November 28, 2003. Wednesday grossed $50, closed Thursday. Smoked 2 turkey breasts using a blended cherry wood pellet for a family, Tommy's, Thanksgiving dinner. First time I tried that...they came out great. My turkey was the moistest there! Had many compliments. Today I grossed just over $50! If things don't get better very soon I will consider pulling the plug...I may have to!

Getting down to the mid 20's tonight. I hope nothing freezes like the water supply. I have it unhooked and will use the internal water tank if necessary. I need to try a heat tape on the water feed and hose to the trailer so it won't be such a pain when I leave each evening if it is going to freeze. I left all the lights on and purposely let the ice machine get low so it'll make ice tonight which will produce heat. I don't expect anything to freeze inside but it sure can be cold in the morning. There is no heater. The trailer warms quite quickly after I turn on the steam table. 

November 23, 2003. Saturday turned out pretty good too! It was the 2nd best day. Perhaps we are finally beginning to really catch on. We queried many folks about being closed on Wednesday and opening on Sunday. No one thought Wednesday was a problem some comments were to the effect that "we like bbq once a week and it doesn't matter which day". Everyone we asked thought Sunday would be a good idea.

The ribs have done much better this week and particularly the last 2 days. I'll buy another case of 16 St. Louis style ribs tomorrow. I did all this last case in the FE100 rather than the CS150...amazing how beautiful they come out.

There is this one, customer that I think is into marketing, has come by a few times and keeps promoting an idea of his. It is that we should offer a 99 cent menu! Have a small sandwich for 99 cents! He has actually written down several names for the sandwich; Mini Q, Krystal Q, Tiny Q, and about 4 more I can't think of. I have not been interested to think of anything like that yet. It just doesn't seem like you can make a bbq sandwich that small! 

Thanksgiving day we'll be closed enjoying a big celebration with Tommy's family. This year it'll be at a church instead of his father's house. I am going to smoke 3 fresh turkey breasts, 1 for the house and 2 for the gathering. Also I'll bring my coleslaw and Tommy is going to buy a container of our 3 potato salad. But what would really be killer is a Turducken! Maybe next year I'll get crazy and make one of them. The recipe sounds just outa sight! My mouth is watering right now.

November 21, 2003, night! Kinda tired but I have to let you know that there was a constant trickle after lunch then a little spurt again between 5 and 6. Today was the best day yet! Now let's hope that they all didn't come today and there will be business tomorrow. If there is then I think we might be onto something positive, I hope! Was up at 4 this morning to do some ribs and didn't sleep well before then and not much after then so...it's 9:30 pm,  ate Chinese on the way home, have taken a shower, answered those to my post on the KC forum,  and am now going to bed. Good night!

November 21, 2003, a bit after lunch rush! And a pretty good rush it has been. Now if we can get the evening crowd on their way home from work and are hungry, tired, and just got paid, we might just do nicely for the week and I'll be able to pay some bills! At the moment the check book is in the red but the one check that put us in the red was sent out yesterday to the state which takes them weeks before they cash it. But fear not I could have made a deposit yesterday instead of waiting until Saturday. The run so far today is very encouraging...mostly repeat customers, several new customers, and I think this is the most rib plates I have sold in a weeks time. And what is really nice is that I just took them out of the smoker this morning, so I can be proud when I fix ribs that they are fresh and juicy! Actually I think I have found a way to hold the ribs so I have absolutely no losses. I was loosing a lot in the beginning. Many other restaurant cooks may not agree with my method, which is so simple, but my customers have had no complaints and they seem to be coming back for more. What I do is when I shut down the smoker I then take each rack and wrap them tightly in film. I do one at a time while they are still hot. I then set them next to each other rather than stacking them because the film sticks and it seems like it may tear although it had yet. When they are cool somewhat I then stack them and put them in the refrigerator. Sometime I will cut them into halves for reheating and portioning. When I reheat them I just pop them in the microwave and heat them on my reheat meat program  cycle. If it is a whole rack I set the reheat cycle program to do a double portion. Sometime during the reheating I'll pause the cycle and turn the ribs over, I start with them bone side down. I then cut them up and sauce them generously. I also sauce my sandwiches which surprised another local bbq cook. Hey it seems to work for me...what I like about saucing the sandwiches is I can hide and pieces of fat I may have missed and sometimes after a long slow day the pork begins to brown from getting a bit dry. I do sprinkle with apple juice to try to avoid the drying, however.

Just did a sub total for the day and this is our best lunch yet and already has beaten the last each 2 days! Greaaaat! Boy I hope I didn't jinx anything!

Have had some emails and forum requests for some more of my spreadsheets. One important one to me is pricing for sandwich and pork plates (last modified 1515 EST 11/21). I am not including stew as a side yet but I will decide by the spreadsheet how much more to charge over the typical sides of potato salad, bbq beans, or coleslaw. You may not be able to understand at a glance everything but if you have Excel and you see my formulation you'll be able to figure what I mean.

I have been working on the Brunswick Stew spreadsheet to make it more easily usable with fewer inputs and more results. I'll let you all know when there is an update.

