Need opinions on what to charge for services?

[goat]

$300 plus mileage. I assume you are roasting the pig, smoking the ribs, doing the kabobs, and they are furnishing everything.

 

[jasandalb]

I think your overlooking your time smoking these at your house, using your equipment. Dont forget your using your time. True, they are paying you for it.
My suggestion, estimate how much you are going to be cooking....then call a local Q joint that sells or caters. Get their price for the amount of food and knock 15-20% off their price.
We have a Q joint called Sonny's as well as Fred Flemings (kinda chains) and you can say you want 45 slabs of ribs, etc...
If they are charging me $250 for the ribs then knock $40-$50 off their price. AS LONG as it still covers your costs.

 

[goat]

I can sell ribs, no problem for $20/slab.

 

[flyin'illini]

Here is another data point for you. At church, we are getting a pig roasted for a church picnic in June and they are charging $100 to roast it. (on top of meat cost)

 

[blacklab]

I never sold any of my product sure would like to

. Anyway there's a guy a few mile away that rents a corner of a small parking lot and sells his Q out of like a concession stand. He gets $25 a slab never bought any ribs but tried his pulled pork a few years ago. I must say it was tasty.

 

["hi"]

Sorry if I mislead, the pig they are buying from somewhere else. The sish-ka-bobs are thier doing as well, all Im doing is throwing them on the BBQ and cooking to thier liking.


I will be smoking "X" amount of ribs, taking them to his house, BBQ the ribs about 5-10 minutes per side as I base them w/ BBQ sauce. Then BBQ the sish-ka-bobs and thats it. They will be paying for all the meat, spices, wood, foil and anything else I might need.

 

[t-bone tim]

I pay approx $ 6.00 for a side of spares st.louis style , without the skirtmeat ... smoke em 3-2-1- style and sell them for $ 20 , just my .02 worth .

 

[goat]

How much do you make a day at your job? How far do you have to travel to the gig? How much is it worth to you to use your equipment? How much is your bbq expertise worth? Answer these, total them up and you will know what to charge.

 

["hi"]

About $40 an hour..........well thats the thing, I do it for the "fun" of it........hell I smoke & BBQ almost every weekend for my friends for FREE, so why not make a little side $ doing what I like to do????

 

[waysideranch]

The guy needs your services to make his party a success. Your equip. and time. Its worth more than you think. This guy is already telling quests that there will be good smoke & Q. So when a person needs a specialty service they will pay a nice $. Anyone can cook on a grill but to pull off enough food for 75 takes a special touch. I'd probably demand some beer in there somewhere. Only my opinion.

Scott

 

[dono]

I don't know anything about pricing in the states , but I can tell you that BB Ribs for 75 , smoked and delivered to my house. as well as BBQ'd with kabobs on the side for 250$?

were do I sign up I want to hire you for at least 2 partys :-)

up here if you tossed in a self serv salad table and some baked potatoes you could easily charge 15$ A person

so 75X15 =1125$ so ya 250$ is way cheap in my eyes

 

[crewcab4x4]

Right on with the beer wayside. Plus the $ for your time Your looking at close to 10 hrs. It's up to you what your time is worth. But don't forget about the beverages.

Jason

 

[geob]

DonO is right on the money. If you do this for firends or anybody CHEAP will keep you BUSY and BROKE. Smoking in fun, making money while doing it in even more fun.

geob

 

["hi"]

Cool, so looks like Im gonna have to up the "Services Fee"

 

[jerrykr]

the more racks you cook, the more you can double or triple!!!

 

[gabriel]

Dunno if this was mentioned or not, but possibly take part of what you make off this venture (or all of it if you really don't need it) and maybe invest in a bigger smoker. Even if this guy is hiring you only 2 or 3 times a year it still would make it worth it to have something with a bit more opportunity to increase your output.

You can always keep your existing one for family affairs and pull out the big boy for these such occasions.

I definately envy you, I'd love to hone my smoking skills on someone else's dime.

My $.02

 

[neens]

I found this on another fourm it might help you. It is an excel sheet that helps you plan catering. You can input how many meats and how many serverings per lb and it gives you how much to buy then you put in your cost and it will tell you how much to charge and what % profit you will make. It is too big to post but if you post or PM me an email adress I will get it to you.

 

[smok'n steve]

Sounds like fun! You are the only one who knows what too charge. keep records of all consumables, foods, spices, fuels, and yes, even ppr towels. Then, figure what you want to get for an hour of "funwork".

We can't help you---you can only do this on your own:-) A sale is an agreement between 2 people:-)

Steve

 

[zapper]

T&M Time and material or cost plus is about the fairest way to do things. Tell your client that you have a minimun of X amount and an hourly of Y amount I would push for $200 minimun and $35 to $55 hourly depending on what kind of car his wife drives.

Be honest and accurate about your time. Include your time to the store for supplies, set up, clean up, bookkeeping, travel to and from, everything that takes time away from your life for this project gets billed to this project.


Keep all of your receipts for this project and buy everything new for this project and prorate the leftovers for the client or surender all unused consumables to the client. Using your half can of paprika out of the pantry is thrifty, but you need to get paid to replace it, keep that in mind.



If you have 10 hours in this project and you charged $35 an hour that puts you at $350. I would do it for $350 and the fun of doing it. Keep in mind though, this is also prime time, the weekend and that should be reflected in the pay.

Ultimately you will have to do your own negotiating and evaluating the profit/loss end of it all and compare it to your standard.




As for stacking ribs? Not in contact like laying atop of each other, the smoke and heat would have a hard time working its majic. Rib racks are another Idea but I am not familar with your rig and I know that some racks seem to work better in some smokers than others just because of size and design charactoristics (SP)? I am an advocate of more cooking grates/grills/levels. Maybe double you cooking area by using bricks or the likes to support another level of grate/grill over your existing level.



At any rate, good luck and keep us posted.


Oh yeah, post pics if you can, we all like it when a plan comes together!