British BBQ Society Forums

Hello everyone, My name is Wes and I am a BBQ fanatic! Can't get enough of the stuff! all started a few years ago with a trip to the west coast USA where my friend took us to Phills BBQ in San Diego and have been hooked ever since. Love cooking meats at home and make all my own rubs, still getting into the sauce and glaze making but hey it's coming along! I'm wanting to take my food to the public at some point with the hopes of maybe opening up a restaurant one day, was thinking at some point this year I could start out with a stall at fairs and events etc butt will have to see if i can make this a reality. I suppose I'm looking for as many tips and helping words from everyone about this kind of thing and at the same time Introduce myself!

Thanks!

Welcome and have fun.

Now then lad, good to see another Yorkshireman here (I'm from just down the road in Sheff).

Si on here has started up a catering business doing low n slow, he's your man to speak to about that. It's a very tempting idea, what puts me off is the having to comply with H&S rules - my backyard cooking relies on the sterilisation process known as FIRE and little else in the way of food safety

Lot of folk on this forum heading to Grillstock - myself included. There is one in Manchester but I'm heading to the Bristol one, which I think will be the most popular - hope to see you there!

What do you cook on?

Hi and Welcome
If you are thinking about catering, go for it, but make sure you comply with food safety and hygiene reg's and get good insurance.
Si

robgunby wrote:Now then lad, good to see another Yorkshireman here (I'm from just down the road in Sheff).

Si on here has started up a catering business doing low n slow, he's your man to speak to about that. It's a very tempting idea, what puts me off is the having to comply with H&S rules - my backyard cooking relies on the sterilisation process known as FIRE and little else in the way of food safety

Lot of folk on this forum heading to Grillstock - myself included. There is one in Manchester but I'm heading to the Bristol one, which I think will be the most popular - hope to see you there!

What do you cook on?

Believe it or not I cook on a cheap little thing (from asda £20!) but at the moment I'm tweaking my rubs and sauces and hopefully going to invest in a nice standing smoker pretty soon, been looking at the bradley smokers and they seem pretty good for the cash but only time will tell what happens! hopefully I can get myself sorted with some kind of stand/mobile cooking thing and then maybe open up either a restaurant or a grab n go place, i'm leaning more towards the restaurant style but like i said only time will tell! what sort of set up do you use?

CyderPig wrote:Hi and Welcome
If you are thinking about catering, go for it, but make sure you comply with food safety and hygiene reg's and get good insurance.
Si

thanks! I know all about the health and safety reg's used to work in a chain store that did butchered meats and cooked foods and had to abide by a lot of rules but most of it is just common sense really! thanks for the tips though I will definitely look at these factors at some point and let y'all know!

wezabeza wrote:[quote="robgunby"
Believe it or not I cook on a cheap little thing (from asda £20!) but at the moment I'm tweaking my rubs and sauces and hopefully going to invest in a nice standing smoker pretty soon, been looking at the bradley smokers and they seem pretty good for the cash but only time will tell what happens! hopefully I can get myself sorted with some kind of stand/mobile cooking thing and then maybe open up either a restaurant or a grab n go place, i'm leaning more towards the restaurant style but like i said only time will tell! what sort of set up do you use?

I now have a UDS, (built with lots and lots of help from Si), but started on a cheap cylindrical lidded barbecue that I was grilling on one day and thought - hang on - I can *close* this lid! A neighbour then donated an ECB to the cause (unwanted christmas pressie), and it took off from there. My back yard now looks like a redneck's, with about 6 different grills, smokers and kettles!

I strongly considered a Bradley for the ease of use, but the cost, and the tie-in to buying "pucks" of their branded wood, put me off.

If you want electric, unattended smoking though, they do look like they would do the job marvellously. Just the ticket for a small restaurant I'd say!

robgunby wrote:

wezabeza wrote:[quote="robgunby"
Believe it or not I cook on a cheap little thing (from asda £20!) but at the moment I'm tweaking my rubs and sauces and hopefully going to invest in a nice standing smoker pretty soon, been looking at the bradley smokers and they seem pretty good for the cash but only time will tell what happens! hopefully I can get myself sorted with some kind of stand/mobile cooking thing and then maybe open up either a restaurant or a grab n go place, i'm leaning more towards the restaurant style but like i said only time will tell! what sort of set up do you use?

I now have a UDS, (built with lots and lots of help from Si), but started on a cheap cylindrical lidded barbecue that I was grilling on one day and thought - hang on - I can *close* this lid! A neighbour then donated an ECB to the cause (unwanted christmas pressie), and it took off from there. My back yard now looks like a redneck's, with about 6 different grills, smokers and kettles!

I strongly considered a Bradley for the ease of use, but the cost, and the tie-in to buying "pucks" of their branded wood, put me off.

If you want electric, unattended smoking though, they do look like they would do the job marvellously. Just the ticket for a small restaurant I'd say!

Yeah the wood "pucks" put me off too but theres a few sources that sell big bags pretty cheap so might give it a whirl if i can build up the bank roll between going snowmobiling in west yellowstone and going back to college, although if i could set up something successful with this BBQ dream then I probably wouldn't go back into education

Sage advice - do college, then set up the business. Always good to have an education to fall back on!

Is the biggest bradley big enough for a restaurant? I always imagined one of those rotating log burning smokers