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View Full Version : The Grind continues at the Farmers Market


Dadeo719
06-22-2015, 07:14 PM
So got through another weekend. Had to set out Saturday due to remnants of Hurricane Bill. Did our Sunday market that starts at 10am. We were selling Brisket by the pound at 10:01am:shock:! We sold out of it in a little over an hour. Still amazes me people are enjoying our food and we are actually doing this. We even have a few followers now that seem to be there regularly and genuinely like our product. I think that means the most to us right now, is seeing repeat customers. I will buy anything once, but to go buy and eat it again it has to be good. I wish though people would buy the brisket in slices rather than chopped up on a sandwich. We tried to slice to order but no one wanted it. We chop it up and people seem to love it. Guess it looks like Pulled pork to them?? We are gearing up for some pretty big festivals and it is crazy reading our names with the lists of other places on there. We are like "Dude, these are like legit places. Are we legit? Are we good enough to be on this list?" So we are just still taking one humble step at a time and seeing how this plays out. Again a HUGE thanks to all you guys for comments, help, advice, and everything. I am sure in the upcoming weeks I will be firing off tons of questions!

pjtexas1
06-22-2015, 07:22 PM
Sounds like you are doing very well. Enjoy it while it is still simple and fun. Could become crazy one day very soon.

mchar69
06-22-2015, 07:23 PM
This is fantastic!
Still amazes me people are enjoying our food and we are actually doing this.

Gives you goosebumps, if you had the time to enjoy them.

May I suggest you elaborate on your set-up, just to show others what you are up against? W/ pron, of course.
The Farmers' Market seems a legit 1st step.
I am so happy you are killing it!!!!
Mark

SmittyJonz
06-22-2015, 07:27 PM
oh Ya!!!

Dadeo719
06-22-2015, 07:27 PM
Oh P.S. The book and shirt I got for Father's Day! My wife I guess actually called the shop and ordered it directly from them. Said she was just making small talk with the guy and how we are starting to do the Markets and stuff. This is her word's and I quote " The guy said that's awesome. You know we started real small and just went with it. I'll sign it and get that out for ya."My wife really has no clue if she just talked to THE GUY but in my own little world I am going with that she did. :confused::wink:

jbounds286
06-22-2015, 07:30 PM
awesome man keep workin! i will say tho...i prefer my brisket finely chopped on a bun as well...just kinda grew up eating it that way at a bbq place in DFW...not that i dont enjoy a nice slice of point along with it!

frognot
06-22-2015, 07:31 PM
For selling sandwiches at a Farmer's Mkt, chopped is the way I would go.

Dadeo719
06-22-2015, 07:34 PM
This is fantastic!
Gives you goosebumps, if you had the time to enjoy them.
May I suggest you elaborate on your set-up, just to show others what you are up against? W/ pron, of course.
The Farmers' Market seems a legit 1st step.
I am so happy you are killing it!!!!
Mark

It really does. Scared, excited, confused, humble, grateful are all words that come to mind.


Are you talking about just what equipment we use so far and how we logistically set it up?

nmeyer414
06-22-2015, 07:51 PM
congratulations

landarc
06-22-2015, 08:00 PM
Fantastic. It's great to see someone living the dream.

And that is a great gift too.

I happen to like chopped brisket sandwiches for walking around food. Sliced on a plate though.

mchar69
06-22-2015, 08:03 PM
Are you talking about just what equipment we use so far and how we logistically set it up?
Yup. Show pics like Marubozo and your plates -
look - I know you have zero time to take pics,
But you'd beter, looks like this is ground floor for you.
Show us your set- up, tell us of the hassles of the Food Inspecktor,
all the non- fun details. All the mistakes.
Finally we all want to know if you made $200 or $400 or $1000 any given day. THAT, is private - do not divulge. You are building a business, and if you LOST $200, it might be the greatest advertising feat for you.
Psst - how much did you make?

