Quit my job, time to open up a BBQ Restaurant!

[Mikeinctown]

Looking forward to all the updates.

One thing I've learned over the years as a facility manager... Keep your HVAC stuff clean and well maintained and it will save you money and lots of aggravation. Also, don't buy used unless the equipment is almost new. New refrigerant comes out and the old stuff just gets more expensive. Not fun paying hundreds for refrigerant when the newer stuff is like $10 a pound or less.

[effinUker]

Originally Posted by Home Farm BBQ

Best of luck!!!!! As far as the bathrooms goes. Keep them clean as said before and they will be fine. Take pride in every area of your restaurant including the bathrooms. Clean restaurants do better most the time assuming good food/service.

My son is a Sous Chef at Epcott in Florida. He says the first thing he does when he goes into any restaurant is check the bathrooms. If they're dirty dirty, they won't eat there.

[ffemtreed]

I live and work in Wilmington, Can't wait to try it.

Good Luck.

[Rockinar]

Originally Posted by PC Smoker

That was the plan ;)

And at Louie Mueller BBQ they wrap brisket in high temp cling wrap to help prevent it from drying out between customers. Even when there's a line. They will slice off what you and maybe the person behind you order, re-wrap it in cling wrap and toss it in a warmer till the next order. Seems to me like a waste to do each time for every customer if you have a line, but a great idea if you don't.

If I was new on the block and no line, I'd be doing this or at least testing it.

[Pyle's BBQ]

Good luck with the restaurant. I too started a restaurant back in 2012. We started with a blank space and built it out. The owner had the space in the building they owned. It took us about 4 months from deciding to go forward to opening our doors. We did keep things simple and did buy used equipment. Most of the equipment was in really good shape and lasted for us. We lasted 5 years. Our problem was mostly location. If you need ideas for specials or just another set of eye to look at a problem just ask.

[Happy Hapgood]

How is the progress? Looking forward to seeing the result!

[redchaserron]

Just saw this (THanks Happy Hapgood for bumping it), I love these threads. Best of luck to you, I hope it's a roaring success.

[LongTong]

Good luck bro. Since you have limited dining and need to get customers in-n-out as fast as possible, I would invest in the drive through with decent signage and a good speaker system. People are rushed and want it fast. Plus, those on-line delivery types that can get in-n-out fast too are big with the millennials and the young. Late night BBQ drive through after partying? I’m all in!!! If I ever started a BBQ joint, I would insist on a drive through option. Imagine Franklin with a drive through? You have a road right in front of the business for Christ’s sake. Grab those who want it fast and not get out of the car. I’ll take a brisket Sammich, extra sauce and a Pepsi to go...

[PC Smoker]

HEY YA'LL!!! Whoa, what a year it's been! I have updates for those still interested, or for those watching their smoker billow and waiting on their BBQ. The lease on the place I was so CLOSE to signing fell through. Fast forward to Jan 2020. I finally find the PERFECT place and sign a lease. Right near the beach, highly affluent area, not much competition in the area. Grease trap in place, walk in coolers, plumbing, hoods, etc all in tact (not guaranteed though). To make an EXTREMELY long story short I'll summarize for your sake and mine (I am also at the restaurant now putting final touches to the dining room):

-Sign Lease with landlord putting in new 5-ton HVAC. Awesome! No worries about heating and air
-HVAC installed, find out duct work is completely torn up and needs to be completely redone. Second opinion says same thing. Okay, $5K+ but at LEAST everything is NEW.
-Walk-in coolers turned on. Cooler standing at a nice 55 degrees, Freezer a non freezy 40ish. Cooler costs $5k to rebuild, Freezer a "cheap" $1200.
- Hoods- Not cleaned in years from the looks of it. Chinese restaurant left this place a DISASTER. Even decided to take the hood filters. No biggie, hood cleaning was a no brainer. First guy says he wont even do it! Thats how gross they were, this place was one spark away from burning down. 2nd guy quotes me $850 and comes back 3 times to clean it. Looks much better but still not perfect due to the fact the grease needs to heat up again. Fans on the hood need replacing as does other parts (so long ago I don't even remember). Another $1500
-ENTER COVID
-What have I done? The world is on lockdown and I am opening a restaurant.
-Cease and desist received from a food truck I had no idea existed (my stupidity yes, but my lawyer who registered my corp never said anything either). Similar name to mine but completely different location (in same county). Lawyer tells me they have no case but as a gesture of good will and to avoid more unnecessary costs, I file a DBA under my corp. I am now DBA Primal BBQ
-Plumbing is installed, as is all my gas equipment. Gas gets turned on and WOOHOO no hot water! Hot water heater although appeared to be in good shape, pilot wont light. Another $1200 to the plumber to fix on top of the $5500 to INSTALL sinks/gas equipment. Sad part was he was the "cheapest" option. Wow. Never though the 15 or so hours they spent and some PVC was worth that but it got done. I provided everything including the gas connectors.
-Health department comes out and gives me a "laundry" list of things to do. She was EXTREMELY helpful and luckily nothing she wanted done was too costly. Just things I overlooked and that took manhours.
-11 MONTHS later I have my certificate of compliance and license to sell food!! I am now almost fully hired and am preparing to open the doors next week. Holy SMOKES! This has been by far the most challenging thing I have ever done, and I spent WAY WAY WAY more than I budgeted BUTTTT the doors are about to open and money (hopefully) will start coming in.

