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WalterSC

Head Chef
Joined
Jul 29, 2005
Messages
1,097
Location
Denmark South Carolina
I am thinking of grilling chicken wings at our towns local Festivle next year. This year they had the same ole poilsh dogs, burgers , hot dogs. They did had a fella who was doing rib and chicken plates for 9 bucks and that inclided 2 sides .

So I figure start with something easy and everyone likes wings. I know Sam`s sells huge bags of wings , my question is is there a easy way to figure how many bags I would need , they have a good crowd and we would have to be there from 7 AM till around 7PM.

I am going to take the burner out of my turkey frier and install it into the smoker box on my 55 gallon drum smoker that way I can get continous heat?? Anybody got any ideas they can throw my way , I would appreciate it ?? Hopefully the money will be able to help us with contest fees down the road.
 
Sounds like a giant pain in the booty to me. Will they let you do Turkey Legs? Thats where the big money is located. Buy them already smoked and just heat em up to 160 on the pit. Peddle them for 5 bucks each. Easy peasy. Guess you could get them from Sams or Costco. Now when you get big in the bizness you can buy some big ones from an E. Texas Turkey farm for less than a buck a leg. How many to get is a great question. I would work out a deal with the meat Dept to assure them I would hold the product under propa conditions the whole time and axe to be able to bring back some for a refund. I think Sams will do that.

bigwheel
 
You'd have to experiment with the turkey thingy in your Drum.. if you can maintain at least 300-325 you might have a good thing going

I've used a Dually in an 84 Lang, and it easily held 300 temps, so I'm pretty sure you won't have a problem maintaing temps..

a usual order of wings in a Bar , or woteva type of establishment, is about 10 wings, which is about a pound, as the wings in those bags are called 10-12s ie 10- 12 to a pound... check the bag of the bag for the serving size, and amounts..... you can probably get away with selling 5 per order, 10 for a larger order, and 20 for a bucket sized order

one advantage of doing wings is.. you can pre-cook em a few days before, then reheat em the day of the event...them keep em in heated chafing dishes for service.. just get a large SS bowl to mix em in any sauce you 'd like to use.. you can use a set of tongs to mix em wit hthe sauce, or if you get the hang of it, you can flip the wings in the SS bowl.. a few practice tosses, and a couple of stains on your shirt, :? will get you to where you need to be in the flipping department

if you wanna go crazy, you can offer two types of wings... one regular, and another, Asian, by soaking them in teriyaki sauce the night before you cook em...

pricing... if you pay $1.99 a pound for em you'd need to charge about $4,00 for a small order(5).. $7.50 for a large order, (10), and $14 for a bucket.. and that is w/o blue cheese, celery, etc..but DOES take into account the sauce you would use

Good luck to ya
 
I have been catering and vending for over 20 years and have learned some hard lessons. If you intend to be a vendor of chicken wings that are smoked, and you have only a 55 gallon drum for a smoker you are getting ready to learn some things the hard way.

Lesson one-Denmark,SC population 3300. You can expect 10% of a cities population at a large event.
That gives you 330 people

Lesson two--Other food vendors ---say there is 3 total--that gives you a share of 110

Lesson three-110 people is possible to serve out of a 55 gallon drum if you have 12 hours
but it will not be easy. Size matters when vending for a crowd

Lesson four--People at events buy with their eyes---an open grill BBQ pit will outsell a closed smoker 4
to one. People have 5 senses--sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. You must appeal to
as many of these as possible. If they can not see what they are buying you are doomed.

Lesson five--Large gatherings attract health inspectors. Are you 100% legal according to your local HD?

Lesson six--People do not care how their food was prepared. If you are smoking chicken wings and the
vendor next to you has a trailer with massive deep fryers and is selling chicken wings---
most people think that a wing is a wing. They care less how it was prepared and by who.
If they have fine looking women selling deep fried chicken wings--you get ignored.

