How to Start $3,000/Week BBQ Food Trailer Business

Probably just shy of 40,000. Some days, it's like a $2,500 day, and 100 to 150 people on average. We've had about a $5,000 day before, which was pretty good. My name's Ryan. I own Smoke Rings Barbecue. And honestly, what started out as just like a little hobby ended up progressing into much more. So this is something that my fiance and I do pretty much on the weekends and just kind of roll with it from there. Did you previously cook? Were you working in kitchens or anything? No, no. Self-taught with everything. And we used to host a bunch of pretty large-sized parties. So I got used to cooking for the masses. And that's how we ended up with this. A bunch of people would always tell me, like, look, you need to pursue something with it. You need to do it. And finally, one day, just bit the bullet, and here we are. What led you to do barbecue? Honestly, there's no good barbecue around. So I wanted to do something that kind of stood out. Pretty much around here, you just got a bunch of different chains and things I get, like Dustin's and Sonny's. And Four Rivers is another one. But everything's just so inconsistent. So one day you go there, meat might be perfect. And then next time you go, it's just real dry. And I don't know. So I just kind of wanted to do something that would be consistent. And this is what it turned into, was the barbecue company. So what was your first event like? What did you do? How was that versus now? Well, the first event, it was definitely a learning experience. But of course, me being me, I jumped right into a five-day event. And it was a music festival. And not going to lie, like, it was busy. And it was a lot. But, you know, we got through it. And we learned a lot of things to make it more efficient on the truck. And from there, just, you know, little changes here and there until we get it how we want it. Did you start out as, like, a food stand? Or did you go straight to the trailer? No, we went straight to the trailer. And honestly, I was going back and forth between, like, getting an actual food truck or the trailer. But I figured, you know, start out with the trailer in case anything happens to the truck. You know, if it broke down on the way to an event, you're pretty much screwed. But like this, I could always get another truck and tow it if need be. So that's why I ended up going with the trailer over the truck. Can you say maybe how much you invested to get started, like, with equipment or the trailer or something? Yeah, startup cost, I'm probably just shy of $40,000. That included the smoker, which is a 500-gallon offset, which is mounted on its own trailer as well, and then getting the food truck and all the equipment and stuff like that. So, you know, permits weren't too bad. Inspections, they pretty much do. They don't really charge you for, like, the health inspection, the fire inspection, all that. Whenever you go out, get, like, the ansels checked and the fire extinguishers, that's really the only one that costs any money. I see that you guys do catering as well. What would you say your catering to, like, event ratio is? So, honestly, it's about a 50-50 spread. We do a ton of different weddings and, you know, private parties and stuff like that. Like I said, as far as the events, you know, we're always at the barrel races, which it's a good one. You know, barbecue just goes well with this type of event. But, I mean, majority of the caterings happen to be weddings. And when you're doing those caterings, are you bringing your truck? Are you just bringing your smoker? You said that's also on a trailer. How are you working that out? So, it depends on really what they want. If they want, you know, more of an experience of serving out of the truck, then we'll bring the food truck as well. But a lot of times, it's just setting up, like, chafing dishes and things like that and just, you know, making it to where all the food's right there available for them inside of the venue. And do you charge different prices to, like, bring the truck versus just setting it up? Or how does that work? Yes, it would be slightly more expensive just because, you know, we're using more gas to tow the trailer, all the propane and stuff like that on the trailer, just cleaning it. Most of the venues, they have their own kitchen where we can use all of their equipment, so that helps out. You know, we'll charge different if they want us to serve it all for them or if they want it more of, like, the buffet style where all their guests come up and self-serve. And, you know, there's a couple different things that can make the price vary. Do you prepare all of your food before coming to an event? Or is that something you're doing while you're at an event? So it depends on the event. If it's a multiple-day event, then I always bring a smoker with me. And, you know, I'll usually cook, like, the night before or something like that to where I have a bunch of food that's ready to serve. And then while we're at the event, then I'll have the smoker rolling the whole time as well. But at an event like today, is it prepared usually typically beforehand or are you making it in the back? Yeah, I mean, as far as all the meats and stuff, it was all prepared beforehand. Same with the potato salad and coleslaw, but, like, the baked beans we're making here on spot. Same with, like, mac and cheese and things like that. Tell me about what kind of foods you're serving, what's your most popular item, things like that. So brisket is definitely our most popular. We'd sell out of that one every time, followed by probably our pork belly and our ribs. And how long does it take you typically to, like, smoke the brisket, for example? So typically I'd be smoking it. Obviously it depends on the size of the brisket, but anywhere from, like, 10 to, like, 14 hours. And we mainly use oak, but sometimes we'll use hickory. And that one is more so, like, on request. Hickory is a lot stronger smoke flavor, but mainly oak, and then sometimes we'll do, like, cherry and apple, like, more of the fruit woods. So what are some of your most creative or fun