What makes the not so good bbq restaraunts successful

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mrob22

Fire Starter
Original poster
Jun 12, 2017
69
22
Texas
If that makes sense I am curious of what keeps them open. My dream is to open my own some day or atleast have a catering business at some point.
Anyways my question is why do these subpar restaraunts stay open? Many of the places I have eaten at have horrible brisket, dry chicken and ribs that just don't taste good yet they have been open for years.

Do people just go because they read bbq and haven't had any that is worth eating? Just a random thought.
 
This is a very subjective topic, but a discussion worth having. 

The VAST majority of people grill; they don't smoke.  Grilling has become synonymous with BBQ in some parts of the country (here out West), where BBQ in other parts of the country means only smoked or both smoked and grilled meat. 

There are a LOT of people who cannot grill or smoke due to restrictions in their apartments or HOAs.  Anything they eat that tastes like it was made in the same zip code as burning wood tastes like heaven to them.  California is full of places like that.  Dry or not, as long as there is sauce on the table, even the hint of hickory or oak taste on the meat sends people into taste bud ecstasy. 

The places my wife and I used to frequent for BBQ, even the true stuff, just doesn't work for us any more once I started smoking.  Now, if we go back there at all, we only get their leftovers; anything chopped/pulled and sauced.  We've given up on getting juicy beef, pork, or chicken at those places.  I serve that at home.

The good thing is serving friends and family, then hearing "This is the best (insert meat here) I've ever eaten."  I never get tired of hearing that.     

Edit:  I just realized that NONE of my neighbors grill or smoke any longer.  I live in a tract home, and due to the size and location of our lot, our backyard touches boundaries with four, almost five, neighbors.  The neighbors who used to grill or smoke have moved.  All the new neighbors have been there less than two years.  The new neighbors, all millennial types, do not even grill!  And one neighbor even has an outdoor kitchen with a gas grill.  I don't get it.     
 
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This is a very subjective subject, but a discussion worth having. 

The VAST majority of people grill; they don't smoke.  Grilling has become synonymous with BBQ in some parts of the country (here out West), where BBQ in other parts of the country means only smoked or both smoked and grilled meat. 

There are a LOT of people who cannot grill or smoke due to restrictions in their apartments or HOAs.  Anything they eat that tastes like it was made in the same zip code as burning wood tastes like heaven to them.  California is full of places like that.  Dry or not, as long as there is sauce on the table, even the hint of hickory or oak taste on the meat sends people into taste bud ecstasy. 

The places my wife and I used to frequent for BBQ, even the true stuff, just doesn't work for us any more once I started smoking.  Now, if we go back there at all, we only get their leftovers; anything chopped/pulled and sauced.  We've given up on getting juicy beef, pork, or chicken at those places.  I serve that at home.

The good thing is serving friends and family, then hearing "This is the best (insert meat here) I've ever eaten."  I never get tired of hearing that.        
I agree....most people don't know any other bbq, so they think that is the best.
 
well up here in Canada i can say we dont have much of a BBQ  food culture. so most people have grown up going  to chain restaurants  that serve "BBQ" but its steamed ribs covered  in sauce caramelised  on the grill for a few min. or or  "bbq joints" that serve like pulled pork and brisket done in the kitchen oven covered in BBQ sauce.

most people have never really had  true quality BBQ  so its all they know. its starting to change there are a few top quality wood fired joints id say there are like 3-4  good real BBQ joints in  Ontario around Toronto in the past 2-3 years  
 
I agree most people think sloppy joe pulled pork is good BBQ and have never really good cue. People like drive through convenience type of places they can go and get "BBQ".  I think once a person has had really good cue they don' t want the sub standard at least i don't. I don't have a good answer for this one but i know right now in the US the UK and in Australia there is a revitalization of BBQ and there is a high demand for it. Maybe there is more demand and so the bottom end of the supply is still needed.

Mysteries of the world,

phatbac (Aaron)
 
This is a very subjective topic, but a discussion worth having. 

The VAST majority of people grill; they don't smoke.  Grilling has become synonymous with BBQ in some parts of the country (here out West), where BBQ in other parts of the country means only smoked or both smoked and grilled meat. 