Dadeo719
06-22-2015, 08:43 PM
Yup. Show pics like Marubozo and your plates -
look - I know you have zero time to take pics,
But you'd beter, looks like this is ground floor for you.
Show us your set- up, tell us of the hassles of the Food Inspecktor,
all the non- fun details. All the mistakes.
Finally we all want to know if you made $200 or $400 or $1000 any given day. THAT, is private - do not divulge. You are building a business, and if you LOST $200, it might be the greatest advertising feat for you.
Psst - how much did you make?


LOL ok I will try and get some more "food plate" shots this weekend.

Set-up is a 10x10 but we get to cheat a little and have our camp stove and drum on the side. We have the vending cart "Lady in Red" that has been one of the best purchases we have made. It has to Cambros underneath and then we made 2 cutting boards to go in the cutouts on top. We put our paper product that we use to serve in the middle. To the left of that is our Register table, setup with our signage stand and Square register. Our menu board and then our cards and catering flyers. Behind that is a staging table that we have our scale and butcher paper that we use to wrap up orders by the pound with. Think of how a butcher would wrap up your meat at an old school meat market and that is the direction we are going for. This table also has out hand wash station on the back end. On the other side is the table with a Cambro that we stage the bread and buns in to warm and hold any extra meat or hot sides. There are two Chafing dishes on this table one for our hot sides and one for cold sides and pickles and onions. Our homemade 3 compartment usually is in the back or on the trailer. So that's our setup in a nutshell.

Getting all the licenses and insurance was a pain yes. Started with the Food manager cert., Permits, fire codes, market permits, the list is crazy. The inspector and inspections really were not that bad. We just did what they wanted us to do without questioning it and they liked it.

Mistakes-- To many. Forgetting stuff, cooking to much, not enough, I mean now we are looking at everything we do under a microscope to try and make us better, so we look at marketing, do we do enough? How much to spend on it? do we get a bigger fridge, and bigger hot holding (alto Shamm) all these things are now going to pay off down the road or become costly mistakes. :wacko:

Money. So far we have been very blessed and fortunate. Our bad days we have made enough to pay our food costs. Good days has been upwards of $$$$:wink:

mchar69
06-22-2015, 08:48 PM
THANK YOU SO MUCH - all of us could eat up all your food,
and all your posts because they are awesome!
Don't be shy about more pics, everyone loves them!
Thank You!

Dadeo719
06-22-2015, 08:53 PM
No problem. I appreciate it. And humbled. I still read stuff on here and feel the same way. Don't hesitate to ask anything, I'll try and make up an answer.

smoke ninja
06-22-2015, 09:04 PM
Congrats on your continued success

Zin
06-22-2015, 09:12 PM
Keep up the good work.

mchar69
06-22-2015, 09:38 PM
Dadeo, - Do KNOW -
many want to try their hand at vending, or selling, or
Brick and Mortar -
your insights will help them learn the realities of the job.

1. What time do you start the smokers / grill for your Saturday run -
what is your cook schedule>

2. What is your most profitable item? (soda, I bet)

3. How many sammies of pork, how many of beef, how many sausages, etc?

Thanks

Richard1233
06-22-2015, 10:35 PM
Oh P.S. The book and shirt I got for Father's Day! My wife I guess actually called the shop and ordered it directly from them. Said she was just making small talk with the guy and how we are starting to do the Markets and stuff. This is her word's and I quote " The guy said that's awesome. You know we started real small and just went with it. I'll sign it and get that out for ya."My wife really has no clue if she just talked to THE GUY but in my own little world I am going with that she did. :confused::wink:

That's pretty cool! Congrats on all the success u are having, it's nice to be successful at something u love and have fun doing. Keep up the good work!

bbqwizard
06-22-2015, 11:27 PM
Just awesome! COngrats on your success:clap2:

Brew-Bq
06-22-2015, 11:43 PM
I love that you do Fatties! Keep killing it.

PaulstheRibList
06-22-2015, 11:51 PM
Dude, that sounds so fun!