dishes that you've served on the truck? So some of them that we'll do will be, like, we'll smoke some burgers and then top it with brisket and smoke queso. Or we'll do, like, pulled pork egg rolls, where we'll smoke a head of cabbage and dice that up and then mix the pulled pork in with it. Or we've done it actually with, like, apple pie filling as well. And then when it comes out, dust it with cinnamon sugar. Can you tell us a little bit about your advertising and how you get people to come try your food and then how you get into events? So honestly, word of mouth has been the most helpful thing for us. We started last July, so still relatively new. Ever since that first event, we've just had a bunch of people contacting us. And really, our only advertising is our Facebook page. You know, we'll post wherever we are that day for the event, and then we'll get a bunch of people from that. But we do have quite a good following to wherever we go. A lot of, you know, repeat customers show up and come there, tell all their friends about it. So I'd definitely say word of mouth has been the biggest thing for us. Have you done any paid advertising at all? Nope, haven't. Not one bit. What are some of the expenses that come with the food truck, besides, like, food? So besides food, obviously, you know, like, all of the stuff on there that you're serving it with, like forks and to-go boxes, different things like that. Another expense would just be, you know, like the general upkeep, all the cleaning supplies and making sure that everything's good to go, like cleaning the hood systems out and, you know, fryers and just all this stuff that we have on there. Can you tell us about, like, one of your best events, like maybe how many items you sold or how many people you went through, something like that? As far as items, I'm not entirely sure. I mean, we'll have some days that, you know, it's like a $2,500 day, and then other days closer to 4,000. So it really just depends. Like the barrel races like we're at today, it's usually 2,000-plus dollar day. It works out, I'd say, anywhere between 100 to 150 people on average. Do you know what your best day revenue-wise was? We've had about a $5,000 day before, which was pretty good. And how many hours would you say went into that? I'd say, as far as being there and actually serving the food, it was probably seven, eight hours. And honestly, we could have done more, but we ran out of food. That's pretty awesome. It's always a plus. But like I said, it's that double-edged sword. You know, I wish that we still had food to continue selling, but at the same time, it's always a great thing that we did sell out. What would you say, like, one of the lower revenue days was for you? And how do you make up for that difference? Or how do you balance that out or prepare for something like that? So preparing for it, I mean, it's always just make sure that you have the money set aside. As far as a lower revenue day, I mean, we've had some days where, you know, it's like a $300 day, but that would be because, you know, we got rained out or something. But luckily, you know, like I said, we have a great following. So like I'll post something on Facebook and like, hey guys, you know, we got a special running on ribs right now. Like if you don't feel like cooking dinner, you know, reach out to us and, you know, it'll be like, here's a rack of ribs for 30 bucks. Get some sides with it. And we'll usually end up selling it all that way. It's saved us a couple of times when we've gotten drained out. And usually by the end of the night, all the food's gone. Do you have a background in business or was this something that it was just like kind of figure it out as it goes? My mother was an accountant and my father owned a company as well. A few years back, like prior to COVID, I had started up a company doing epoxy flooring and countertops and things like that. And then ended up selling off that business and just kind of ended up going with this one. And I mean, everything's a learning curve. You know, it's always something new and different ways to improve on stuff, but it's really just, you know, make sure you got all your bases covered and got your finances in order and stuff like that. And you should be all right. Do you have any routine gigs? Like how often are you coming to this Sunday event type of thing? Do you have things like that are booked every week where people can find you consistently? We do have some that are pretty consistent. For instance, we were here yesterday for a different barrel race. And then we were here last weekend as well. But usually you can find us out here about once a month. We have a lot of repeat breweries and distilleries that don't offer food as well. But I mean, that could all vary week by week. Sometimes we might be booked out two months in advance so we can't get back to that place. Looking into the future, how do you plan on expanding or growing? What does that look like for your business? So at this point, we're unfortunately having to turn down events already. I guess it's a good thing, but I definitely need the second trailer and a second smoker. And once I get the second trailer, I want to have like the back of it with an open deck. And then that way I could have the smoker built onto it in case we need to fire up some things right there on the spot. And not have to worry about two different vehicles to trailer the other smoker out as well. Things like that. But definitely want the second truck before thinking about like the brick and mortar or anything. Earlier, I thought you said you only did weekend events? No, I mean, we'll have some throughout the week. Like say apartment complexes or we'll go to like Boston Whaler, you know, sometimes throughout the week. But mainly like our big events are always a weekend. How do you usually predict or prepare for your events as far as how much food to make? So that is one of the harder things as far as barbecue. Cause it's not like, you know, we can cook everything right there on the truck. If we did like burgers and hot dogs and stuff like that, it'd be a lot easier. But usually I'll try