There are a LOT of people who cannot grill or smoke due to restrictions in their apartments or HOAs.  Anything they eat that tastes like it was made in the same zip code as burning wood tastes like heaven to them.  California is full of places like that.  Dry or not, as long as there is sauce on the table, even the hint of hickory or oak taste on the meat sends people into taste bud ecstasy. 

The places my wife and I used to frequent for BBQ, even the true stuff, just doesn't work for us any more once I started smoking.  Now, if we go back there at all, we only get their leftovers; anything chopped/pulled and sauced.  We've given up on getting juicy beef, pork, or chicken at those places.  I serve that at home.

The good thing is serving friends and family, then hearing "This is the best (insert meat here) I've ever eaten."  I never get tired of hearing that.     

Edit:  I just realized that NONE of my neighbors grill or smoke any longer.  I live in a tract home, and due to the size and location of our lot, our backyard touches boundaries with four, almost five, neighbors.  The neighbors who used to grill or smoke have moved.  All the new neighbors have been there less than two years.  The new neighbors, all millennial types, do not even grill!  And one neighbor even has an outdoor kitchen with a gas grill.  I don't get it.     
This is a very subjective topic, but a discussion worth having. 

The VAST majority of people grill; they don't smoke.  Grilling has become synonymous with BBQ in some parts of the country (here out West), where BBQ in other parts of the country means only smoked or both smoked and grilled meat. 

There are a LOT of people who cannot grill or smoke due to restrictions in their apartments or HOAs.  Anything they eat that tastes like it was made in the same zip code as burning wood tastes like heaven to them.  California is full of places like that.  Dry or not, as long as there is sauce on the table, even the hint of hickory or oak taste on the meat sends people into taste bud ecstasy. 

The places my wife and I used to frequent for BBQ, even the true stuff, just doesn't work for us any more once I started smoking.  Now, if we go back there at all, we only get their leftovers; anything chopped/pulled and sauced.  We've given up on getting juicy beef, pork, or chicken at those places.  I serve that at home.

The good thing is serving friends and family, then hearing "This is the best (insert meat here) I've ever eaten."  I never get tired of hearing that.     

Edit:  I just realized that NONE of my neighbors grill or smoke any longer.  I live in a tract home, and due to the size and location of our lot, our backyard touches boundaries with four, almost five, neighbors.  The neighbors who used to grill or smoke have moved.  All the new neighbors have been there less than two years.  The new neighbors, all millennial types, do not even grill!  And one neighbor even has an outdoor kitchen with a gas grill.  I don't get it.     


I agree....most people don't know any other bbq, so they think that is the best.
Exactly. I am actually fortunate enough to have a really good BBQ place here in town but before they opened all we had was Sonny's, which I've always described as the McDonalds of BBQ. No boundaries is right, there's nothing better than hearing the wife and friends tell you they just had some of the best BBQ they've ever had while eating what you've smoked. I have a buddy with a 50 guest birthday party coming up this weekend that they were going to have catered, I was absolutely flattered and honored when they asked if I would be willing to smoke all the meats for the party. I of course said yes and will probably call in sick on Friday to make sure all ends up well lol.
 
Economics. The sad truth is typically a restaurant will go under when serving real "quality" foods that have been given the love and attention they deserve as you would at home. They simply don't have that kind of wiggle room in their profit margins. Words like "efficiency" and "productivity" make the business stay out of the red. No matter what they serve, the restaurant has to make money on it and THAT my friend is the priority, and the sad truth. A subpar restaurant is way more likely to stay open if they can keep their prices down and cut costs just enough to people walk out "not unhappy". The customer doesn't even have to think "That was the best ____ I ever had".
 
It has gotten to the point where I will not pay for bbq at a restaraunt. If I am going to spend the money I will go buy the meat and cook it myself. It just frustrates me when I hear people talk about how good some of these places are when they certainly nowhere near good. I work at a hospital and the cafeteria serves brisket occassionally. I always hear someone comment "the bbq brisket is good" and it is oven cooked and completely drowned in sauce. I occassionally pop off and ask when the cafeteria got a smoker and always get the reply, they don't have one.

Pretty sad when you know when bbq brisket day is by the overwhelming smell of bbq sauce and never the smoke
 
I have always assumed its about how folks are raised these days. Seriously.

