Ture North BarbeQue!!!

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

marcus wha gwan

Newbie
Original poster
Aug 16, 2012
7
10
Maple Leaf Gardens
I'm from the great white north of Canauk ville, and we may not run thick in the BBQ scene, but there is a growing love here for the slow smoke foods. However I didn't grow up my whole life in Canada. I also lived in Florida and Las Vegas for a big part of my Teenager life (Florida for 3 years and Las Vegas for 5). It was Las Vegas where I witnessed my first slow smoked ribs at this place called Struton Gates (sp?) and I was hooked ever since. It did take me a very long time to actually get the art of smoking right, and I know there is always room to improve.

I've been a backyard BBqer for 6 years now, and every chance I get I slow smoke my favorite meats that being baby back ribs, brisket and pulled pork. I will also try different cuts of meats I get from my butcher. I have cooked a lot of big pork shoulders for friends and families parties, and always get told I should open up a smoke house. I have entertained the idea before. Just felt I needed more time to develop recipes, so I never took the plunge. Well one night I hit a epiphany when I was cooking a pork shoulder for a party i was asked to cook for. I said to myself I love to do this, and I can say for sure I would feel way better for getting paid something I like to do. This lead me to start my research and start building a business plan. My Dad taught me this is the best place to start lol. As I was gathering pricing I approached my butcher and told him

Me: "I need to chat with you about pricing"

Butcher: "he said why"

Me: "I want to open up a restaurant... walk in/sit in type of place"

Butcher: "What type of restaurant?"

Me: A Smoke House (said with a big smile =))

Butcher: Eyes get really big and said "I need to see his old location" as he set it on fire by accident and needs to fill it (welding rookie move lol). Nothing big in my mind it was right across the street.

That being said I looked at his old place and it was an awesome set up. Walk in fridge, Exhausted Hood, sinks. His insurance covered some of the damages, but of course he had to put a lot of his own cash to get the place back up to par. I told him this place looks perfect for a smoke house and told him I need the lease so my lawyer can look at it... want to make sure there's nothing there that can mess with potential business. I get a call from my butcher and he wants to partner up with me on my idea, so I thought about it for a little and chatted it over with my Dad. We both thought it was a great opportunity to partner up with the butcher. Just have to finish up some accounting with the financial statement and also create a critical path, and then we are off to the races.

I will be more then happy to share my goals and errors as I go through this process, so any future backyard BBQer that wants to open up their smoke house can learn from my mistakes and achievements.

As for my smoker at the moment I just use the Webber mountain smoker. I really like the water pan it has in the unit, which helps in keeping the meat moist through out the cooking process. I also live in the city, so I can't have a huge smoker in my back yard as space doesn't permit it, but I will be upgrading to a Southern Pride smoker in the near future SPK-300. Anyways I have read a lot of helpful advice on this site, so thought I would join for all the fun conversation of slow smoked meat.
 
Hello and 
welcome1.gif
to SMF - that is quite a story and I am looking forward to as the great Paul Harvey used to say "The rest of the story"  
 
Last edited:
welcome1.gif
to SMF!!! We're happy you found us! You've come to the right place, we have over 40,000 members and over 800,000 posts so you should be able to find almost anything you want to know. Remember the search bar at the top can be your best friend for finding answers fast! Would you do us a favor and update your profile to include your location, Thanks! 
 
Welcome to the SMF Family and I am looking forward to the adventure...JJ
 
I know I haven't been back here for a while, but I have been extremely busy getting my Smoke House open. So here we go here are some of the issues I have encountered and this may help out some new comers that want to open their own smoke house. The good news is I managed to get on a restaurant make over show to help out with the cost of starting up my smoke house. We throw in $15,000 and the show throws in another $15,000 plus the TV network throws in another $15,000-$20,000 depending on how they feel. This gets us a free designer, free labor, chef to come in and help with the menu and discounted cost on supplies. There's not more I can say about that due to the confidential agreements I have with the production company.

Now lets chat about some the the hurdles I have encountered. The first thing anyone should do and this is especially if you're living in a city environment like me is to ensure the Hydro and gas meters and lines are up to par to handle all the industrial equipment because most old building are not up to standards. This will run you an extra $15,000-$20,000 to up grade, so make sure you have at least $100,000 to start up your smoke house because you need that extra cushion to make up for any surprises. This has delayed my open due to these issues because now I have to rely off the city to upgrade my Hydro.

The hood system which is a huge part of any kitchen will run you anywhere from $20,000-$40,000 depending how high your building is (bare in mind I live in Canada so building codes are different here). The hood system is what actually made me upgrade my electrical because it has a air intake system. This draws out the air from all your units in the smoke house then sucks air back in then heats it up to the proper temperature before bring it back into your smoke house.

I have dealt with the biggest 2 issues that where getting in the way and we are getting back into the race again. So the one lesson learned is to make sure all your gas lines, meters and electrical is all up to date before moving on with any major deadlines like a TV show lol.
 
 
Interesting!!  The bad part about opening any kind of business is that there are always hiccups along the way!  Glad to hear you go through them tho and can

Which TV show is it??
 
Welcome Marcus.  There are plenty of folks on this forum that can give advice on the restaurant biz I'm sure.

I wish you luck with your endeavor and, always remember and please never forget...

worthless.gif


th_nopicsye3.gif


That's the 
Rules.gif
.

Have fun.

Good luck and good smoking.

Bill
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Hot Threads

Clicky