I missed so many more details in this post that I am just thinking of now but due to time (I SHOULD BE CLEANING ALL THE SMALL WARES FROM MY LAST WEBSTAURANT ORDER haha) I will leave it at this for now. I will keep everyone updated and will post the before and after pics over the next few days so you can see the transformation.

Some quick notes:
-Webstaurant Store has been a LIFE SAVER. Yes, I know buying local is important but the prices just CAN'T be beat and I saved a TON. My wonderful smoker from Ole Hickory is about the only thing I didn't buy from Webstaurant. I had some issues early specifically with the freight companies delivering busted up pallets (including a destroyed chef's base) and WEbstaurant always made it right. My orders have always been complete and packed well. (They actually sent me an extra 40 LB Fryer I didn't order but shhhh I need to win some battles)
-Sales reps- OMG this should be another post but I am STILL getting bombarded with these clowns from all over trying to sell sell sell. The food reps have been GREAT and the main vendor I am using has a GREAT support staff that has helped along the way. Everyone else (Phone/Security systems/advertising/etc) has been one big headache.
-Anyone thinking of doing this- take your budget and times it by 3 so you're not stressed. I gave myself breathing room in my budget and still went way over.

MY QUESTIONS FOR YOU GUYS:
1) I have a beautiful Cres Cor hot box with aquatemp (humidity control). I have never been blessed to work with a hot holding unit that has this feature. What percentage humidity do you guys think will work best for BBQ? The Ole Hickory CTO also has a cook and hold feature which is nice but I think most of my hot holding will be in this box.
2) WOOD- HOW IS IT SO HARD TO FIND GOOD, CHEAP WOOD? I've called several places and have had no luck. I ordered some from WEbstaurant store but it is CRAZY expensive (obviously its heavy). I also picked up some beautiful logs from Academy Sports of all places that was less than half the cost of Webstaurant. I picked up some cherry, apple, hickory, pecan, and a small amount of Mesquite. Even still, at $15 for 1.25 cubic feet I am overpaying. The 2 people I was referred to locally, 1 has a disconnected number and the 2nd is going through family issues and doesn't know when he will be treating his last batch of hickory. I never would have thought this would be an issue. I have enough for at least the first 2 weeks but this is something I need to figure out ASAP.
3) Anyone still have license plates they are willing to part with?? I have a nice empty spot on my wall near my stainless steel North Carolina flag and would love some plates from the BBQ hot spots to put around it.

NOW it's time to finish picking off stickers and cleaning the last of my new stuff!

STAY SAFE EVERYONE AND KEEP ON SMOKIN'!

[Stingerhook]

Keep the updates coming James.

[toys4dlr]

I for one wish you the best of luck in the every changing COVID day and age. We made it 10 years and 11 days, when I tossed in the towel. continual Shut downs, ever changing requirements and limited days just was not enough to keep it going. And I am 53 now, don't have the same fight left in me.

I hope you opening goes great!!! I hope this new location has a drive thru, as that has kept many afloat. Mine did not.

Best of luck.

David

[luke duke]

Check Craigslist for wood

[rwalters]

Great update! Please do keep us posted and best of luck :)

[pjtexas1]

This is great news. I hope all your hard work pays off. I'll send that plate this week.

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[Swine Spectator]

@PCSmoker - When I was in New Orleans I used to run an Old Hickory trailer unit for my church. What a great smoker for large batches. We ran splits from Academy for smoke and KBB briquets for additional BTUs. It worked great and we made good money for the church. We did chicken quarter dinners for fundraisers, 1/3 babyback rib racks & smoke burgers for the school fair, and 10-14 lb turkeys for Thanksgiving.

The turkeys were a huge hit. $40 would get you a smoked turkey with a quart of homemade gravy. We sent order sheets home through the school. You could order as many as you wanted and there was a checkbox to order one to donate to the local homeless shelter. We capped the total orders at 90 (3 batches of 30) and typically sold out.

We usually had 10-15 turkeys for a very appreciative homeless shelter. We often made sides for them on our own dime.

Best of luck to you.

David