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Reply to "Costs to open a small BBQ Joint? Your best guesses?"

quote:
Originally posted by Papa Deuce:
Dave, I like the idea of being able to rent out the kitchen. I know that in my area I have not been able to find such a resource....

Is the 550 SF part of the 1600?

I needed all this to give my wife an idea of what to expect.

How long has your place been open? And, in general, how hard was it getting all the paperwork / permits?

Again, Thank you so much.


That is exactly why I planned to rent out my kitchen, there was an unmet demand. In that way, my kitchen is making me money instead of just sitting unused. Same thing with my pits. They are always producing product; if I'm not doing my bbq, then I'm doing bbq for someone else. If I'm not doing bbq for someone else, I'm making jerky. The only "down" time is for routine cleaning and periodic maintenance. I want my investment to stay busy making me money.

The 1600 sq ft of store is inclusive of the kitchen. Keep in mind that you also need some space for office stuff, public restroom(s), and storage space for supplies.

My business planning took about two years while I was employed full time with our health district.

Securing funding took about 4 months. It actually went very smoothly due to the business plan I put together.

Permitting took almost 5 months of constant pushing before a single shovel of dirt was turned; leasing would have eliminated that.

Permitting for the restaurant only took a total of two months. The first phase which took place before construction, involved among other things, presenting the restaurant drawings/plans and filling out the menu/food preparation HAACP plan. The health district then reviewed the two to determine if my menu preparation and plans was permitable with the facility which would be constructed.

The second phase occured once construction was completed and about 10 days prior to opening. The health inspection team performed an inspection of the kitchen, restrooms, employee area, and other systems (water dispensers, soda machine hookups, etc). I passed 100%. The inspection then proceded to look at the paperwork (foodhandler cards on file, methods for logging refrigerator and hot holding temperatures, method of logging pit temps for unnatended cooking, report forms, etc). After passing that section as well, the health district permit was issued.

The fire department inspection took about an hour. The fire chief came himself to look at the hood and fire suppresion systems, looked at exits and signs, looked for inspectors signatures at the electrical panel, and looked at the gas hookups for the range and fryer, and the automatic emergency gas cut-off valve.

I won't go into the final building department inspection which was required for the new building's occupancy permit.

The day before I opened the doors to my small, mom-n-pop bbq joint I had lost over 45 pounds, had irritable bowel syndrome, and was severly sleep deprived from spending 20 hour days getting the "final touches" completed during the two weeks prior to opening. And I was feeling absolutely euphoric.

Now that I am my own boss, I have worked harder than I've ever worked in my life. I worry more than I ever have in my life. I see my family far less than I have before opening my place. But after three years, things are getting better. Would I do it all over again? I honestly don't know; I might choose to do something like a mobile vending operation, or focusing on pick-up only service.
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