# What amount of sides needed



## kdfiter (Jun 25, 2019)

So i just got approved by the city I live in to serve food at the local tavern on most Saturdays coming up. I need some advice on how much sides to make ..I'm making 1/4oz sandwiches with 1-4oz side and doing 1/2lb meat  plates with 2 -4 oz  sides ..what I'm a little confused with is, if I sell more sandwiches I will need 2 sides per 1/2 pound of meat vs if I sell 1/2 pound plates I will only need 1 side.. so im not sure on how much to to  make ..just dont want to make to much..here is what I'm  roughly making .. 

10 lbs  of finished brisket=20 plates or 40 sandwiches
20lbs finished pulled pork=40 plates or 80 sandwiches
20 lbs of pulled chicken=40 plates or 80 sandwiches 
Total of 50 pounds of meat ..I'm having 3 sides,slaw(which I can get 5lb bgs) beans and fries .I'm thinking I will need more slaw and beans than fries..i have no idea what's going to sell more ..any advice would be appreciated..


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## flatbroke (Jun 25, 2019)

Mac and cheese does well at the local bar bbq guys stand. He sells out of it before other stuff. He also offers a Mac and cheese Parifat(sp) for those that don’t want bread. Meat(pulled pork) Mac, meat in a cup.


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## kdfiter (Jun 25, 2019)

I was going to evautlly do mac n cheese ..but I need to experiment some different recipes  first before I try and sell it ..


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## chef jimmyj (Jun 25, 2019)

4oz Disher, kind of a flat laddle bowl on a straight handle, will give about 2 oz of Slaw, depending on the coarseness, or 4 oz of Beans. Fries you Eyeball unless box or bagging them like McD's or using Boats. A large is 6-8 oz and that's a 100 count Russet, if using hand cut or frozen come 5-5lbs bags depending on cut chosen. This gives consistent portioning.

What is the seating situation in the Tavern?
How many Bar Stools, how many 4 Top Tables, how many Deuces and High Tops?
 What is the client makeup?
Good Ole Boys at the bar and shootin pool, will order Sandwiches. Two couples or families will sit at Tables and order Plates. Deuces and High Tops tend to be a mix as they may just be there for a few drinks and a bite, sandwich, or couples that one orders a Plate and one, a lady, orders a Sandwich.
Fries will be your biggest seller, followed by Slaw then Beans. Check with the producer but Pre-made Slaw should have a pretty long shelf life, 7 days or so on an open container and a couple of weeks with sealed. An open can of Beans, about 4 days...
Since Sides are Dish out or Heat and Eat, plan by the number of seats times 2 if average business or times 4 for a busy Tavern...JJ


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## siege (Jun 25, 2019)

Homemade coleslaw will hold a long time, and is very economical to make. Potato salad, same story. Both served cold, minimum labor, no wait to get on the plate. Those were the two most popular sides at my restaurant with bbq. Some folks just wanted a bag of potato chips with a sandwich. Keep it simple. The owner of the tavern may prefer you serve salty apps and sides. It sells more beer ☺


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## kdfiter (Jun 25, 2019)

chef jimmyj said:


> 4oz Disher, kind of a flat laddle bowl on a straight handle, will give about 2 oz of Slaw or 4 oz of Beans. Fries you Eyeball unless box or bagging them like McD's or using Boats. A large is 6-8 oz and that's a 100 count Russet, if using hand cut or frozen come 5-5lbs bags depending on cut chosen. This gives consistent portioning.
> 
> What is the seating situation in the Tavern?
> How many Bar Stools, how many 4 Top Tables, how many Deuces and High Tops?
> ...


There Is around 12 bar stools around the bar then another 4 high tables with 4 stools to each(the place isnt too big) but it has a huge back yard with over 10 picnic tables ..I'm hoping the whether holds off so people can sit  outside ..the one thing that the place has going for it is it's on the main road of a town of 80k ..so I'm going to put my cooker out in the front with some bbq flags  for advertising ..the bar itself is a older bar with a lot of regulars nothing fancy at all...so right now I was thinking of 7 -5lb bags  of slaw ,I better go the same with fries if u think those will be the biggest seller ..then I bout 2 7lb cans of beans ,but I'm not sure if i really need to make both cans ..I guess the hard part is that I cant really predict on what they will order more of ..my wife says let go with that and if we run out we run out ,then we know for next time lol I'm the opposite.. I want to try and get as close as possible but in this case I dont know if I can


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## kdfiter (Jun 25, 2019)

siege said:


