City Occupational License

Good luck! Here in Pinellas co. They call that a home office of convieance [sp]permit. Code enforcement is constantly looking for violaters. Welcome to Florida!

Coffebluff was right that they always want one more thing. I guess that's to see if you are serious about the whole thing. The city called me back. Along with the check, they also need a copy of inc. papers.
I conquered the city!
Now, on to the county!!!
Peggy

peg,
better worry about your chicken at winter haven!!!!
and that's a GOTCHA!!!!!!
see ya thursday nite for the load out
jack

Wellllll, I got the county license, too. We are in business! I do much better with these people in person than I do on the telephone.
Thanks to you all for your support along the way. I'll continue to ask questions!
Peggy

And, Jack, I am SO focused on chicken!!!

You two should hook-up, I think you would get along great...

chef tom
we do
every thursday nite thru sunday!!!!
as long as i remember who the corp pres is i do just fine lol
jack
ps thanks for the help with catering contracts. we are waiting on a contract for a 4 day event and your copy sure is helping us

no problem at all. Good luck in your new venture.

I'm new to these forums, but you are now fully licensed to seek your fame and fortune by just smokin???

I think I saw somewhere you have a trailer, but do you do all your cooking there, if so I doubt the city lets you use it in your driveway either.

Up in Washington we have the commisary or commercial kitchen quandry, all of which signicantly raise the overhead and the management hassles, especially if you want to work out of your house.

Do you have any suggestions??

Jerry

Jerry,
The only thing I'm allowed to do from the house is essentially correspondence. All the food preparation will have to be done in the trailer. We have a commissary for food storage and water supply. That is to satisfy the state. We are fortunate enough to have a food service provider that will deliver to us at events that are in our county. And they like Jack and will deliver to him if he's in a pinch not too far from our county.
I doubt we'll get famous or rich, but it's a nice start for doing what we love to do.
We have our trailer at a boat and rv storage facility outside the city limits. It's only allowed in certain areas of the city, not the historic district. I doubt we'd be able to fit in the streets there. I don't think fire trucks have a very easy time there either.
I found a very nice place for a commissary and would suggest you try kitchens such as churches, prisons, homeless kitchens, anywhere that the health dept. inspects.
Peggy

jerry
to give you an idea of the money outflow in our area here goes
1- florida state inspection. $50.00 one time fee and $350.00 anual
2- city of st augustine occupational license $50.00
3- st johns county license $30.00
4- trailer storage due to the fact we live in the historic district $75.00 per month
5- commissary kitchen N/C

can we make a go of it?
think so since we have given ourselves a time frame 3 years and more importantly have 3 years worth of capitalization.

is it scary??? you bet your sweet bippie it is!!! but what got me started was social security informing me that to retire i had to be 67 and now george w is telling me that if i am 55 i will get my benefits. big fat hairy deal on that one !!!! i'm 53 so lotta good that promise is.

one last thing. by peggy entering us in a chicken wing competition (try that with anything but an fec) put on by the united way in conjunction with the super bowl (finished 2nd) we are currently awaiting a contract to do a major 4 day event here. so yes it's do-able and competition is where we are getting a name for our business.
jack

Before I get really serious I'm planning on getting out of the city and the way it looks now becoming a semi nomad. I have some property in Eastern Washington way up in the sticks and across a mountain range from the county seat. (If you can't see it from the courthouse steps it must not be a problem.) Back to the retirement thing, I just can't afford the overhead here in the big city.

We still have to deal with state Labor and Industries to inspect and approve your mobile rig. (Mostly construction, wiring, fire etc.) Then State and County health regs which are probably pretty consistent through out the land of the free.

I have been thinking seriously about converting a box truck or a bus into a approved kitchen. I have the construction skills which is pretty much what I do now. We have some of mobile taco stands in the area which are not store bought concession trailers, and they need to have all the government and health department approvals. I have a 1964 almost primo Airstream I am restoring and I would like to be able to tow with me when I do the nomad thing.

Traditional BBQ is not that big up here. I don't know if there is a real competition within a thousand miles and only a few real joints. A couple are decent but most, been there and didn't want to buy the shirt. People will go out of their way for good smoked salmon (and other fish) and jerky and as long as I keep the overhead low I might be able to offer pre packaged (vacuum sealed) convenience foods that the big commercial people are not interested in providing. Indian Smoked salmon anyone?

I only have space now to store my growing equipment, but I would like to get a fec. I was turned on to this whole thing by a retired produce owner, who was shirt tail relation to the Traegers, who ran a bbq trailer down in the Willamette Valley. I later went down to look at their commerical rigs (and facilities) The trailers leave a lot to be desired, at least from my engineering background, but are fairly priced for what you get. Fec isn't one of those black steel radiators, with wheels. But I think the pellet idea is great, for q and for grills.

