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

[dadsr4]

I'd love to stop by, but I don't want to make things harder for you. I guess I'll just have to admire you from a distance.

 

[THoey1963]

Surprised to see brisket as almost 25% of your sales. But, maybe it's because you make something they aren't used to getting that far north...

 

[ButtBurner]

doesnt suprise me at all

Brisket is bigger here than you realize.

 

[Shadowdog500]

And here's a little sales info for the month. Still blows my mind that brisket makes up two of the top three items. Who would have thought that would be the case up here closer to Canada than Texas. :shocked:

If you add "brisket by the pound" to those top two brisket items, it looks like brisket makes a full 1/4 of your total sales.

You must make really good brisket!!


Chris

 

[GrillsGoneWild]

And here's a little sales info for the month. Still blows my mind that brisket makes up two of the top three items. Who would have thought that would be the case up here closer to Canada than Texas. :shocked:

What POS system are you using that you are pulling these reports from?

 

[NickTheGreat]

Burnt ends, if done well, are serious business.

 

[lashing1c]

And here's a little sales info for the month. Still blows my mind that brisket makes up two of the top three items. Who would have thought that would be the case up here closer to Canada than Texas. :shocked:

The brisket sales do not surprise me at all. It is something they cannot get here in the north done correctly. Whenever I do brisket, it is always the thing I get the most comments on because everyone thinks they can do Pulled Pork in a Crock Pot and someone is always having a rib special.

Smoked Brisket is so unique here in the north!!! People do not know what it is.....where it comes from... and how it is done correctly. All these lead to sales. IN MY OPIONION!!!

Love your post and facebook page. Keep up the good work.

 

[highergr0und]

Is most of your business take out? Your drink percentage seems a bit low unless the platters come with a drink included. Drinks are a huge driver of restaurant profit.

Do you do teas? Super high profit margin, and if done well makes people want a drink more than just a coke machine. I know from experience that Sweet Tea sells in Michigan. Just got to push people to try it.

Other than that, it seems like you have a good thing going. Is it worth the hassle? Typically, one off restaurants don't make tons of money unless they sell higher profit margin items. I'd be looking to grow it. Every customer that gets turned away is you literally throwing money away. Heck, maybe it would be worth it to rent some space in an industrial complex to run catering and expand your ability to produce food.

 

[Demosthenes9]

That's actually coming in a few weeks. I've got a full staff meeting scheduled for the 7th and a big part of that will be going over the menu overhaul. Prices will be going up across the board, but especially everything brisket. I could only eat the cost increase of beef for so long.

I've also introduced a few new sides that were initially ran as specials, but have taken off so well that they are now regular items. Smoked chicken and sausage gumbo, red beans and rice, green beans, side salads, etc. The great thing about those sides is they take away from some of our more costly sides like mac and cheese, which helps profit margins without even needing to raise those prices much.

I'm still wondering if it's possible to expand your cooking capacity to increase revenue and profit ?

 

[davet54]

We are currently on vacation and gonna stop by there tomorrow for lunch/dinner. Gonna try it out.

 

[Mikeinctown]

Burnt ends, if done well, are serious business.

Most people do not know what burnt ends are, but once they do, look out. lol

very surprising about the prices since brisket is dropping here. Local WM just dropped the price and choice yesterday was less than $3 a pound. Costco prime is still at $3.79 a pound, but now they have a pile of them in the cooler vs zero the last two years.

BTW, what are the new store hours, if there has been any change. Doesn't look like the website has been updated in a year. May be driving through in a couple months for work and hoping to find a suitable hour to come.

 

[ButtBurner]

Most people do not know what burnt ends are, but once they do, look out. lol

very surprising about the prices since brisket is dropping here. Local WM just dropped the price and choice yesterday was less than $3 a pound. Costco prime is still at $3.79 a pound, but now they have a pile of them in the cooler vs zero the last two years.

they have been dropping here to in SE mich. Not a lot but they are slowly coming down

 

[Buckeye Bob]

I was finally able to stop by a few Sunday's ago. Got there right at the open and was able to say hi to Jeremy. My son and I were on our way home to Chicago from Cleveland and had to make the detour. It was totally worth the trip. It doesn't surprise me that you sell so much brisket. It was absolutely the best brisket I have ever had outside of the state of Texas and definitely rivals anything I have had down there. Everything was outstanding and I wish I lived closer. You have a great place and should be very proud.

 

[Neil]

You must make really good brisket!!
Chris

He Does!! :thumb::thumb:

 

[davet54]

Me and the wife stopped by on our way home from vacation. Made it a destination. Was the best brisket I have had. Even the wife liked it and she is not a real meat eater. Told Jeremy really hated to throw it out, was on vacation and nowhere to put it. We were stuffed with some excellent BBQ Highly recommend if you can make it. Keep it at this size and you can't go wrong, go larger, and that is where people usually go wrong. Outstanding BBQ.

 

[marubozo]

Thanks guys. It was great to meet you buckeye and davet. Great people all around.

And you have no idea what it means to have a master CBJ say the brisket is good, let alone some of the best. I'm just thankful to be able to maintain the best consistency I can at this scale and have the staff in place that value and strive for the highest standards.

Speaking of staff, I just brought on someone new that I'm hoping to groom into a full time pitmaster over time. With him and my other guy, hopefully it won't be long before I can take a little time off and devote some more time to the other aspects of the business.

Oh, and the university of notre dame called this week. Said they were interested in bringing us to campus this fall for the football game against the university of Texas and throw a huge Texas style BBQ. :shocked: That would be huge. Meeting with them next week. Fingers crossed.

 

[landarc]

Good Luck man, that sounds like it would be incredible, crazy but, increddible

 

[Memphis Que]

That Notre Dame gig sounds like a great opportunity if you can handle the capacity. If you can't, it could end up being a huge cluster. The last thing you want to do is run out of meat at such a high profile event.

Don't be afraid to turn down jobs that you know you can't handle. That would be far cheaper in the long run than ruining the reputation that you have worked so hard to build.

 

[Boston Smoker]

Cool! I'm planning to be out there for the Texas game. If it works out, please post where you'll be on campus.

 

[aawa]

That Notre Dame gig sounds like a great opportunity if you can handle the capacity. If you can't, it could end up being a huge cluster. The last thing you want to do is run out of meat at such a high profile event.

If the event is for an unknown amount of customers, and he cooks to his equipments full capacity. It is not a bad thing to run out of meat.... He runs out of bbq at his shop on a daily basis running at full capacity and he still has lines out the door. He can have the same buzz for the events he attends to vend.

Now catering events with the known number of guests etc. Yes that would be bad to run out of food and not have been able to feed everybody.