BrandonBBQ
Knows what a fatty is.
Over the past year and a half, I have done probably 100+ cooks on the WSM and due to the lack of good restaurants, I'm seriously considering opening a food trailer. I live in a small town in the midwest with alot of really good supply of beef, pork, chicken, and duck farms with really good prices. There is also actually quite a bit of $$$ here and a real lack of places to eat lunch.
Little backstory, I know nothing about a restaurant, but my best friend is a restaurant manager and chef that is going to help lay out the trailer & prep stations, and work with me on the first few weeks to get it going and in a rhythm. I am an all around tech nerd and handy-man that is going to setup all of our web/social/tech and physically build the trailer.
My wife's family owns a manufacturing company and steel/welding/trailer modification I can get done for free or at cost so the trailer itself won't cost me a TON. I figure a trailer will be alot cheaper & easier to maintain than a truck, and they also own a spot of land in town with high visibility that is just sitting there doing nothing. Obviously, I will have some zoning to deal with, but I won't have to pay for a place to park the trailer. They're pretty well connected in town and on a first name basis with the health inspector.
I know it's ALOT and most people will say don't open a restaurant, but honestly, other than writing code or my son I've never found something that brings me this much joy and I've never made so much food that people were like "Holy **** that's really good" or there was none left-over.
I've been fortunate to have a really good job and make some good financial decisions so I have a little $$$ to invest into a 1-2 man operation. Definitely starting small, and I figured I can start a trailer for less than $30-40k and have a couple parties interested in a silent partnership.
So please help me. With any links/resources/horror or success stories you can. I read constantly and am always trying to learn something.
If you knew what you know now, what would you do differently or what mistakes can I avoid?
Any response gets a free plate at my trailer if you're in town
Little backstory, I know nothing about a restaurant, but my best friend is a restaurant manager and chef that is going to help lay out the trailer & prep stations, and work with me on the first few weeks to get it going and in a rhythm. I am an all around tech nerd and handy-man that is going to setup all of our web/social/tech and physically build the trailer.
My wife's family owns a manufacturing company and steel/welding/trailer modification I can get done for free or at cost so the trailer itself won't cost me a TON. I figure a trailer will be alot cheaper & easier to maintain than a truck, and they also own a spot of land in town with high visibility that is just sitting there doing nothing. Obviously, I will have some zoning to deal with, but I won't have to pay for a place to park the trailer. They're pretty well connected in town and on a first name basis with the health inspector.
I know it's ALOT and most people will say don't open a restaurant, but honestly, other than writing code or my son I've never found something that brings me this much joy and I've never made so much food that people were like "Holy **** that's really good" or there was none left-over.
I've been fortunate to have a really good job and make some good financial decisions so I have a little $$$ to invest into a 1-2 man operation. Definitely starting small, and I figured I can start a trailer for less than $30-40k and have a couple parties interested in a silent partnership.
So please help me. With any links/resources/horror or success stories you can. I read constantly and am always trying to learn something.
If you knew what you know now, what would you do differently or what mistakes can I avoid?
Any response gets a free plate at my trailer if you're in town