November 21, 2003. This last weekend we decided new days of opening. We changed the blinking sign it now reads, "BBQ     BBQ     BBQ       Beginning Nov 30      Open Sun 12 - 3     Thur  -  Sat 11 - 6" That is about all that'll fit on the four lines. So we'll be open the day before Thanksgiving and closed for the holiday then open for the first time on the following Sunday. Wednesday and yesterday were down but still just over $100 each...not very encouraging again! 

I have been looking at the fair calendars again. There is a large Blue Grass festival in May about an hour an half deeper into the mountains from here. I have asked Tommy if he knows anyone locally that may be a Lions Club member. They are the creators of the event. Just looking!

Thought about driving a dump truck locally on a day or 2 that I am off. I think I am sinking and am not seeing why it should get better during the winter.

November 13, 2003. Am at work at the "Q" and read an email that someone would also like to see my spreadsheet for the beans, again this is an Excel .xls file. The bean recipe came from the K.C. Forum archives. I use the original recipe with green peppers and not the skinned red and do not add any rub to the recipe but use what rub is used on the smoked meats. It might be better with the red peppers but their cost is outa sight and to much trouble for me to skin. Green peppers are generally about $.50 each, I use 2 for the double recipe, and the reds are upwards of $3.00 plus each! Even at Sam's the red's are prohibitive for my business. I never even tried the difference because of cost and I might really like it better, but I don't want to know!

November 12, 2003. Been asked on the K.C. Forum for the recipe and some details about the Brunswick Stew recipe that I have been serving. This link, in .txt format, will show you what I uploaded to the forum showing as much detail that I can give of how I make the stew for my business. Also if you would like to see a spreadsheet and have Excel or something that can read an .xls file you can download the file and view exact costs of each item per ounce, see the yield, profits, etc. And of course you can save and then manipulate the spreadsheet to your own market prices and liking. The cups are 8 ounces and the bowls are 16 ounces. Hopefully the links will work okay for you. I tested them and the spreadsheets asks me for my user name and password. I just hit cancel and it  loads the file into Excel. If it doesn't work please email me and let me know and I'll try to fix it tomorrow. My email.

November 10, 2003. Today we rented one of those signs for advertising. It is has an area of about 7 1/2 x 3 1/2 feet for inserting the letters and has lights on top the look like a flashing arrow. It rents for $40/month in this area and I understand Sam's Club sells them for around $400. I really am excited and think this will help. It is located fairly close to the highway just about where the old railroad bed used to be. The railroad still owns the right of way but they never have said anything to our neighbors large fixed sign on their property. Eventually all that right of way will be deeded to the adjacent property owners which will extend our usable area someday too. Now passing motorist will know when and if we're open plus I'll communicate a bit with featured items. I'll try to take a photo soon of the sign and its location and put it on here. Sure wish I could have a large electronic sign like those traffic information signs over the Interstate highways in the cities areas! 

Tuesday I'll be heading for Sam's Club for butts and miscellaneous items. I have decided to go back to Milton's for the St. Louis style spare ribs. They are very consistent and pretty. I tried the Sam's spares but I don't like some of the brands they buy. I did my own trimming and was using the trimmed meat for the stew but found it really isn't worth while. 

Someone on the K.C. forum ("Q-N-Texas") mentioned that Cook Shack, that is the smoker that is in the concession trailer, might consider a trade type of upgrade to a Fast Eddy 100. I called them and they will get back with me on that. I cannot afford to put any cash at the moment but it'll be something to dream about if they come up with a good deal. The priority, besides paying off a few that I owe, is to build a stairway and landing at the front of the trailer so I can fill dirt and gravel at the  back end and then close off the rear doors and build a drive through. That is the order for the drive through project; stairway, build up driveway, and build window, one by one as money is available. I hope this can occur soon because it sure is getting to get a bit chilly. We're now getting lows sometimes in the thirties, brrrr! There appears to be no heat strip in the overhead a/c unit. It has a switch position but no heat comes out. I don't think it is difficult to retrofit a heat strip or replace a bad one. So far last Saturday has been the only day without running any of the air conditioners. I did have one of the two ventilators over the steam table on most of the day, however. There are plenty of heat producing compressors and the steam table but don't know how much heat they'll produce for human comfort yet. 

The meat cutter at my Sam's, Mark, should be proud that, Bill Elliot, his home town's resident of Dawsonville, GA, won the Winston Cup NASCAR race at Rockingham, NC Sunday.  Pity though...Bill won the race and Matt Kenseth won the points for the year for NASCAR. There was 10 times more celebration for Kenseth then for Bill. It seemed like they almost forgot about Bill being the days race winner! The TV camera's didn't even show Bill's winning burnout but did show Matt's! Congrats Bill you deserved the win!

November 6, 2003. The repair men came today fairly early. They checked out the ice maker and found only that several adjustments were out of tolerance and explained how sensitive these machines are. One of the factors for things changing, they said, was the city water pressure. And it can change from day to day. I have a regulator but not so sure if that helps this situation. Anyway they spent over an hour adjusting and trying. It seems just fine so far. I think I'll go into the ice bagging business after buying ice for 2 days. You get very little ice for a lotsa money!

