BBQ food truck

[TravelingJ]

Originally Posted by grizzly0925

SEMPER I right? Hoping I can find one around here that is pretty flexible, i'd even offer to feed members once a month if it got me in for a discounted rate.

Depending on your needs, you might try some out of the box places, like gas stations. My local BBQ supply shop, told me that one of the rubs they sell is made in a gas station kitchen after hours. Apparently the guy is renting their space once they stop serving food for the day.

I don't know how it works out, but I know it's something I wouldn't have thought of.

[SmoothBoarBBQ]

@Grizzly0925, yeah, it was pretty heart breaking when they refused to help me out. I got the same response from the USO in town.

I'm not trying to kick you in the nuts or anything, and instead I'm just giving you my particular experience. This way you don't end up dropping $25K on equipment and then not be able to actually operate your business. Other people have had different experiences so it really seems like it's just how your area wants to do things. For what it's worth I was (and still am) heavily considering moving to eastern Wisconsin. I've checked in with a few of the VFW's and they are much more willing to lend a hand than the one here in Jacksonville. So get out there and make those relationships and see what happens.

Good luck Brother.

[kurtsara]

Originally Posted by SmoothBoarBBQ

@Grizzly0925, yeah, it was pretty heart breaking when they refused to help me out. I got the same response from the USO in town.

I'm not trying to kick you in the nuts or anything, and instead I'm just giving you my particular experience. This way you don't end up dropping $25K on equipment and then not be able to actually operate your business. Other people have had different experiences so it really seems like it's just how your area wants to do things. For what it's worth I was (and still am) heavily considering moving to eastern Wisconsin. I've checked in with a few of the VFW's and they are much more willing to lend a hand than the one here in Jacksonville. So get out there and make those relationships and see what happens.

Good luck Brother.

Do you even need a commissary in Wisconsin?

[SmoothBoarBBQ]

Originally Posted by kurtsara

Do you even need a commissary in Wisconsin?

As I understand per conversation with the Health Department yes, you will need a commissary. This being said during the discussion things sounded much more relaxed than what I'm used to out here. Perhaps it's a case by case basis rather than a hard rule...maybe dependent on equipment, menu, etc..?

[kurtsara]

Originally Posted by SmoothBoarBBQ

As I understand per conversation with the Health Department yes, you will need a commissary. This being said during the discussion things sounded much more relaxed than what I'm used to out here. Perhaps it's a case by case basis rather than a hard rule...maybe dependent on equipment, menu, etc..?

We looked at a couple trailers in Wisconsin before we had ours built, although this has been about 10 years, maybe 12 years but they didn’t even have stainless steel tables in the trailers they just had household countertops. The commissary is not necessarily needed in Minnesota and Wisconsin’s rules seem to be less stringent than Minnesota

[SmoothBoarBBQ]

Originally Posted by kurtsara

We looked at a couple trailers in Wisconsin before we had ours built, although this has been about 10 years, maybe 12 years but they didn’t even have stainless steel tables in the trailers they just had household countertops. The commissary is not necessarily needed in Minnesota and Wisconsin’s rules seem to be less stringent than Minnesota

Again, I'm just going by what the gentlemen at the Health Department told me. I also had to make some modifications to my trailer to meet their requirements. I needed to have some kind of handrail / barrier on my porch because of safety...seems odd, but ok. They were OK with white aluminum rather than stainless steel for the walls on the interior of the trailer. My serving window was just a huge open area, and they wanted sliding windows with screens, which makes sense.

We discussed the commissary and he said it was needed, and since I'm a veteran he gave me the information of a few of the local VFW's as they pretty keen on helping out the food trucks. Maybe things have changed and perhaps it's different in different areas of the state. This was eastern WI...looking at Germantown, West Alles, and MKE.