How to have a friendly work bbq event given cook time?

Forsake brisket and butts. Chicken quarters, pork back ribs, moink balls, bacon wrapped poppers (heck, anything wrapped in bacon).

How does management feel about beer in the morning?

Given the options you stated (not wanting to pre-cook, not wanting to start in the wee hours) I would suggest hot-n-fast pulled pork, but do a pre-test at home before going live.

- The night before, prep the pork shoulder(s) as you normally would and wrap.
- Day of cook, come to work about an hour or two early and get smoker stable at 325-350. Hopefully, you have a drum or pellet that is truly a set-it and forget-it style cooker.
- Cook until finished (I like 203 on pork)

The downside of you not wanting to come in the wee hours is that you aren't giving any time for variance. I, personally, would come in very early and have things well underway by 800am. Also, I have NO problem resting for 4 hours, wrapped and in a cooler. So, you wrap up your cook at home at 800am, wrap and hold in a cooler until lunch.

Spares cooked @300 done in 3hrs, @275 done in 4hrs. I've done Butts hot and fast in 5.5hrs

I'd probably stick to Ribs, Chicken, Turkey, Pork Loin or maybe do Bacon wrapped stuffed Fatties.

We come in around 3-4 am and get the fire going. We try to have everyone back to the shop around 3-4 pm to eat. Not really the lunch time frame. We have done briskets and primes for lunch. When we do that we bring in the pellets grills and cook overnight. We fire those about 9-10 pm and sit around having a few beers, home in bed about mid-night. The first guys are in at 5 am and check on everything, then we pull when ready and rest it til we serve. Not sure how many co-workers you have to feed but we cook for 85-95. And you are on point with having an event like this, people love it. We start "hyping" it a month or so in advance and it really gives everyone something to look forward too. I get asked at least one a week when we are planning on doing the next cook. Only down side is I also get asked to cook for weddings, graduations, etc.....

Can't you come in at midnight and set up your WSM in the parking lot and come back to work at 9 am? :heh:

Pre-smoke brisket, chop it up, resmoke as burnt ends.

CSRs instead of a whole butt.

That’s how I’d approach the bigger cuts under your constraints. That or opt for chicken, fatties, moinks, ABTs, wings etc. that cook in much less time. Also I’ve never let brisket cool then resmoke as burnt ends but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.

I've coolered brisket for 4 hours and butts 6. I would suggest an overnight cook, and bring in a cooler. Set-up the smoker for appetizers or sides (beans, mac n cheese etc).

Maybe do stuff like rib roast, tri tip, picanha (if you can get it), whole chix, turkey breast, whole turkey, pork loin, pork tenderloin, beef tenderloin, pork belly - all that can be started kinda early in the morning and ready by lunch.