Website

That's a dang good price for a full slab of spares!!!

I'm used to a 3-4 dollar sammich though. How are your NC bbq sammiches made? Type of bread, amount of meat and so on. Not knocking ya. Just I'm used to the bbq sammich being a good bit cheaper than most everything on the menu(barring some sides).

I'll take 1 big pig with slaw, with the burger and the cheese on the side. I'll be there soon.

I know it's just up, hope you don't mind some website feedback. think it's a great start, add some photos when you have some, nothing (besides smell) sells more BBQ than photos on a website.

1. The blue on red is real hard to read and the orange (main headings) on top of red don't stand out very easy

2. The menu is pretty long, looks like the spacing on the page is pretty narrow at one column, I'd make it printable, but the current version is too long to print (like 6 pages). You could also create a link to a PDF of the menu if they want to print.

3. Question on the prices, but think something is missing, what's the difference between the Shack and the Mini Shack:

The Shack...23.95

1/2 Slab, 1/2 Chicken, Chopped Pork and Hot Italian Sausage...comes with 2 drinks and 2 individual homemade sides

The Mini Shack...17.95

1/2 Slab, Chopped Pork and 1/2 Chicken or Hot Itailian Sausage...comes with 1 drink and 2 homemade sides

Looks like the only difference is for the mini, I get one less drink for $6.00 less. As the quantity of chopped pork and hot italian sausage aren't defined, I'm guess they're different quantities.

Russ

I wish I lived further south. Hard to get good 'que up here in the Northern Territories (MN). Well, except off my deck of course!

Smokin...

The Shack has all meats--ribs, chicken, pork and sausage plus the two drinks...

The Mini has ribs, pork and choice of chicken or sausage with one drink...

Thanks for the feedback. We plan to get some pics up soon. Not so sure how to do that. Need to wait on the wife for that one.

I like the idea of a pdf version for print. Will look into that.

As you said, it's a start...

Pricing on the pork sandwiches include a kiaser bun, 1/2lb. portion of meat, and 3.25 oz. of sauce and coleslaw if they want it. Remember that everything is homemade. I have to cover cost for the sauce, meat, rubs and bun.

We have been selling a ton of chopped pork. I thought we would be selling ribs and chicken. Word is spreading around town about the North Carolina Sandwich and sauce. Nothing better than watching people cram a huge sandwich in their mouths...

Also, pricing the sandwich a little high allows for competitive pricing on the ribs. All this town has is Applebees and Ruby Tuesday ribs. We all know how that is...but, they are priced in the $16-$19 with sides included...Point is--get them hooked on real ribs and then raise prices down the road...

I've been open for 5 days and have had several people come in 2-3 times...Bucnch of people from North Carolina have come and ate then told me that it feels like home...Makes it well worth the sleepless nights and freaking out to get comments like that...

SmokinBuckeye

Have to agree with SmokinOkie. Lot of wasted space on the menu page, columns should be much wider, also way too many colors, you've got white, yellow, orange & blue. And when you get some time, definitely get some pics of the place up there. Outside shot, couple of dining room shots...

Ah, I see the difference between the Shack & mini Shack. Mini is chicken or sausage. But I did have to read it a couple times before I noticed it. I'd try to re-word that a little.

Hope you're off to a great start and selling out each night!

Andy

Two questions:
Do you make your own bread? You said everything was homemade and in the next sentence you mentioned your rolls, so I'm just curious. You'd be the only BBQ place I've ever seen that does their own bread, and my hero, if you make it yourself.

Second question:
NO HUSHPUPPIES?!!!!! Have you lost your mind? You can't have BBQ without hushpuppies, everybody knows that! If you need a good recipe PM me and I'll help you out as much as I can. We used to have about 8 bowls that we made batter in and since they were all different sizes all the recipes are bowl dependent.

Andy...

Haven't mastered the art of how much to prepare each morning and afternoon...Still working the kinks out on how much each day and what days do what...

Todd G...no, I don't make my own buns in house...we have an outside company do them...made fresh the day before then delivered to us...

As for the hushpuppies...not sure if us Northerners know to much about them...

One thing I've been seeing and want to question on...I've been selling mostly chopped pork for the lunch time crowd...not much ribs, chicken and sausage...On the night side, more ribs and chicken...Do you guys see the same thing? I'm going to cut back my ribs and chicken in the AM and up the pork to counterbalance what I'm seeing...Wanted to know if this is typical BBQ sales pattern before I work it into the rotation...

Ribs,whether price or not,seem like a dinner meal in lots of the South.

Chicken is typically the "all you can eat" Tuesday-or your slow day.

Places carry it as the discount kids meal,with maybe 1/4 chicken.

Pork is "BBQ" in the South and the size of the platters/sides increases toward evening,as do prices.

