Hello all, new to the CS Forum. I am a long time forum junkie; cooking, guns, cameras, politics, antiques, etc...
I joined today because I ordered a new 36" CS Charbroiler today.
My story is long, I'll try to make it as short as possible. I spent most of the first 20 years of my life working as a state licensed detective (thus the PI in my user name). My work consisted of 20% criminal defense, 20% private process service and 60% vehicle repossessions. It was fun and exiting in my 20's, it was ok in my 30's, when I got into my 40's I tired of being the bad guy all of the time. I felt I had seen it all with somewhere north of 12,000 vehicle repossessions in my career.
So 3 years ago my wife and I decided we were ready for a change. We closed up our business and took a few months off to decide what we wanted to do. I have always loved cooking soup in the winter and KC style BBQ and grilling in the summer. I decided I wanted stress free doing something I love for work, then getting off work and mowing my yard (I had been hiring my lawn mowing). I started watching ads and found a help wanted for a breakfast and lunch cook at a public restaurant located in a small but very nice retirement community.
Shortly after starting I was put off by several issues at the restaurant, not the least of them being an unkempt kitchen area, complacency among staff, and a feeling of hostility from the residents. The food was OK, the service was usually OK, the management were not really restaurant people.
My boss gave me a menu for a 200 plate company party which included "Smoked Brisket". This restaurant didn't have a smoker. The per/plate deal was $8. Smoked brisket from Sysco was quite expensive per pound in comparison to raw brisket. I decided to bring my Traeger BBQ075 from home and smoke the brisket. Feeding 200 people required 4 loads in the 075. I smoked the briskets for around 8 hours, then wrapped them in foil and refrigerated them. Then the day of the event brought them up to 195 degrees, cooled them to 145. I served them with my own KC style sauce I have been making for 10 years or so. People loved it, as did the upper management at the facility. I began serving que for Sunday brunch at the restaurant, the people loved it then too.
After a few weeks I was asked to manage the kitchen. After 4 months I was asked to manage the restaurant. I asked for 2 new Traeger smoker grills so I could take mine home. My new boss who took the place of the first boss I had, actually knows the restaurant business and is a foodie, told me to take one of the new grills home and leave my old one at the restaurant..cool.
Now 2 1/2 years later business is better than it has been in the 10 years the restaurant has been open. I asked for a new CS charbroiler which will make grilling something we can offer every day...a year or two and I will be able to get a CS smoker too.
I will be lurking and asking questions. Looking forward to learning more.
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