and base it off of past events. You know, like say we were here this time last month, I'd go back, look at the sales and see about how we did and then try and base it off that. If we sold out, bring like a little bit extra food or, you know, something. But usually like the first time we go somewhere, I'll kind of undershoot it a little bit. Just so if, you know, it's a bust, then we don't end up with a ton of leftovers and different things of that sort. Do you ever typically have like a lot of food waste or is it usually a sellout? No, a lot of times at this point, now that we've gotten our name out there, it's usually a sellout. And I mean, honestly, it's a good and bad thing, but like when we sell out, it's like, shoot, I wish we had more. But at the same time, you know, it's good that we don't have that waste. Earlier I heard you talking about breakfast burritos. So you guys serve different styles of meals throughout the day? Correct. Depending on the day, like our lunch and dinner menu are very similar. But as far as breakfast, like, you know, we'll do like a pulled pork burrito that might have like eggs in it, cilantro, onions, tomatoes, you know, whatever toppings you might want, but we'll kind of cater to the breakfast side as well if it's a earlier event. I know you said you started about last July, so not even quite a year. Have you noticed seasonally that your like audience or your customers or clients come more or less frequently, you book more or less events? How does that work? Does it affect you as much? Not so much here, because our weather is pretty much the same. You know, we might have like a couple of cold weeks out of the year and even then cold might be 60 to some, you know, so it's really not bad. But when it is colder out, you know, I'll do like some soups and things like that. Like we've done brisket ramen in the past and that was a huge hit. It all really depends. But I mean, for the most part, our biggest worry is if it starts raining, you know? So if the event gets rained out, then that's when we'll have all the leftovers. If you came to your truck, what are you ordering? Brisket all day. What sides? Honestly, it's hard. The baked beans are great. Same with the mac and cheese. Can you talk about the trailer and how long it took to make and then what equipment you would recommend? So honestly, in regards to the trailer anyways, I actually ended up getting this one used from someone. So that also saved me a little bit in overall cost for it. I mean, just try and utilize your space, you know, best as possible. I mean, like the fryer that's on there, we rarely use, but it's still nice to have just in case like we want to do French fries or something like that one day. So it really depends just, you know, you don't have to have every single thing out there. Just get mainly what you need, like a flat top, you know, your like burners. You can do the two to four burner, you know, whatever you need and just don't go over the top. Make sure you got enough space in there because there's not much room. How many employees do you need? Can you run this solo? And then do you need more employees based on different events? So the majority of the time it's my fiance and I, and usually about one other person. Say if it's a couple day event, then usually I'll be on the smoker the entire time and then I'll have two people in the truck and one person doing all the ordering. But on average, we wouldn't have more than four, but it's usually three. Do you think you could ever run it solo? It would be a little more difficult, but it's possible. This depends on how many customers you're getting. Right, how busy it is, you know, like say you got a line, like 15, 20 people on there, then it would be a little more challenging. But you know, if it's just slower, people like trickling up and it's doable. Can you tell us about the logo and the name of the business? So honestly, we wanted to come up with something that kind of played a part with the barbecue. So, you know, if you smoke a bunch of food, that little ring around the outside, like the pink ring, it's called a smoke ring. So it just kind of played a part with it. And then the logo was just something that, you know, we came up with. I wanted to incorporate it in the name, so. Can you tell us how much it costs to wrap your truck? Honestly, I bartered with a friend. I catered his wedding, he wrapped my truck and helped with the design. That's pretty good, if you can get it. So yeah, typically it would be, I'd say $3,500 to $4,000 for the design and wrap. Do you have three tips of advice for any other entrepreneurs out there? Really just, you know, make sure you figure out all your costs and all your prices are competitive and stuff like that. You know, you don't want to sit there and undershoot everything and then lose out on money that you could potentially gain from it. Double check everything and make sure it's something that you really want to do. You know, any small time business, you're going to sit there and it's a lot of work. So you'll have them sleepless nights and, you know, everything that comes along with it. And it's definitely a headache, but just make sure it's something that you really want to do. And we're usually like all around Daytona Beach, Ormond, we'll go up to Ocala, Lake Helen, Deland. Like we bounce around, but we stay mainly Volusia County. Like I said, mainly on the weekends is when we're out for the events. And randomly you can find us throughout the week at say different apartment complexes and things like that. But instead of going to the big chains, support the small businesses. What is the best way for people to find you, reach you? Yeah, I mean, the best way to be able to like go through everything and preview it all right now anyways would be our Facebook. You could find that at Smoke Rings Barbecue. Our website is currently under maintenance, but it should be back up and running in I'd say about a week or so. I do see the number listed. Is it usually a safe bet to give you guys a call? It is, and then if we don't answer, then just leave a voicemail and we'll always get back to you.