Also, many of the independents have traditionally served from 11 A.M,until they run out of meat-by 5 PM.

Sausage comes from the European settlers to the North/Midwest where they are used to eating it and know how to make it.

They certainly know it in much of Ohio.

I'd guess if one of Todd's customers says "sausage" it is ground into patties,comes with two eggs,grits-or homefries,biscuit,or light bread toast,and a small bowl of sausage/milk gravy.

You bring out a half lb link,and they'll say "you sure need a big hotdog bun for that".

I remember the first time some of us from Ky stopped at a Bob Evans, south of Columbus, and ordered breakfast with smoked sausage.

None of us knew what to do with a link.

Not that you should try to copy someone else,but have you stopped by City Barbecue in Columbus,or any of their branches.

City Barbecue

They were a couple trained cooks that did some comps,and went around the country and "borrowed " ideas.

I see they do a chicken and sausage,so looks like you are meeting your market.

They just had the original, when I stopped ,several years ago.

Trust me, a good hushpuppie is universally, good eats. They might not know what to do with one at first, but they'd learn real fast.

I think your sales mix is pretty consistent with what I'd expect, but it doesn't matter, just go where your customers point you. It's all good as long as they're happy.

And what Tom is saying about chicken is true down here. Among the restaurants that serve chicken everyday, it's usually fried. Smoked chicken is almost always a Tues/Thur only kind of deal.

Then you can tell where the owners roots come from with how they deal with leftover chicken.

Real old school: Chicken and dumplings/chicken pastry on Wed/Fri.

Moderate old school: brunswick stew everyday.

Modern school/city folk acting like they can Q: Pulled chicken in sauce, or whole pieces in sauce, maybe finished on the grill (grill is sure sign they're city folk)

Yep,the Burgoo over into Ky,and bottom of In/Il uses the assorted leftover meats and vegetables and the Brunswick Stew in Ga/Carolinas to get rid of the chicken and corn.

Like Todd says,if you have a fryer,for the fries,then the chicken gets fried as well.

Fried keeps you from having a category killer,where one person in the carload doesn't like bbq,they will always suffer thru fried chicken,three sides and a hushpuppy.

I've got another suggestion for you, but this one you should just file in memory for a couple of months until everything is running smoothly.

Think about keeping your menu fresh with small changes. These changes should come from real data, not from your gut. Run specials and let your POS system track the actual sales. Run a special for a month, then off for a month, then back on for another month. If sales are good, consider adding it to the menu. Always run the full cycle unless the first month is really bad, which tells you the item isn't as good as you think, or it's just way out of step with customer likes(think smoked testicles). You can run a special every other month for a year before you make any changes if you want. The longer you run it the more data you'll have to base your decision on.

You can even do this with desserts and sides. I know one BBQ chain down here that runs strawberry cobbler only from about May-July. Then it's gone for the year. People line up for it when they put it on their outdoor sign, but they don't know it's made with frozen strawberrys. They follow up with blackberry cobbler July-Sept with the same results. Or do seasonal sides. Sweet potatoes in the fall, corn puddin' in the summer, etc.

The other thing is to have fixed daily specials like the chicken mentioned above. People that like these specials will make it a point to return on that particular day and bring friends. Examples would be smoked meatloaf on Wednesday, smoked pork loin with stuffing on Sunday, all-you-can-eat BBQ spaghetti on Mondays, etc.

All kidding aside, down here and in maybe a few other parts of the country, BBQ is so ingrained in us from birth that it's not just a meal choice, it's just accepted that you're going to eat BBQ 2-3 times a week. You've been doing it your whole life that way.

In most other parts though, you've got to compete with a public that sees BBQ as just another option for their food dollar. Keeping things fresh and new will go a long way towards keeping them coming back. Look at the TGIF and Applebees commercials. They don't run all those ads and specials for fun or because Guy Fieri looks good. They do it because it works.

Todd...

Great piece of advice...I have "back-up" ideas to roll out if anything I started with doesn't move...

Like you said, smoked BBQ is different to my population here in Ohio...People are thinking we are Applebee's with the ribs, but after they try them they are completly blown away by the taste and tenderness...(not to mention our homemade sauces)...5 days in now and I'm getting return business from a few dozen people...The town I'm in works off of word of mouth...It's painful waiting for it to reach the people...

Right now I'm getting rushes at certain times of the day...hopefully I can reel in the waste in the coming weeks...Plan on doing a marketing blitz starting next week...

Sean

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinBuckeye:
The town I'm in works off of word of mouth...It's painful waiting for it to reach the people...

Right now I'm getting rushes at certain times of the day...hopefully I can reel in the waste in the coming weeks...Plan on doing a marketing blitz starting next week

When you get a chance, read the book "The Tipping Point". It talks about how many people need to know about something before word of mouth starts to generate buzz on it's own.

