Catering do's and don'ts? Starting small. Tips and suggestions appreciated!!

[jitsntricks]

Hey all!

So, in an attempt to lessen the sting of my daughter's dance competition travel this summer, I'm considering selling some of my BBQ. I know it's going to be word of mouth and my wife is getting on the 'advertising' on Facebook for it. This is just simply a fund raiser attempt for this trip and I'm not wanting anything bigger, for now at least.

I guess what I'm wondering for those of us that have done something similar or even do catering, what are the best tips you can give me? How are you set up in terms of pricing? Do you sell by the pound? What about sides that you offer? How's business? If this is a side gig for you, how do you manage your day job with this side gig? What has your best avenue in 'advertising' been? What is your most popular item?

I also plan on making my own rub and sauces as I normally do. I'm not sure if that's going to be too much on my plate or what but I want this to be 'all me' if that makes sense.

Anyway, tips very much appreciated! Thank you!

[captainlee]

You may want to do some research from your locality whether you are required to have any type of department of health certifications since you are selling food products. Something else to consider is liability insurance. Don't mean to be a downer but you are selling product, for a good cause, but money is being exchanged. You might be fine but it's worth to check out. I know here you would be required to get health inspection certification to sell.

[kenrobin]

This is good advice. You may also be required to obtain a food safety manager certification as part of the catering licensing process as well as a business license with your municipality. Definitely check with your local health & safety department to make sure you know all of the requirements.

[captainlee]

Just remembered all the vendors here at the Sunday Farmers Markets that sell any type of cooked or pre cooked foods all have their health certificates posted at their booth.

[acorgihouse]

I hopped in here to say what captainlee just did

[STEbbq]

Some good advice here:

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/the-pit-mastery-program/misc-or-general-food-discusison/1487781-did-a-big-cook-yesterday-multiple-meats-i-d-like-some-feedback-on-pricing-for-friends-coworkers

[realdocBBQ]

That's my thread - interesting going back a coupla years and reading about it. I've done a number of similar cooks since then. Pretty interestin'...

[JeffJ]

I did it for about a year. Completely word of mouth without any licensing. Probably illegal but I did it anyways. Best bang for the buck was pulled pork sandwiches. I sold them by the sandwich and the profit margin was nice. Pork butt is cheap yet it sells well due to it being cooked low/slow.

[Spinaker]

HouseHomey

[PGH_RAM]

Another vote here for making sure you are properly licensed and insured. If you don't have the insurance, all it takes is one person getting sick and you'll be bankrupt.

[JoeSousa]

I will tell you that Washington State has some of the most restrictive food laws in the country. My wife has a food business and the hoops we have had to jump through are pretty ridiculous.

Not sure on your particular situation but if you are selling food it all needs to be prepared in a commercial kitchen. There are plenty of commissary kitchens you can rent space in but the big problem you will run into will be the lack of a smoker.

Once you have the food cooked you also need ways to keep it hot or cold as you serve it which adds another layer of cost and complexity.

Don't want to rain on your parade but doing BBQ as just a side thing for catering and doing it legally is pretty rough. That said if you just cook for a graduation party for a friend or cater your friend's daughter's wedding rehearsal dinner or whatever I don't think the health department will be banging down your door. But if you are planning on advertising and doing it as a real business there will be a lot to think through.

[PGH_RAM]

Carolyn black market food pop-ups are pretty common, but when the hammer drops on them it falls pretty hard in the form of fines and equipment confiscation. That having been said, some of the best tamales I've ever had were out of the trunk of someone's car.

[jitsntricks]

Thanks for the info.
Yeah, I definitely don't want to go the commercial route and was thinking more along the lines of parties and get togethers for friends and family.

[Carolyn]

PGH_RAM We had a lady that brought tamales to our office that were pretty good. She made them in her home kitchen.

If you look at the restaurant health inspections, even the ones with an "A" rating have some scary stuff on their reports sometimes.
I guess you are taking a chance no matter who you buy food from.

[Carolyn]

I see you have a lot of kettles. How many pounds of pork can you make at one time? Just curious.

Good luck, I hope you can get it figured out, so you can help pay for the travel expenses.

[jitsntricks]

Thanks!
And no, I don't have any kettles. I just have a pit barrel cooker, a weber smokey mountain, a UDS I made with a friend, and now a stumps gravity fed cabinet style smoker.

Thanks for the kind words, though!

[Carolyn]

I was looking at another person's signature. Oops.🙂

[realdocBBQ]

I do sales at work and my office maybe once a month or so, maybe every other month in cooler months.

Mostly pulled pork sells pretty well. Pulled chikkin sells ok, but is a lot more work than pulled pork, though it does cook quicker.

Brisket is almost not worth the hassle, it just doesn't sell well here, and at the prices I have to charge to make it worthwhile, I seldom bother.

Pork belly sells decent and is easy. I do bologna chunks occasionally.

Usually I make enough to pay for whatever meat I want to keep for my family and a few bucks extra. I don't get rich at it. Sometimes I'll have a couple hundred bucks to spare after a weekend of busting my butt, but it inevitably ends up having to go to one of the kids in college, or repairs on one of their cars, or my truck, or something like that. Never really get to enjoy the money from my efforts. And it's usually a pretty busy weekend, at least one full day of cooking, portioning, packaging. And sometimes delivering.

Don't expect to get rich, or even to make a significant amount of money at it unless you're going to really get serious about it, doing it really regularly AND advertising and spreading the word. And, of course, then you're looking at having to go the official, food-certified, state licensed route. More money, more time, more hassle.

I can't do that here, as the ONLY way you can legally sell cooked meat products is to be affiliated with a state-licensed and inspected commercial kitchen. Thus, you have to cozy up to someone who owns a restaurant, a food truck, or rent space in a commercial kitchen - just to park your smoker outside and not even use it. Like, seriously.

So... that's that.