The barbeque business is flourishing in these hard economic times!  The barbeque restaurants that we’ve seen most of our lives are still going strong and bringing in new customers daily. The reason is simple.  Barbeque has always been reasonably priced, as well as a popular item on the menu.

This is about something more important than the standard mom and pop barbeque cafe’.  This is about folks who use their imagination to earn money in troubled times like we’re living in now.  Those who have lost their job due to the economy are falling back on their hobbies to make enough money to support their families.

A few months ago, while driving down the road to the west of my house, I smelled a familiar aroma even before I identified the source.  Curiosity was getting the best of me as I approached a convenience store and saw a large barbeque grill billowing smoke as it sat by in a parking space by the side of the store.

I pulled into the store’s parking lot and walked over to the smoking grill.  The grill was a black 55 gallon barrel, sawn in half vertically with hinges holding the two sides together, making a lid that covered a steel grate.  Another grate in the bottom half of the barrel held charcoal. 

The top was opened and on a warming rack laid a row of ready-to-eat barbequed pork ribs.   Barbeque chicken was cooking on a grate about 12 to 15 inches from the charcoal. 

While I was standing there waiting for my order, two more cars drove up to the homemade barbeque grill and bought two whole chickens and a rack of barbequed ribs.  I purchased a rack of ribs and waited until business was slack for a moment and asked the man some questions about he got started.  He was glad to tell me how he had made an idea into something profitable.

5 important tips on how he managed to do this:

The key to survival in the pig-eat-pig barbeque business is that you have to a big ego! You have to believe that you are an expert in the field of pulled pork. Most people who have achieved this level of belief are already experts in this field; at least in their own back yards.  You don’t have to have a lot of experience. You just have to cook barbeque better than your neighbor if you want to sell it!

A grill is a must, preferably something big enough to cook a lot of meat.  Most of the street corner barbeque stands I’ve seen use large black barrels cut in half, although I have seen a couple of portable ones that are made of steel.  Obviously these are the folks who have invested in their business by upgrading their equipment.  Do the baby back ribs taste better cooked on one of these grills on wheels?  Not necessarily.

Location!  Location! Location!  This is the key, not only in real estate, but in the barbeque business also.  Barbeque in the south is such a favored food, people do follow the scent of hickory smoke, so, as James Earl Jones once prophetically announced, “If you build it they will come!”

Make sure you are following all local commercial laws.  As sad as it is, in the city there are business license issues that have to be dealt with.  It’s a depressing sight to see a man with a picture of a pig on his apron, staring through a haze of smoke at a city official that is writing him a ticket for not having a license.  The government has no heart when it comes to freedom of barbeque.  They’re against it unless they can tax it!

Give it your all while you’re working. Most of the fellows who have turned to barbeque for their income only fire up the grill on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  You’ll only have the weekend to get the public addicted to great tasting food, guaranteeing a return purchase from them next week.  Sell yourself as well as the meat you’re cooking.

In various parts of my town I have counted as many as 8 barbeque grills in the parking lots of established businesses.  These barbeque maestros usually pay the establishment a fee for the use of the space he is using, but sometimes they don’t charge at all.  Give them a pound of barbeque and the rent is paid.

When jobs are scarce, it’s good to know that something as humble as southern barbeque can make a difference in someone’s economic life.

Bob Alexander  is well experienced in outdoor cooking, fishing and leisure living.  Bob is also the author and owner of this article.  Visit his sites at:
http://www.redfishbob.com
http://www.bluemarlinbob.com

 

 
The weather guy says that today is going to be beautiful!  A bright sunny day will keep the temperature in the low 70’s and a gentle southerly breeze has made me forget that tomorrow will be a day when I’ll see a few flakes of snow. 
 

God made this kind of day for us in the midst of winter, so we could get outside, dust the leaves off the old barbeque grill and soak up the sun while smoke from the grill drifts down the street and make all the neighbors envious!
 

Not being one who questions the Lord’s motives for such a wonderful day, I’ve already raked a path through the leaves to the concrete pad where my smoker/grill proudly stands.  Neglected since Thanksgiving when I smoked the yearly turkey, after taking off the black cover that helps prevent rusting, I’ll throw out leftover ashes from the last cookout.  Not that I’m lazy, but the ashes are still hot when you finish cooking the meat, so I leave them there until the next time I need the smoker.
 

The barbeque grill is already clean and with just a little dusting and rinsing off, it’s ready to use.  I always clean the cooking grid immediately after use.  If you allow the grease, bits of fat and meat that collect on the cooking surface to remain there until the next cookout, there could be bad stuff growing there that even a hot fire wouldn’t kill. 
 

It’s also an attractant to dogs and other animals that just can’t resist the aroma of freshly cooked meat.  Before I learned the importance of having a clean cooking grid on my backyard grill, I would hear something crash in the night and wake up to see my grill turned upside down by some critter with food on its mind.
 

A few days ago my neighbor Marvin told me that he had read somewhere that smoke from a barbeque fire is dangerous; it could even kill you if you breathe enough!  Well, if that’s true, then that’s the way I want to go! 
 

It is true that fat will burn faster than lean meat.  Because of that, it can more easily become scorched and possibly contain carcinogens in the charred areas.  That research is inconclusive at this time, so I’m not worried about it.  It seems to be another “cranberry scare”. 
 

Back in the ’70’s just before Thanksgiving, some researchers decided that cranberries could give you cancer.  Well, even back in the dark ages, the media knew how to milk a story.  Within a week of the media blitz condemning the loathsome cranberry, virtually every can of cranberry sauce and bags of cranberries in the country were taken off the shelves of America’s grocery stores.
 

 A week after Christmas that year it was discovered that a human would have to eat almost ten box car loads of the stuff before suffering even the possibility of cancer.  They were more likely to be hit by a bus coming home with the groceries that having the big C lead them to the grave!
 

Barbeque smoke can be dangerous if you’ve soaked the briquettes with something other than lighter fuel to start the fire.  If so, you could inhale toxic gases from products such as paint stripper, liquid sandpaper and even Coleman fuel.  Then there is gasoline, as my neighbor Marvin will agree, is not a wise choice to light a fire.
 

Gasoline explodes when introduced to a lighted match!  For those who have not experienced the excitement of a gasoline explosion, it doesn’t detonate with a bang, but with a Whooooomp!  It’s pretty scary!
 

Charcoal lighter ignites with a slow and steady burn, insuring that you’re probably not going to burn your house down at the beginning of your cookout.  If you’re sensible with your cooking, both your home and your pride are still in tact when you take your first bite of delicious barbeque! 
 

It’s wonderful to have a beautifully warm and sunny day in the grip of winter.  I’m going to make the most of it because the weather guy says that tomorrow will be cold and cloudy with snow flurries.
 

Bob Alexander  is well experienced in outdoor cooking, fishing and leisure living.  Bob is also the author and owner of this article.  Visit his sites at:
http://www.homeandgardenbob.com
http://www.redfishbob.com