The stew is still a hit. I am doing all I can to keep up with it. Business is increasing throughout the day not just lunch time and supper time. I really think the stew has a lot to do with it. Seems like everyone is raving about it, that I am the only one serving Brunswick stew the way it should be. I am going to have to get another pot and cook 2 at a time.

Have come up with some interesting facts about the costs and yields of the meats. Trying to determine exactly what it costs me for the different foods I offer. I have a spreadsheet for everything I make down to the cost per ounce. I have assumed I was getting at least a 60% yield on pork and brisket. I weighed everything raw and then got the weight when I am ready to dump the meat into the pot to make stew. The pork is at least 60% as I thought, but the brisket, after smoking and getting rid of almost all the fat, yields only about 37%! Today I checked out the chuck roast and it yields 67%. The brisket cost about $1.18/lb while the roast cost $1.99, however the roast price was from Winn Dixie and not Sam's where is should be less especially if I buy a case. Chicken really blew my mind, the cost $.99/lb but the yield after boiling, removing the skin and removing the bones, is a mere 37%! When I was at Sam's the other day I bought their 5.5 lb pack of chicken breast, with the breast bone at $1.47/lb and thighs at $.78/lb for a 6.5lb pack. They offer skinless and boneless but I want those flavors. I  have done the breasts today and if I remember the figures correctly they yielded 77%! I'll make sure tomorrow and check my figures that I wrote down, but I am sure I am very close. Now do the math, which I haven't done yet, and let's see which is the best way.

Just had a thought. Here I am down the road a piece with this new bbq business and I am already figuring like I used to do while running the big truck. When I knew there was diesel 2 cents, or so, cheaper a gallon out of my route I would calculate and see if it was worth while to go that extra distance and time for the amount I could buy to fill up. Or there were times when I needed fuel and it was expensive but x amount of miles was cheaper fuel. Or when I was near cheap fuel but was burdened with almost being overweight and would calculate how much fuel to pump so I would burn off enough fuel to be legal at the scales! I used to do all kinds of figuring, math wise, in my head while driving. People many times would ask if I got bored driving all those thousand and thousand of miles and hours, sometimes I did, but mostly my head was running just like it is now...I'm doing that figuring again! I love it!

November 5, 2003. I guess things are slowly improving, at least I am enjoying it more. Still living from dollar to dollar,  however. Had to make a deposit from today's income because I'll be $28 over drawn if all the checks come in today, which I doubt they will, but better safe then sorry, especially at $20 fine per check that bounce!

New problem discovered yesterday...the new ice machine is barely making ice. I turned it on yesterday on the way to Sam's and Milton's for a few items. When I got back it had not made any ice and had gone into a shut down mode. Called warranty, which had me call Atlanta, which they turned me on to a local appliance dealer. They'll be here tomorrow morning. So I guess that means I will be buying several bags of ice for the next several days. It'll surprise me if they have any replacement parts. I know they'll do what they can because they have been by several times buying my bbq! They like it!

Mark, the meat cutter, from Sam's came by today and spent several hours with me. He brought his bbq sauce and a piece of his smoked meat. I made a sandwich with his sauce, it was very good. His is slightly sweet and more towards the vinegar side. I had to explain to him that I have nasal polyps and usually can not smell anything which means I can't taste either. Some cook I am eh? Can't even taste what I cook. Well I have some secrets of how I can make sure things are right. Some days I can taste and smell to an enjoyable level, however usually not all my smell sensors are receiving the scents. It's complicated! He has ordered a real super Klose 2x6 foot smoker with lot of options, like a 1/2" thick firebox, totally tuned smoking chamber. I think Klose guarantees something like 15*F tolerance from the fire box end of the chamber to the opposite end. In my opinion from all that I have read and my few conversation with Mr. Klose himself, I would say the Klose anything are the best on the market probably in the world. I almost spent $10,000 for one of his master pieces!

It was a very enjoyable meeting with Mark, he is truly a gentleman from good ole Dawsonville, Ga. He says he'll pull that new Klose for me to see...I told him it may not be able to leave after it gets here!

Today I was by myself, Tommy felt ill for the last few days. It was a busy day for me all day, I made more bbq sauce and bbq beans which took all day between things. When I got home I realized a physical accomplishment. My feet haven't been bothering me for many weeks now and, although tired, I am not that tired and my muscles aren't aching like not so long ago. Except for my right arm where I stopped at the VA outpatient clinic near Sam's, and got a flu shot!  My arm still hurts a bit right now. Feels like I have been "frogged"! Oh! And coleslaw too! I made coleslaw today too!

While at Sam's I treated myself to a smoked salmon (lox) ring, a 6 pack of cream cheese, and stopped on the way back for some Lenders bagels. That is the best I can do for bagels around here. But if you toast them a bit they are pretty darn good. Hmmm...I just love a lox bagel with a "shmear" of cream cheese! You guys in the big city know what I mean, right sis? Think that is what I'll have right now while I listen to the rain!