> Homemade coleslaw will hold a long time, and is very economical to make. Potato salad, same story. Both served cold, minimum labor, no wait to get on the plate. Those were the two most popular sides at my restaurant with bbq. Some folks just wanted a bag of potato chips with a sandwich. Keep it simple. The owner of the tavern may prefer you serve salty apps and sides. It sells more beer ☺


I was going to make homemade slaw ,I did mention to my wife Costco sells big jugs of potato salad and she shot me down pretty quick lol if you dont mind me asking do you have any do's and dont's you recommend


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## chef jimmyj (Jun 25, 2019)

Be prepared for Extra Side Order. If you give me Fries, I would order a side of Slaw and vice versa. Id have 3-4 Casesvof Fries to start. It's going to be a Crap Shoot the first week. Over the next 3 months you will get Hammered until everybody checks you out. After that, you will know if your Q is any good...Good they keep coming. If not you will be only serving Drunks and die. Best of luck...JJ


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## siege (Jun 26, 2019)

kdfiter said:


> I was going to make homemade slaw ,I did mention to my wife Costco sells big jugs of potato salad and she shot me down pretty quick lol if you dont mind me asking do you have any do's and dont's you recommend


 Be consistent. Make sure each customer gets the same size portion. Dont give away the farm. Most of us love to cook, and to please people. Remember, it'a business, not your hobby once you get in the tavern. My partner and I sold Dutch oven cobbler with a scoop of ice cream at a festival the city put on each 4th of July. He didn't get the concept of portion control, he just wanted to make people happy. You can go broke like that.
 Once you decide on a recipe, stick with it. If I like your food, and I come back next week, I want what I had that made me come back again.
Do you have a decent amount of freezer space available ?  Frozen fries can be bought and kept on hand and if you have too many, there is always next week.
Don't add a lot of new items until your basic menu is well established. Try to keep your ingredient count low. 
Are you allowed to smoke and prep your food off premices, like at home, or do you have to cook in an approved single location ? If you smoke somewhere else, and you can, put a small smoker by the tavern, and run some smoke, even if there is nothing in the smoker. That scent of hickory in the air will drag ''em in faster than Channel #5.
I wish you the best !

I have a very successful version of Cole slaw. If you would like the recipe, send me a message.


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## kdfiter (Jun 26, 2019)

chef jimmyj said:


> Be prepared for Extra Side Order. If you give me Fries, I would order a side of Slaw and vice versa. Id have 3-4 Casesvof Fries to start. It's going to be a Crap Shoot the first week. Over the next 3 months you will get Hammered until everybody checks you out. After that, you will know if your Q is any good...Good they keep coming. If not you will be only serving Drunks and die. Best of luck...JJ


Thanks chef jimmy ..hopfully it turns out good ..I'll keep u updated


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## kdfiter (Jun 26, 2019)

siege said:


> Be consistent. Make sure each customer gets the same size portion. Dont give away the farm. Most of us love to cook, and to please people. Remember, it'a business, not your hobby once you get in the tavern. My partner and I sold Dutch oven cobbler with a scoop of ice cream at a festival the city put on each 4th of July. He didn't get the concept of portion control, he just wanted to make people happy. You can go broke like that.
> Once you decide on a recipe, stick with it. If I like your food, and I come back next week, I want what I had that made me come back again.
> Do you have a decent amount of freezer space available ?  Frozen fries can be bought and kept on hand and if you have too many, there is always next week.
> Don't add a lot of new items until your basic menu is well established. Try to keep your ingredient count low.
> ...


As far as freezer space goes  it kind of a small freezer .I probaly can keep a few extra bags of fries in there..I'm going to try and keep everything as simple as possible as the menu goes ..just sandwiches and dinner plates to start ..doing pulled pork, chicken and brisket ..I might throw on a few slabs of baby backs seeing the local grocery store has them on sale ..as far as cooking goes I cant transport food from home it all has to be done at the bar ..which is good because I will park my smoker out front and put out bbq flags for advertising. There bar is on the busiest road in a pretty big town ..I know me personally if I see sombody with a pull behind smoker selling bbq, I'm more likely to stop than if I just see a sighn that says bbq ..I have a another freind thst owns a local tavern and he sells bbq but it's not authentic..it just has bbq sauce on it lol


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## kdfiter (Jun 30, 2019)

So I did my first event which I really didnt do a whole lot of advertising , I really didnt make much this weekend but I'm thinking it was due to not much advertising and just having to buy all the trays, condiments ,flags and just everthing else that you need for start up   and there was some pretty big festivals kicking off this weekend..my lunch crowd is where i did best at and thank God I had some brisket done by noon  because I was planning on starting at 2, the dinner crowd wasnt good at all but I'm just thinking because of all the festivals that were going on that might of causes it ..I bought 4 briskets and sold out ..but I didnt get many orders for pulled pork or chicken ..I'm thinking of offering pork tacos next week and seeing how that does or maybe nachos too but just pork or chicken ..I did end up with a lot of side left over but now I at least know what to get next time .


