You work how many hours?

I've got more than a few friends in the restaurant business, and they all seem to work those hours or more, actually.

The questions is who is doing the work and when are you open.

If you have to get up and get the smoker going, do the prep work then you get an early start.

THEN if you're the one running the shop, how late are you open and who's running the kitchen? who's running the tables? who's running the cash. And how late are you open?

If it's not you, then probably take a few less hours. If it's not you, then is it someone you trust to run your business if you're not there?

That's why a business plan is a great thing, you can see the impact to time and expense for opening. can you afford for others to work and pay them, or are you doing all the work to cut down on expenses?

Bodacious,
Smokin' is right! 14 hours a day is average. We have been running a restaurant for six months now, and I can tell you....it ain't easy work! You can always hire people to do the work so you don't have to work so many hours, BUT........ Do you trust them to do the same quality work as yourself? Secondly, can you afford to pay them and you too. That is where most small operations fail. Payroll is the largest expense in most cases. It takes years to work yourself into a position so you can work somewhat normal hours and be able to afford it.

Zeb

I admire those who can do 84 hours a week. That can't be for me, though.

As I'm sure most of us do, we LOVE "Q". My other alternative is a PT pig roasting / catering gig.

I did 2 of them last year, one for me, and one for somebody else. Apparently it went real well, as I have booked 4 pig roasts for this year, but not really as a business, but a hobby.

We have a company in NJ, about 40 miles away from me that is booking about 5 parties ( pig roasts _ a week, all summer long. They only do parties for 50 people or more, and start at $600 per party.

My bigger party last year was about 85 people.

Probably easing into it, PT, is a better way for me to go.

It is a wise of you to be HONEST with yourself. It is better to know you can't/don't want to commit/devote almost your entire life to a business BEFORE you start than after you are already in up to your ears.
You can just do catering and make as much or more than running a resaurant, once the word gets out. Depending on the demand your hours should be considerably less than if you were running an establishment.
We do both...Man, it's tough sometimes! But, it is a VERY gratifying tired we suffer, for us.

Best wishes!
Zeb
Owner/Operator of Zeb's in Arden, NC.
P.S. Being realistic will carry you a long way.

Where is Arden? I'm headed down to Charlotte in late April and early May. Maybe I can take a trip your way.

I just finished helping someone open a place with his son, they are a lunch and dinner restaurant with 120 seats. They are not specifically a BBQ joint so they don't have anything that takes as long as Q to cook. They worked out the schedule like this. One of them goes in about 8am and works twelve hours, takes care of all the prep and opening duties. The other shows up right before opening (10am) and stays till all of the closing duties are complete, again about 12 hours. They do have a kitchen staff, wait staff, dishwashers, bartender and misc porters, hostesses etc. This schedule would work also for a two person shop, one opens and one closes and they both work through the lunch and dinner rushes. Is it easy, never is, but it can be very satisfying and enjoyable. I don't think there is anything better than seeing people happy and satidfied from the food you prepared for them. The ooohs and aaaahs make the hours worth while.

Tom, A lot of why I want to start a business is for the gratification of seeing my food make people happy.

I used to own a DJ business and that was the best aspect of that business too.

My wife is encouraging me to start this BBQ business, but we have twin 4 year old girls, and I know that I can't spend that much time on a venture that would require quite that much time.

Thanks all.