Bamabuzzard]

JM2C there are BBQ Restaurants and there are Joints then there are Shacks. I don't do BBQ Restaurants!! Joints & Shacks are where it's at. You wouldn't go to a Fish house and order Pulled Pork, you go for Fish & hush puppies. Same thing goes the other way round. BBQ is meat and that is what I am after when I stop for BBQ. I'm Fine ordering by the LB and eating off Buther paper on an old wood bench. I don't want no table service, if they serve Chili or Brunswick Stew (Made from left over BBQ) then chances are the BBQ aint "All That" because if it was "All That" they would have sold out. There is nothing Wrong with Ham or Turkey or Bologna as choices as long as it is done right To me it shows the Skill of the pit man. I once heard Chef Gordon Ramsey say to a Failing restaurateur "You FARKIN need to be known for one thing Your signature Item" if your running a Q Joint stick to the Q and Do it better than every one else. Leave all the other crap to the BBQ Resturants with no smokers. OFF Rant!

LOL! PREACH ON MY BROTHER!!!! :bow:

 

[Terry The Toad]

Fresh Air BBQ in Jackson, GA has been in business since 1929 - and I think the only meat they serve is some variation of chopped pork. (And it's GOOD too.) :becky:

 

[landarc]

I think it varies by region, in Texas, I think you still see places that do simple menus, because they sell well, and there is little demand for more. I also think that the culture remains largely driven by a single tradition.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, it is a rare BBQ place that can really make money, and forget it in the major metro areas, you need to pull a large quantity of people, broad based appeal, and that means a larger menu is needed. Simply, many of the decision makers are the picky eaters, and they drive business to menus that are not meat centric.

Back when I was a kid, the man who taught me a lot about what BBQ is, ran two shops, one that sold just fried catfish, hushpuppies and slaw. The other, sold brisket, sausage, ribs and pulled pork, beans, cornbread and corn. You wanted slaw, you had to walk out of the BBQ place, around the front of the building and into the fish shop.

 

[Lake Dogs]

JM2C there are BBQ Restaurants and there are Joints then there are Shacks. I don't do BBQ Restaurants!! Joints & Shacks are where it's at. You wouldn't go to a Fish house and order Pulled Pork, you go for Fish & hush puppies. Same thing goes the other way round. BBQ is meat and that is what I am after when I stop for BBQ. I'm Fine ordering by the LB and eating off Buther paper on an old wood bench. I don't want no table service, if they serve Chili or Brunswick Stew (Made from left over BBQ) then chances are the BBQ aint "All That" because if it was "All That" they would have sold out. There is nothing Wrong with Ham or Turkey or Bologna as choices as long as it is done right To me it shows the Skill of the pit man. I once heard Chef Gordon Ramsey say to a Failing restaurateur "You FARKIN need to be known for one thing Your signature Item" if your running a Q Joint stick to the Q and Do it better than every one else. Leave all the other crap to the BBQ Resturants with no smokers. OFF Rant!

LOL!! +1!!!

Funny story, the main BBQ restaurant here in town is famous for 1 thing:

.

.

.

.

wait

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.

.

.

.

.

.

.

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Their signature CHICKEN SALAD sandwich.


At a BBQ RESTAURANT? W T F?

 

[Lake Dogs]

I think if they have a decent location, and they put out above average BBQ, CONSISTENTLY, then having a very trimmed down menu to just BBQ will serve them well. Even with great BBQ, a bad reputation, or a bad location will kill you. Most
decent BBQ restaurants have troubles with consistency, and it will slowly kill you as well.
You have to win the customer every single time, every serving, every day.

 

[Bludawg]

I think if they have a decent location, and they put out above average BBQ, CONSISTENTLY, then having a very trimmed down menu to just BBQ will serve them well. Even with great BBQ, a bad reputation, or a bad location will kill you. Most
decent BBQ restaurants have troubles with consistency, and it will slowly kill you as well.
You have to win the customer every single time, every serving, every day.

Very true

Is it at least Smoked Chicken in the Chicken salad??:roll:
I have been known to smoke a Chicken just to do that from time to time:tongue:

 

[oldbill]

LOL!! +1!!!

Funny story, the main BBQ restaurant here in town is famous for 1 thing:

.

.

.

.

wait

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Their signature CHICKEN SALAD sandwich.


At a BBQ RESTAURANT? W T F?

LOL!!! That's a SAD commentary right there!

 

[Jorge]

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:

I grew up eating at Kreuz and Black's both, and understand your point. Back then sauce wasn't available, period. They did not have beans. There were no utensils unless they were chained to the wall. Kreuz hasn't expanded the menu much, but it has grown. Did they ignore demand, or fill it?