I suggest some homework
1--How many attended the event last year?
2--How many Food Vendors are returning from the year before?
(vendors return annually to good paying events)
3--What fees does the organizer want to collect from you--fixed fee---percentage?
4--Is your food taxable in your state---if it is does the event promoter send a report to your state?
(In some states -events collect a percentage of gross sales and report it to the state which
expects you to pay sales tax on those figures)
5--Will your food supplier let you return unsold goods? (Most DO NOT)
6--Are you allowed to sell drinks also or does the committee of the event have a special stand selling
drinks-so you are not allowed to sell drinks? If you can not sell drinks RUN FAST. People want to
stand in ONE line and get everything---if you can not sell them a drink and tell them that they must
stand in another line--you will have irate people all day

If I had a 55 gallon BBQ pit I would sell Pulled Pork sandwiches----and cook tons of pork in advance.
All you need is pulled pork, BBQ sauce, and buns. Cook most of the pork in advance, and heat it in whatever the health dept allows in your state. Have your smoker smokin and find even a small open pit to set a shoulder or two that are dne on the open pit where people can see them. Try to have young-nice looking people serving. I am a close to 60 fat guy and I never stand at the serving window--young energetic workers sell more product.
 
Dang Chuckwagon that was very informative. Thanks for your input and obvious expertise on the vending topic.

bigwheel
 
WOW thanks for the comback everyone , Chuckwagon ,my hats off to you. This will help loads for next year. And I am that 50 year old fat guy , LOL!! I have 2 young nephews and thiewr friends who would love to help , and I could give them some cash afterwards towards Gas money or for entertaiment of their choice . Man that goes to show ya this is the group to be in when ya need advice or help!!!
 
Sounds like some great info there. I haven' :?: :) t vended yet. Im still tryin to figure out how to win one of these contests.
 
If a person really want to learn to cook comp bbq the easy way..park the pit for a year and go judge. Old Mossback chum o mine got in a slump one time and did just that very thang. He claim in 1 year of judging he learnt more than in 10 years of actually cooking. He come back from the hiatis and started kicking everybody's coola. Just a thought for ya.

bigwheel
 
bigwheel said:
If a person really want to learn to cook comp bbq the easy way..park the pit for a year and go judge. Old Mossback chum o mine got in a slump one time and did just that very thang. He claim in 1 year of judging he learnt more than in 10 years of actually cooking. He come back from the hiatis and started kicking everybody's coola. Just a thought for ya.

bigwheel

That's one thing I have yet to do is go to judging class! I'm sure i'll look at a few turn in's and think "why didn't I think of that?".
 
Well wasnt referring to going to any schools but if that whut it take in your part o world guess I would go for it if the Lord was willing and that was my dedicated hobby etc. I was thinking of just geting out there and volunteer to be a table judge. See whut the winners and losers taste like.

bigwheel
 
bigwheel said:
Well wasnt referring to going to any schools but if that whut it take in your part o world guess I would go for it if the Lord was willing and that was my dedicated hobby etc. I was thinking of just geting out there and volunteer to be a table judge. See whut the winners and losers taste like.

bigwheel

Was gonna do the KCBS class. Kind of a filler for the comps I cant cook in.
 
Hey guys, I think this was one of the most insightful post I've seen in awhile. Hats off to everyone contributing. Things always seem a lot simpler until you actually get involved in something.
 
What Chuckwagon Said. He really knows his poop! 100% on the Shoulder.
I’ll cook 8 to 16 shoulders on two UDS’s foil, fridge and reheat onsite. Buns, Bullseye and slaw are dirt cheep. You’ll be feeden a lot with limited cooker space. I only cook backyard gigs. I consider myself the taco guy of BBQ. I wouldn’t do a public event since I’m not liget with the state. My profits go to support my competition addiction. P.S. I have a 12 inch deep basket in my UDS and get 20 hour burns so xnay the burner idea.
 
Event Cooking is the very special and fantastic food dish for the cook....Some event have some special kind of the food formula....Some special kind of the food must include in the special food item..!
 

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