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## hardcookin (Jun 30, 2019)

Trail & error till you get a feel for things.


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## chef jimmyj (Jun 30, 2019)

One restaurant I opened, we featured 1.5 pound Steamed Lobsters for $19.95. We had 25 shipped from Maine and thought we didn't order enough! Grand Opening Weekend, we sold 4 and that was a table of friends. By Sunday the remaining 21 got Steamed off for Lobster Rolls and 5 gallons of Lobster Bisque. The Soup sold out but the Staff ended up eating the Lobster Rolls. We really misinterpreted our demographic for THAT one!...JJ


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## siege (Jun 30, 2019)

So you sold out on beef brisket, and nobody wanted the pork or chicken. The plan for next week is to offer the meats nobody wanted, but not what you sold out of. 
If you are just repurposing your leftovers to get rid of them, I understand.
 But if I was there last week and loved the brisket, that is what would bring me back. I don't know your demographics like you do, but where I live, most folks thinking of BBQ go for ribs, brisket, and pulled pork. Everything is kind of an afterthought.


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## gmc2003 (Jul 1, 2019)

If i go to a restaurant or pub and order fries. I'm really disappointed if I get frozen fries, and won't order them again. To me fresh, hand cut double fried is the only way to go.

Chris


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## kdfiter (Jul 1, 2019)

gmc2003 said:


> If i go to a restaurant or pub and order fries. I'm really disappointed if I get frozen fries, and won't order them again. To me fresh, hand cut double fried is the only way to go.
> 
> Chris


That's what my wife wants to do is get a fry maker ..I'm going to have to do some research where I can get potato at a good price


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## kdfiter (Jul 1, 2019)

siege said:


> So you sold out on beef brisket, and nobody wanted the pork or chicken. The plan for next week is to offer the meats nobody wanted, but not what you sold out of.
> If you are just repurposing your leftovers to get rid of them, I understand.
> But if I was there last week and loved the brisket, that is what would bring me back. I don't know your demographics like you do, but where I live, most folks thinking of BBQ go for ribs, brisket, and pulled pork. Everything is kind of an afterthought.


I think for next week I'm going to do the same amount of brisket and way less of the pork and chicken ..I kind of want to cut the chicken out for awile but it on my menus ..I'm going to do ribs ..I just have to figure out if I want to do spares or baby back


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## kdfiter (Jul 1, 2019)

chef jimmyj said:


> One restaurant I opened, we featured 1.5 pound Steamed Lobsters for $19.95. We had 25 shipped from Maine and thought we didn't order enough! Grand Opening Weekend, we sold 4 and that was a table of friends. By Sunday the remaining 21 got Steamed off for Lobster Rolls and 5 gallons of Lobster Bisque. The Soup sold out but the Staff ended up eating the Lobster Rolls. We really misinterpreted our demographic for THAT one!...JJ


  wow I feel bad for you on that one ..I have nothing to cry about for having some left over pork after reading on how much u spent on lobsters


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## siege (Jul 1, 2019)

I would guess a food service company like Sysco could provide you with your potatoes.  They have been my choice when in the business. I don't  know if they operate in your area.You want large Russet Burbanks. Large long potatoes make great looking fries. Russets make great tasting fries.


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## kdfiter (Jul 1, 2019)

siege said:


> I would guess a food service company like Sysco could provide you with your potatoes.  They have been my choice when in the business. I don't  know if they operate in your area.You want large Russet Burbanks. Large long potatoes make great looking fries. Russets make great tasting fries.


I'll definitely  look into sysco ..my wife wants to do homemade fries


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## siege (Jul 1, 2019)

In today's Cabela's flyer, they have an 18 quart double basket fryer. Free standing on 4 legs,  58,000 BTU burner, with 2 full size baskets. Has hose, regulator and thermometer.Doesn't include propane tank. It's on sale for $49.95 Item IK 542274
The burner and pan could be used for a lot of other cooking / heating chores.
If you just load that item number in Google, it will pop right up.


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## chef jimmyj (Jul 1, 2019)

kdfiter said:


> I'll definitely  look into sysco ..my wife wants to do homemade fries



Look at 40 or 60 count Russet. They are 6 to 8 inches long! We used them for Wedgie Fries. Great plate coverage...JJ


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