 

[Lake Dogs]

VERY VERY Sad.

And no, it's not even smoked chicken. Mind you, it's a very good chicken salad sandwich. But in a BBQ joint? <sigh>

 

[Bamabuzzard]

I think if they have a decent location, and they put out above average BBQ, CONSISTENTLY, then having a very trimmed down menu to just BBQ will serve them well. Even with great BBQ, a bad reputation, or a bad location will kill you. Most
decent BBQ restaurants have troubles with consistency, and it will slowly kill you as well.
You have to win the customer every single time, every serving, every day.

You got that right. I don't care how great the food is a bad reputation (via bad service or whatever) will kill you. For me personally, I don't care how great the food is if the service is bad (employer's have attitudes etc) I can promise you I won't go back.

 

[bbqmike_ny]

Depending on where you are, you might find some farkers like me with a veggie wife, so if there is something she can eat as well, makes it a lot easier to justify the visit! (even just some good veggies not cooked in pork fat!)

 

[oldbill]

I grew up eating at Kreuz and Black's both, and understand your point. Back then sauce wasn't available, period. They did not have beans. There were no utensils unless they were chained to the wall. Kreuz hasn't expanded the menu much, but it has grown. Did they ignore demand, or fill it?

Well as you know, they started as a meat market back in the day before refrigeration and they started smoking meats to lengthen their shelf life. Eventually their smoked meat out sold the other stuff they were selling, so they evolved into a Q joint and I suppose they've continued to evolve by adding a few things to their menu over the years, (sauce included) but they've also kept the original feel of the place by not getting carried away with trying to please EVERYONE.
They and other places like them are very content to just do what they do best and continue to serve their customers what they've always come back for and at the same quality as it always has been. I'd have to say that judging by the amount of cars in their parking lot on a daily basis, they've filled their customer's demand by not changing too much!:wink:

 

[landarc]

Out here, it is pulled chicken, not chicklen salad. If a BBQ place doesn't have pulled chicken, they often lose business. Matt at Phat Matt's often bemoans the fact that he has to make it, as it costs more to make, takes a lot of time and in his mind, isn't BBQ. But, if he doesn't have it, people will leave, not order other stuff.

 

[pjtexas1]

My family has issues with eating BBQ out. My wife is allergic to beef so she can't take the chance the ribs or chicken were cooked or sliced on the same grate/surface as the brisket. youngest daughter (17) is so picky about everything that she doesn't really eat there unless they have chicken tenders (I may need to do a dna test on her). My oldest daughter is the only one that will eat BBQ with me outside of my BBQ. So the only time I eat BBQ out is if I am on my own out of town for work and I eat alone. Sometimes I can catch my oldest in Austin for lunch. If there are a lot of other families out there like mine I can understand why they have such a big menu.

 

[palmtreefrb]

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.

Yeah, I was going to say, been to the Dreamland in Mobile and they had more items on the menu.
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[Bamabuzzard]

Well as you know, they started as a meat market back in the day before refrigeration and they started smoking meats to lengthen their shelf life. Eventually their smoked meat out sold the other stuff they were selling, so they evolved into a Q joint and I suppose they've continued to evolve by adding a few things to their menu over the years, (sauce included) but they've also kept the original feel of the place by not getting carried away with trying to please EVERYONE.
They and other places like them are very content to just do what they do best and continue to serve their customers what they've always come back for and at the same quality as it always has been. I'd have to say that judging by the amount of cars in their parking lot on a daily basis, they've filled their customer's demand by not changing too much!:wink:

Being all things to all people can spread a restaurant too thin and you end up not doing anything very good. Been to a few places like that.

 

[Mikeinctown]

FWIW the chicken salad could be some family recipe that people have grown to love. Why not have something that people love. Now adding things to a menu because people ask for it a couple times IMHO is going to destroy your ability to make good and consistant food on an ongoing basis. I love watching Kitchen Nightmares. One of the biggest pitfalls is that the menu grows way too big and it doesn't allow the cooks to focus on quality because they are too bust trying to make a hundred different things.

Now, a BBQ joint serving a baked potato seems obvious to me. You can serve it plain, add toppings for $ or you can get it loaded with choice of meat. I've done that at a county fair and it was fantastic. A $9 baked potato with bbq pork on top and it was the best $9 I spent on food in a long time. it didn't take any more time to prepare than it would have if I asked for pork with a couple side dishes and all the stuff is already prepared. think of it as allowing the customer to choose between sweet, original, or spicy bbq sauce on their pork or ribs. The base is already there and cooked so you are just adding a garnish.

now if he wanted to start service 5 different kinds of fish plus spaghetti and meatballs then he would be nuts.