I just bought a used 105 with hood on ebay. I'm going out this morning to look for a new fan motor. But other than a howling fan it looks in really great shape. And I am playing around with a CS009 which I just seasoned last night.

However, until I can find the place to move I will be working on testing recipies and those parts of a business plan that hopefully will be applicable.

Slow cooked suggestions gladly appreciated.

rendezvous.

For the fan motor, call CS. They'll have any parts you need and I'm sure they'll not overcharge you.

smokin'

smokin,

Thanks for the tip. I called CS this morning, they gave me the Grainger Dayton number and I went down and picked a new blower assembly. The new one looks also improved from the orginial.

Looks however, that I will have to take the hood off to get to all the screws easily. Since it is still in my storage shed that is no big deal. Then to fill it up with a batch of beef jerky.

Jerry

rendevousq.
the airstream would really get attention!!!!
and since an fec or sm is so well insulated there would be almost heat build up in your trailer.
the other nice part as you are finding out is how helpful cookshack is to their customers.
as far as business plan goes i used the business plan pro but if you go down to sba you can use theirs for free as i understand it.
right now we are working up our marketing plan but in a way it is kinda fun.
from your post it is clear that you have found a nice little niche' and that is what we are working on right now.
keep following your dream!!!!!
i know you can do it!!!!!!
jack

oops
long day
make the sentence read almost no heat build up.
sorry now i got an a/c in my rig
jack

Well Greyhounds,

I did spend some time on the Airstream forums, and mine is in too primo original to do anything but restore. It has been sitting on the back of the previous owners lake cabin for most of its 40 years. All that really needs to be done is put back an RV reefer and a little cosmetics and maybe a few leaky gaskets etc and it would be worth way more than taking it apart. And if I can get some kitchen to pull it with, it would be a good road home and definitely an attraction getter.

As far as the fan is concerned, the CS housing was modified so that the grease could drain out of the blower, that pipe was plugged, and I degreased the whole thing and just use the old fan housing along with the new motor. So I have yet to fire it up.

But I have made some cold smoked Salmon Lox in my 009 and I now have my first couple of racks of ribs in for about an hour.

Does your trailer have a regular restaurant type hood? or is that needed with fec? I doubt it uses many pellets. I've never seen the fec other than in pictures. Traegers main plant is about 200 miles to the south in Mount Angel, Oregon. Which reminds me, do you finish anything on a grill, like the ribs?

Jerry

jerry,
to get an idea what our rig interior looks like just scroll down in this forum to the thread "2 Greyhounds....SMOKIN!!!! rig pics we hope"
our hood is a regular restaurant hood system 5 feet long which both the fec and sm fit under. since i don't have a fryer i wasn't required by the state to install a fire suppressor in it.
as far as finishing anything on a grill no we dont but it is a juggling act with little room for much error. the routine is this (and this is the beauty of the fec) when peg does chicken she runs between 400-425f. needless to say there isn't any rubbery skin. when the chicken comes out i unfoil the ribs and slam them in for just a few mins and bingo no grill needed. this also works when we cater as the ribs are in the workhorse (thats the name we gave the sm150) and are normally on hold temp but we can't do that in competition so thankfully ribs follow chicken lol
but yes both the fec and sm require a hood and we even got the hood for the sm just in case we ever needed it.
as far as pellet burn goes we have been very happy with the performance of bbqer's delight and last weekend we used about 15 pounds including over 1 hour of running maximum temps so we always have been happy about that.
sorry if i rambled and i sure hope this helps you some but without the high temp operation of the fec at the wing comp 3 weeks ago we wouldn't be looking at this contract we are reviewing to supply food for a three day event either
jack

What got me to thinkin about the grills is Traeger really is into grills, but to me their true smokers need some improvement (so why else am I here, other than the community). Their licencee price for their commercial 150 is (was) the same as for their high end home unit and they all use (the same) pellets as fec.

Trying to do this mobile you quickly run out of space, so what space is best, that is the train of my thinking.

I should get my repaired blower finished today and get my 105 up and operating. Just playing with my 009 thus far, I can definitely see the need for real heat (like fire, not spices) when it is time to bring everthing together.

Thanks for the input.

Jerry

Peggy,

I know it's too little too late, but you deserve a lot of credit for making it through the whole inspection/license process without shooting someone. It is never easy, and it sounds like your part of Florida is tougher than most for a variety of reasons. Anyway, it sounds like you've cleared your last hurdle. I'm glad you made it through intact. Congratulations.

I would say to take a week off and go to Florida and relax, but you're already there.

Thank you, Todd. I haven't been tempted to shoot anyone, yet. Not even Renaldo. It's a little frustrating to say the least. Can't relax. Got competition coming up! Have a contract, too. I want to review it carefully.
Peggy