Selling out of EVERYTHING, and I’m not happy about it…

I suppose that selling out is supposed to be a “Good Thing”, but I am not particularly happy about it, this fine Sunday Morning at 3 am as I start writing this tale…

So !!! In Austin, Texas, Memphis, Tennessee, Kansas City, etc., selling out of the previous night’s smoking sessions is not only a “Good Thing” but is actually part of the business model of most of the best BBQ joints out there. Places with names like Mueller’s, Franklin’s, Fincher’s, Big Mista’s….They ALL sell out on a very regular basis. I know that Aaron Franklin’s BBQ joint in Austin, Texas can smoke 1800 (!!!) pounds of Beef Brisket in a single day.

And he still…sells…out…

I am just a bit more limited in my ability to actually smoke much more than 150 lbs of brisket a night…

Why ?

Well, there’s the fact that I only have a current capacity to smoke 150 lbs of brisket a night. I mean, we do an honest to Gawd, minimum 16 hours in the smoker for each load of the Certified Angus Beef brisket we sell here, so it’s not like I can just whip more out on a moment’s notice. Then there’s the 3 sides we make fresh every day, which takes a bit of time. Then there’s the fact that a lot of studio apartments have a bigger kitchen than we do. On top of all that, there’s the idea that we are trying to make our little joint a fun place to hang out even if you’re not buying or eating anything.

So why is selling out not a “Good Thing” ?

Because I hate disappointing people.

One of the reasons that I think I am good at what I do is that I actually CARE about what I do. I hem and haw over our meats and try to make sure the rubs are not too sweet or too salty or too thin or too thick… I worry that everything is hot and juicy, that the Pork Ribs fall off the bone, yet they aren’t over cooked, that the woods we use are complimenting the weather (yeah, really !!!), that our people engage customers like the friends they truly are, that the portions are large enough…. I could go on and on…

And then there is the eternal guessing game of “How much should I smoke tonight?”

Guess wrong and I have meats I can either throw away (obviously not gonna happen unless I have screwed it up beyond all repair and it’s not salvageable) or donate it to a worthy charity around town.

OR I run out while people are still looking to come in and get some of our grub…which generally upsets people for a pretty good reason…they want OUR food and can’t get it when THEY WANT IT !!!

Frankly, we are doing the best we can. And still we need to do better. Trust me, I don’t wanna spend all this money on advertising to get people to try us and then run out when they finally decide “You know, I wanna try that new place on Clear Acre…” – only to see that we sold out before they got here. It pisses them off and it pisses ME off.

Yesterday was a prime example. I smoked more than normal for a “normal” Saturday and we STILL ran out by 3 pm… So today we are doing our Stuffed Baked Potatoes (Baked Potatoes stuffed with Brisket, Bacon, Cheese and Sour Cream) along with the normal menu. The smoker is STUFFED FULL. And chances are we won’t make it to 6 pm before we sell out…

OK, I’m done whining. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. We’ll get to where we need to be eventually. Until that happens, please bear with us, we really are doing the best we can.