People were not exposed to hand cranked ice cream or smoked meats. I am guessing the majority of those you refer to are latch-key generation or younger. They were brought up on fast food with the occassional foray into the more expensive places to impress for special occassions 

Women worked and paid for house cleaning and kids loved Kraft Mac & Cheese as a meal.

I actual knew a woman who thought pork strips all day in trhe crock pot with a bottle of Kraft BBQ sauce was pulled pork. And all they neighbors swore by her BBQ!

You have to be exposed to know the diffrence. 

And another thing, we are teaching kids today to eat healthier. You pull out smoked home made bacon or good old greasy pork sausages, maybe a brisket with that fat seperation, although great food, you know you can't do it too often. We no longer work outside so we can burn that kind of food off anymore. 

People aren't exposed to good food too often anymore, we are more about convience.
 
That makes a whole lot of sense, Growing up we had family BBQ's nothing ever smoked but we looked forward to them. Then as time goes on we venture out and try some pretty sub par thins we thought were good. Since me introduction to I thought was Good stuff was my stops in Texas then Brief trip to Louisiana. Wow what an eye opener.... That got me started, I am by far no expert but I really do enjoy it. Now when we travel or stop by the newer BBQ joints around I like to compare to ours some are better some are not. It is also a time thing I believe, a lot of people just don't have the time or are ready to dedicate the time to it. It's just not convenient to them or life style. I have more opinions but I will keep them to my self lol. Eventually I will go to a wood fired smoker as well although I love my pellet pooper, It is another step in the process of Good Q.... my 2 cents
 
There's plenty of lame BBQ here in Ohio, but real places have been popping up in the last 5 - 10 years and it's a growing trend. Any corporate chain restaurant will serve the kind of heated and sauced stuff described above. And all of it has to be dripping with sugar. You don't see something like a mustard/vinegar BBQ offered around here.

If you look around here you can find some non-Q smoked foods like old-school European sausages, bacon, hocks, etc. Go north and they're smoking fish everywhere around the Great Lakes.
 
Lots of good points in these posts. Probably a combo of many things. Have to include the fact that subpar chains usually have ad campaigns that draw people in while most family owned businesses have a minimum budget for that. Most people go to what they see advertised.
 
Lots of good points in these posts. Probably a combo of many things. Have to include the fact that subpar chains usually have ad campaigns that draw people in while most family owned businesses have a minimum budget for that. Most people go to what they see advertised.
Having worked on both the sales and finance side of advertising companies, I learned how expensive advertising can be.  Once upon a time, folks only had word-of-mouth, yellow pages, newspaper, radio, TV, direct mail, billboards, and local magazines/flyers to choose from.  All that changed about 20 years ago or so with the explosion of websites and a business required to have a presence on the Internet.  The online choices thrust upon businesses now are out of control.  The costs are astronomical.  The price calculations for Internet advertising require a PhD to understand, and often the result claims are cooked by the seller to appear more effective than they truly are.  Advertising companies often have profit margins in the 30-70% range.  They'll deny it all day long publically, but I've heard what is said behind closed doors. 

Social media has had a big impact bringing things back in line for small businesses, but even SM isn't a level or honest playing field.  My heart goes out to the small business owner who just wants to deliver a service or product to the public and make a decent buck along the way.  Restaurants operate on a small margin, and the advertising companies are like sharks.  Like Jimmy Buffet says "you got fins to the left, fins to the right, and you're the only bait in town!"       
 
I don't understand it either. I recently had to plan a BBQ lunch for my workplace (100 people). I was told we always use this local place to cater and it is okay at best. When I asked if I could get a quote from another place I was told no, we had to use another place 2 years ago and everyone was unhappy.  We are in North Carolina people around here know what pull pork should look like/ taste like but this place showed up with what looked like ground up mush that had not even a hint of smoke and people where loving it. I am not a big pulled pork fan but we have great local places who do a it right and yet sub-par food is well received. The director and I talked about this afterwards, his favorite place is has been in Southern Living and Bon Appetit. He said it's only redeeming quality was that it saves the us money because it is cheaper. Good luck to you and support good BBQ!
 
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