Starting a business - need advice on meats

[Mikhail]

I don't know about Arizona, but around here in Ohio, you are not going to survive and have product available by relying on local butchers or ranchers, at least not at a price you can actually make a reasonable profit.

Look for a commissary for consistent availability and product quality.

Not sure if you have one there, but we actually have a food truck association. You may want to seek advice there if you have one around.

JOIN A BNI GROUP.

Do you run a local truck? If so I'll look for you.

 

[RacrX]

Hey man that's great to hear, good luck! My occasional pop-up BBQ turned into a real business the week that everything hit and it's been going strong ever since. I think people are getting tired of their own cooking.

I have a connection with a local butcher, but outside of that Costco Business has been the way to go. Although...with the meat situation, the past couple of weeks have been a whole different animal. I'm having to serve what I can get, rather than what me or the crowd want exactly. Prices have also gone up, considerably so on some items- but I've been lucky as that hasn't slowed down the orders at all, in fact I have my biggest cook so far coming up this weekend. You just have to be resourceful. I've expanded the menu to make up for it, chicken is relatively easy to get here and still a decent price, pork butt is plentiful and has only gone up a little (and the extra $1/lb doesn't affect sales), pork belly is around and people love burnt ends, and buying full untrimmed spares lets me add tips along with the St.Louis racks. Everything sells out.

 

[onefatjustin]

Hey man that's great to hear, good luck! My occasional pop-up BBQ turned into a real business the week that everything hit and it's been going strong ever since. I think people are getting tired of their own cooking.

I have a connection with a local butcher, but outside of that Costco Business has been the way to go. Although...with the meat situation, the past couple of weeks have been a whole different animal. I'm having to serve what I can get, rather than what me or the crowd want exactly. Prices have also gone up, considerably so on some items- but I've been lucky as that hasn't slowed down the orders at all, in fact I have my biggest cook so far coming up this weekend. You just have to be resourceful. I've expanded the menu to make up for it, chicken is relatively easy to get here and still a decent price, pork butt is plentiful and has only gone up a little (and the extra $1/lb doesn't affect sales), pork belly is around and people love burnt ends, and buying full untrimmed spares lets me add tips along with the St.Louis racks. Everything sells out.

I'm 100% in the same boat. I own a catering company, and started selling Q by the lb, and it's absolutely blown up the last two months. In the past two weeks, we've decided not to sell brisket anymore because so far it's more than doubled in price. Keeping the same margins would mean charging people like $35/lb. I would feel like a serious piece of **** charging that. So, we sell a **** load of pulled pork, pulled chicken, chicken wings, and boneless beef ribs instead. This week I'm doing pulled chicken, chicken thighs/wings, pork, pork belly burnt ends and a few ribs. That's it.

The most difficult part about starting a Q business like this is pricing yourself where you 1: make money and 2: satisfy your customer base's price points.

 

[worldbfreebase]

Do you run a local truck? If so I'll look for you.

no. i know a couple guys. I was actually surprised when they told me that our local food truck association was actually very helpful, or at least it was. Don't know if it still is. Haven't talked to them in awhile and one of them went brick and mortar.