Has anyone sold pulled-pork sandwiches at a fair?

BHE1

I've had several friends try pulled pork sandwiches from the Egg and each has loved them. An entrepreneur suggested we sell pulled pork sandwiches during a local fair next year (it is one of the largest fairs in the country). A couple of questions:

1. Has anyone done this before?
2. How many sandwiches could I expect to get from each pound? I am thinking a nice size sandwich would be between 1/4 and 1/3 lb? (I know with these numbers it would be 3 or 4)--curious on your thoughts though.
3. I would sell a "meal deal" that includes pulled pork sandwich (with or without coleslaw), a bag of chips, and a water. What do you think people will pay for that at a fair?

Lastly, does BGE offer sponsorships of any sort? I'm wondering if I would be able to purchase additional eggs from them at a discounted rate and I would do some advertising--maybe BGE banners and brochures.

SMITTYtheSMOKER

Contact your County Health Dept and check their requirements first.

Buster Dog BBQ

Have you given consideration to how you are going to be setup, serve and keep the food warm? I am sure your heath dept will require certain water standards, grey water and temp holdings.

Then you have your cost. How many butts do you plan on cooking per day? How much sauce do you need? You will need plenty of lump as well.

Will you use a 4oz or 6oz bun? Have you considered pork nachos? Those are a good price point too.

I would say you could charge $7 for the meal deal.

I live in Iowa where the Iowa State Fair is one of the biggest in the US. I have seen these vendors go for 12 hours with lines. The ones with new products to unique seem to generate longer lines. I just hope you can keep up with the demand.

BHE1

Buster Dog,

We have taken most of your questions into account.

Have you given consideration to how you are going to be setup, serve and keep? --We are considering using banquet style dishes with candle fuel underneath to maintain temperature.

Then you have your cost. How many butts do you plan on cooking per day? How much sauce do you need? You will need plenty of lump as well.---I'm figuring we would have 2 xl's and 2 large BGE's for the cooking. Over the 5 day fair (begin cooking 2 days in advance) we would be able to cook 1400 lbs or pork butt--or 200 lbs a day. I figure we would need approx. 24-20lb bags of BGE lump.

Set-up would be a pop-up tent with tables and rent space would be approximately 700.00 for the week.

I have not contacted a local bakery yet for price on buns, however, I'm figuring maybe .10 - .15 cents per bun. Total expenditures would be approx. $8500.00.

This idea is just being kicked around at this point. I more curious to know if we would be able to pull it off??

Thanks

Lastly, we thought about the demand and I don't think it would be possible to sell sandwiches all day--we would open the strand every day until we've sold out of product. Then we would begin preparing for the next day.

Buster Dog BBQ

Sounds like you have taken into account a lot of things people don't think about.

I would look into Cambro products for the keeping of the food.

At Sam's Club it is about 30 cents cheaper by the pound to buy a case of pork butts then to but a cryovac two pack off the shelf, even though the are the same thing.

Bacchus

Cook all the pork in advance, then rent a large steel grill or something to warm up the pork. Forget the sides, just sell sammy's for $3-$4ea. Line will move faster, etc..........JMHO

Cecil

Another cost to factor in, insurance. Without it, even a bogus claim of food borne illness could be catastrophic.

Good luck,
Walt

BajaTom

I would check to see what other vendors are going to be at the festival. We just did a 4th of july event which we feed over a thousand people. We used crecors to keep the pork warm. We used a chopping machine to chop the pork. We used banquet style warming dish to hold the pork and sides for serving. We used church volunteers to help serve and gave them some of the profits. It is really hard to make a profit at the se kind of events. Email me for a phone number and I will give more info ( pennmo2@aol.com). Thanks, Tom

BHE1

I sent you an email Tom.

Thanks,

Ed

Pdub

Check out a past post by celtic it may help


http://www.eggheadforum.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=505583&catid=1

Celtic Wolf

Without reading the other responses I can tell you it will be difficult.

Many of the fair vendors come back year after year and they will get first choice. Second you are selling to the public and therefore come under Health Department rules and regs. You will need access to a commercial kitchen for food prep and you will need to be be insured. Both Liability Insurance and Work product Insurance. The fair will probably require you to be a licensed business as well.

Think real hard...