I do marketing for other types of business and I have come to view most advertising as highly suspect. Print has gotten too expensive in a time when people don't read anymore. Radio and TV both require a long term strategy if they ever hope to be effective, and then you've got to run a lot of ad frequency. Internet, results vary based on community and type of business. Direct mail usually works reasonably well for restaurants but don't go crazy on coupons unless they're restricted to slow days, because a lot of people that use coupons won't come back until your next coupon runs.

For what direct mail costs per piece now, I can actually deliver BBQ sandwiches to local offices. That way they get to put a face with the name and get a free sample. I'm fortunate in that I have hundreds if not thousands of offices within 3 miles of my kitchen, and I've found that stopping by and offering to bring back BBQ sandwiches and beans later in the week is time and money well spent.

Individual mailings cost about $.80 and have a low conversion rate, so your cost per customer is much higher. Grouped mailings, Val-Pak for instance, get more responses total, but not better responses as a percentage of what you send out. Plus there's the cost of the premium or discount offered too. Either way, I figure that my cost to convert some individual into a paying customer is well above $1.00.

Using the plain white buns that we're famous for down here, 3oz chopped pork, slaw, and sauce costs me about $.70. Add 4oz of beans to the equation and I'm still under a dollar per person, and I have much greater confidence in the person calling me or suggesting me to someone else after they've tried my food than I would have just hoping to get them to call based on a postcard. Plus **I KNOW** that everyone I give a sandwich to works and eats in my area. No wasted effort.

I canvased half of an office park today asking if they ever used office catering, and will do the other half tomorrow. So far I've got about 35 offices that use catering/pick-up services, and next Monday I'll be delivering lunch to them with a nice stack of order sheets and menus. Assuming the ratio holds, I think all total I will give away maybe 500 sandwiches to just over 80 business.

I plan on doing this weekly through June at different office parks in the immediate area. If it cost $3,000 it won't be any more expensive than direct mail, and I just believe it will be more effective. Have you considered this approach, or is there enough concentrated development in your area to make it feasible?

I understand the sammich pricing better now. That's why I asked how you made it. The roll and to a lesser extent the portion would count a good ways toward pushing it to 5 bucks and the sharing the brunt on the ribs makes up for the rest.

If your ribs are quality and large, you'd have a hard time getting my buds outta your joint at the current price. I hope everything goes a well as it possibly can for you!! All the luck in the world to ya bud!

Todd...

The two ideas I have right now for advertising are...1) print several thousand 1/4 page flyers to hand deliver to the neighborhood. I also think that print media is to expensive and seems to get lost within the pages. I know I never look at ads. We are doing this venture as a family, so my thoughts are if we pass out flyers as a family/owners we can get the point across we are family owned and operated...2) I have thought about an ad blitz on the radio for one week time. Our local radio station hits the college campus and they do remotes that generate a good deal of interest. Outside of a one week blitz, I think it to expensive to mantain. I think most people are going away from radio and going to XM/SIRIUS...I know I have...

I planned on doing a rib giveaway this weekend for all who came in house and ordered an entree...Good idea on taking it to area business...I too will be starting delivery to local offices on Monday. Outside of pizza and subs, my local market is missing a competitive priced menu that has the food quality and differencre that we are doing here...

I think I will make extra ribs and pork for tommorrow and take it to the people.

SmokinBuckeye

Along with/instead of, consider fridge magnets, for two reasons.

1)People will keep them on their fridge, which gives them "legs" or lasting ad power.

2)Depending on homes in your area, if there are street mailboxes, you can put a magnet on the door of the box, or it might stick to their home door/garage door if it's metal. Also, offices can stick it to their file cabinets.

Vista Print (www.vistaprint.com) does magnets for me and they are reasonable and fast to deliver. Look on the left of the page under "promotion and events" for their magnet page.

Lastly, you can give out samples of pulled pork easily by using some type of packaged dinner rolls. The rolls cost roughly equals the cost of a portion cup and a fork, and it taste better. Down here it's Sunbeam or Holsom brands that make a 48 pack of rolls that measure about 2"x2" each. Just cut the whole package horizontally, spread out your meat, then flip the whole top back over for a quick 24 mini sandwiches. I do this too, and also use the same rolls for White Castle type sliders for kids.

Already have the magnets on the way...Plan on taking them to Chamber of Commerce members to put by their registers as well as for businesses to put on the file cabinet!!!

By the way...today was great!!! Sold out of 200-220# of pork...

We're the talk of the town!!!

Outstanding! Better go ahead and option the space next to you and get Jim at CS busy on your FEC750 you'll be needing pretty soon.