What I am doing now is whats called Market Research. I am just trying to get my Barbecue out there to see if there is a solid consumer base that I can stand on before I decide to throw thousands of dollars at it. So to your point about caters and allowing me to serve, yes I will probably run into that issue, but I have to start somewhere.
There is no starting point that alleviates the laws required to prepare and serve BBQ for sale. You may not sell enough to cover costs for the first 90 days but your still on the hook for all the costs of being compliant to do your research.
In my previous reply forgot to ask do you run a BBQ business or catering business? Terrible news about your friend having to get ride of equipment. Did these new certs sneak up on them?? Just curious and really taking any information I can.
We cater and do most of the larger festivals in the Great Lakes region and some Farmers Markets in season.
In the BBQ business some old existing cookers are looked over or grandfathered in cases where the operation has a solid track record and the county doesn't have a firm requirement for labeled certification. In my case the county does not currently require a certified cooker but it's now required in some of the counties we travel to do festivals in.
I'm needing to replace some of my Lang smoker's that I'm really fond of and move to cabinet style units with certifications due to this reason. I'm faced with spending somewhere in the area of 35K in 2019 to buy a couple new cookers to make the same BBQ the old ones have made faithfully and without incident for some time now and an additional 75-100K for porch style trailers to install them on plus the possibility of having to replace some tow vehicles in the next few years.
As a start up invest in the long haul and buy a certified commercial cooker so you don't have to deal with that down the road it will be the law in all corners of the country soon enough.
But ultimately, it's not up to me or you but the health department they own you from day one and attempting to circumvent them in any way as a start up will make your years to come as a business a nightmare come inspection time.
Having a friendly and transparent relationship from day one with the health department and inspectors that is properly funded from a business standpoint to not cut corners or just get by on yields most operators that run a tight ship little more than a cursory glance when they inspect and everyone is happy.
Far as conducting "market research", your held to the same public health requirements as anyone else preparing food for consumption there is no legally doing it on the cheap and circumventing the rules.
Don't buy a thing until you sit down with the health department, your entire business plan will need to be written around compliance requirements to purchase what's needed. As I stated before, they hold total domain over you and your business and no other opinion on anything matters outside of what they require of you.
Also, look into getting your ServSafe certification right away it will help you before you initiate dealings with the health department and without a history in the food service business you may find it an asset in obtaining liability insurance.
Unless your flat broke and don't have much to lose in this life, be wary of conducting market research with a cooked and served product as a sole proprietor that's uninsured. Opportunists lurk in every corner of society these days and they would love nothing more than to call your home and life savings theirs for the taking.
