# Restaurant Smoke Pit



## lovetosmoke (Feb 16, 2007)

My wife and I are looking at buying our local resauraunt/cafe.  Does anyone have any good ideas or suggestions on putting in a smoke pit.  Such as what kind and or model.  We would only probably serve 50-75 on an average night and 75-130 on a busy night.


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## gunslinger (Feb 16, 2007)

Do you want wood fired, electric, gas? Do you want it to be mobile? About the only thing you'll see in this part of the country is wood fired. And I think most will agree, the best Q-joints use wood fired pits. 
There is one Q-joint in Springfield (Missouri) that uses nothing but Brinkman offsets. They have about 10 of them going at any one time. And they have been around forever. Probably the best and busiest Q in Springfield. I suspect they use the small smokers so they can adjust by the amount of business they expect, rather than having a huge pit going all the time.
But there are others here that have the huge ones. Most of them look to be custom or owner built.


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## Dutch (Feb 16, 2007)

lovetosmoke, read the following link from the General Discussion thread.
JoeD and his wife are in the process of opening a Que and Blues joint in Boston. It will give you an idea what they are having to go through.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ead.php?t=1865


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## lovetosmoke (Feb 16, 2007)

Dutch thanks for the link.  
To answer Gunslingers question, I would like to just use wood.  But I do not know if we want to make it mobile.  I would like to make it mobile but my wife I think has other ideas.  I think she knows that I tend to go overboard on a lot of my projects such as something like this.


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## dgross (Feb 16, 2007)

I have to agree with your wife in that trying to tackle a restaurant is enough hassle and expense without trying to spread yourself too thin IMHO. Good luck and look forward to your posts  
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






 ! Daun


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## cajunsmoker (Feb 16, 2007)

Mobility may not be a bad thing.  If business was slow, you could branch off into catering.  Lots of the Q restaurants around here do catering.


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## lovetosmoke (Feb 17, 2007)

I like that idea, I will keep that in mind.


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## up in smoke (Feb 17, 2007)

Good point, Roger, I know up here in Pittsburgh area, those BBQ guys are booked solid with company picnics and such from April to October! That would sure make up for the restaurant attendance slack in the cold of winter!


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## shellbellc (Feb 21, 2007)

I wish someone would open a Q joint around here!!! On a trip to Florida we ate at a steak house that had a huge round pit in the middle of the room. They used it as a grill and indirect smoking for ribs and such. I don't remember if they had pulled pork or not.  The ansillary system they had was huge and probably super expensive.  I know just the small hoods are incredibly expensive.  Might be something to consider if you are looking at inside or outside smoke.


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## lovetosmoke (Feb 21, 2007)

It is a hard decision on how big to go with a smoker or pit.  My wife and I have different opinions on this issue.  I will probably go with what she wants for a smoker.  She is almost always wright on these type of things in the long run.  She wants a medium sized portable smoker.  We have a Hobart dealer a couple of hours from home and they have a decent variaty.


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## peculiarmike (Feb 22, 2007)

Depends on how much you want to spend. Check out Willingham's website. Go to "cookers" on the top toolbar. They have a neat portable, not cheap.


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## peculiarmike (Feb 22, 2007)

Dang! Forgot to include directions!  -  www.willinghams.com


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## lovetosmoke (Feb 24, 2007)

Thanks for the link Peculiarmike.


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