Tango Joe
06-23-2015, 06:47 AM
Livin' the dream indeed.
Even with all the hoops of licensing & health dept stuff this is still freekin' awesome.
Great to read all about how you are making it happen!

churrodog
06-23-2015, 07:50 AM
This was a really cool read. Keep grinding hard and waking up before everyone else and I'm sure you will have continued success.

Dadeo719
06-23-2015, 09:27 AM
Ok this might get long but hope it is worth it to at least one person lol.Dadeo, - Do KNOW -
many want to try their hand at vending, or selling, or
Brick and Mortar -
your insights will help them learn the realities of the job.

1. What time do you start the smokers / grill for your Saturday run -
what is your cook schedule> Cook schedule is we do all the Pork Butts and/or Briskets on Wednesdays, vacuum seal, crash cool, and store for the week. This has been a life saver for us. The very first time we tried to do it overnight to pull straight off the the smoker but it was a disaster. No sleep, trying to maintain temp, not dry out, just not good for what we are doing. We do the chicken and sausages and Fattys on the drum the day of, at the market. Saturdays we get to the market by 6am so that gets us up at 4ish to check and recheck our lists and physically touch everything, every time. Fire up the drum and get whatever is going on it, on there. Sides we do on a rotation and most are prepared there. I always try to do some type side that uses the produce from some of the venders. Like this week we are going to do a "Farmer's Salad with tomatoes, onions, cucumbers in an Italian Dressing. We are ready to sell by 8:30ish am for the Saturday Market cause we are starting to get people waiting to get the Breakfast Fattys lol. The same for the Sunday Market. Thursday we just do lunch from 11-2. It is a smaller market that they are trying to grow and asked us to be there and waived the entrance fees to help grow it. That is the one that if we make enough to cover our food costs we are happy right now. But it kinda all runs together, Whatever meat we plan is for the entire week so we are just pulling a sealed bag out 1 at a time to reheat as needed if that makes any since so doing that we don't have any waste.

2. What is your most profitable item? (soda, I bet).
Soda and chips are up there. Just because there is no work involved. Sides are money makers most of the time as long as we don't have waste. What hurts us (don't know if hurt is the right term) is for the Markets we use all Locally raised meats. It is called KY Proud here. So we are paying a premium on meat prices. Don't get me wrong it is great meat but very little margin for profit. Our BBQ Parfaits are pretty profitable. Load it with the sides and top it with maybe 1-2oz of meat. And really the Fatty is decent. We are getting $4 a slice and can get 10-12 slices out of one. We throw in the end pieces to the people that have been waiting first normally or they are our breakfast lol.

3. How many sammies of pork, how many of beef, how many sausages, etc? [COLOR="blue"]Usually on a Saturday or Sunday anywhere from 75-100 sandwiches on a really good day 150. Pork is about a 70/30 winner right now but the brisket is catching on really fast. When we do the sausages probably 25-50. I will make sure this weekend I email myself the count off of Square and can tell you exactly. Speaking of Sausages, I am starting to get a spark of inspiration to make our own to see how that goes. :shock::confused:/COLOR]

So hopefully that helps. We are 10 times farther than what we thought we would be at this time. Which is a good problem to have I suppose. Again thanks to you guys for all the continued help and advice. Hope this wasn't to long or boring.

Thanks

Dadeo719
06-23-2015, 09:30 AM
I love that you do Fatties! Keep killing it.

We knew going in that we wanted to do them. Even if they only paid for themselves. They have almost become or Signature item and what we are known for now at the market.

landarc
06-23-2015, 01:50 PM
Finally! A food shot, that looks great

AlwaysSmokey
06-23-2015, 02:14 PM
Way to go dadeo !!

Dadeo719
06-23-2015, 03:35 PM
If you are really interested here is our Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/Hogfathersbbqstore

If you are bored enough to go there let me know you are a brethren if you leave a comment so I can say thanks.

THoey1963
06-23-2015, 03:35 PM
Congrats and nice job on your hard work. Keep it up...

THoey1963
06-23-2015, 03:36 PM
Oh, and following your FB page now...