Searching for Food Truck Info

[CarolinaBornandBred]

Hello All!!! New to the board and have a few questions. I’ve searched the forum best I could and haven’t quite got all of them answered. So please bear with me here....

First off I will be purchasing the truck this week barring everything goes accordingly. We will cook the basics both breakfast and lunch consisting of; hamburgers, dogs, homemade fried taters, and bologna burgers. I’m looking to specialize in BBQ primarily pulled pork, smoked Mac and brisket(depending on demand).

Looking for different opinions on the following:

If doing breakfast (on site at 5am) would it be possible to get my meats done in time for lunch if I start smoking at 5ish? Is this possible using smaller cuts? I’m using a master built electric smoker and acquiring a pit boss pellet grill as well. Any opinions and information regarding this will be a great help.

If smoking overnight is the better option, what would be a good way of going about it.(I’d need to get some sleep I imagine lol!!) I’ve always wrapped around the 160 mark. I’m curious to know what the difference would be if I just smoked straight through without wrapping.

Those are the two biggest questions I have at the moment. Thanks for all the great tips and informative post to date. I’ve enjoyed the site tremendously. Any and all information will be greatly appreciated.

Jonathan

 

[SonnyE]

I believe what you need to do is a bunch of test runs.
Before you get the truck.
Don't go off half-cocked, feed some folks and find out how it goes.

 

[hardcookin]

I agree with Sonny. BBQ is a lot of work, And you have to move a lot of food to make it profitable.
Pork butts I would do the day before.
Sides take up a lot of room so you need to plan for that. And With the prices of Brisket it is hard to make a profit. Better profit in pulled chicken.

Good Luck with your new venture!!

 

[RiversideSm0ker]

Good luck Jonathan on your new venture. It won't be easy to be an immediate success but if you have the drive then try to follow through with everything you have. I agree about the brisket being a tough one to profit on. From the consumer perspective I am a pretty demanding customer. I want a lot for as little as possible. I'm pretty sure that most other people have a similar logic. I will pay for a superior product but only if I know that it is really superior. I won't know that until I try it. I won't try it unless it is cheap enough for it not be a huge disappointment if it turns out badly. So that's the catch 22 that you can be in. Pulled pork can be way less expensive and is easier to get right. Same thing with chicken but people want that more extravagant experience of a more robust cut. I would start out with the pork and chicken and perhaps do a brisket at a loss for a special item to gauge your customer reaction to your own brisket. An example of I will give is a place called Rebel BBQ in Blythe California. This place is 3 hours away from my house in the desert. They have amazing brisket and it's about $10 for a sandwich and a side. The sandwich is not huge but it's also not skimpy. The reason that I ever even ate there is because my work took me to this location one day. So I didn't pay for the gas to get there and the time was also being paid for. After eating there I will be honest that I have never driven there when I have not been at work but I have considered it. Just taking the wife on a long drive and having great bbq. The fact that I would even consider driving 3 hours for a brisket sandwich is the big deal. It's that good. If you have something that is that good, is easily accessible, and is affordable to your customer's thinking then you can profit from your brisket. There is a pretty respectable bbq joint here in town that has a good brisket sandwich that has a bit less meat and is just a bit less expensive. I have visited that place a few times but it's not a regular hangout. If Rebel BBQ was in the same location and charged exactly the same as they do now in there current desert location for the same amount of food you can get there, I would hit that place at least once a week. Even though I don't even go to BBQ restaurants any longer after tasting my own Q. I guess I didn't mean for this to become a lecture but I think my point is that if you do it right and price it right people will buy from you. It's in your hands. I wish you only success Jonathan.

George

 

[CarolinaBornandBred]

Good luck Jonathan on your new venture. It won't be easy to be an immediate success but if you have the drive then try to follow through with everything you have. I agree about the brisket being a tough one to profit on. From the consumer perspective I am a pretty demanding customer. I want a lot for as little as possible. I'm pretty sure that most other people have a similar logic. I will pay for a superior product but only if I know that it is really superior. I won't know that until I try it. I won't try it unless it is cheap enough for it not be a huge disappointment if it turns out badly. So that's the catch 22 that you can be in. Pulled pork can be way less expensive and is easier to get right. Same thing with chicken but people want that more extravagant experience of a more robust cut. I would start out with the pork and chicken and perhaps do a brisket at a loss for a special item to gauge your customer reaction to your own brisket. An example of I will give is a place called Rebel BBQ in Blythe California. This place is 3 hours away from my house in the desert. They have amazing brisket and it's about $10 for a sandwich and a side. The sandwich is not huge but it's also not skimpy. The reason that I ever even ate there is because my work took me to this location one day. So I didn't pay for the gas to get there and the time was also being paid for. After eating there I will be honest that I have never driven there when I have not been at work but I have considered it. Just taking the wife on a long drive and having great bbq. The fact that I would even consider driving 3 hours for a brisket sandwich is the big deal. It's that good. If you have something that is that good, is easily accessible, and is affordable to your customer's thinking then you can profit from your brisket. There is a pretty respectable bbq joint here in town that has a good brisket sandwich that has a bit less meat and is just a bit less expensive. I have visited that place a few times but it's not a regular hangout. If Rebel BBQ was in the same location and charged exactly the same as they do now in there current desert location for the same amount of food you can get there, I would hit that place at least once a week. Even though I don't even go to BBQ restaurants any longer after tasting my own Q. I guess I didn't mean for this to become a lecture but I think my point is that if you do it right and price it right people will buy from you. It's in your hands. I wish you only success Jonathan.

George

George thank you for the encouraging words. Is always good to hear what others anticipate during a visit. This will be a huge help in the planning and serving phase. Thank you sir.