Rod Run, Doo Wop, & BBQ!

Hey Y'all...Welcome back to Que-Licious!

Well, here we are again delving into the next adventure of our little bbq world! JD and I truly have a blast cooking all this good food and we especially enjoy it when we get to share our bbq with a crowd. That's just what we got when we decided to see if we could book a bigger event after the overwhelming response we received after our trial run set-up at the 127 Yard Sale event. We had taken good notes, had an event in mind, and with the profits we made from the 127 sale; we were able to buy a mobile concession sink.

Ok, so I have to take a few minutes and tell you about this product because it truly is a lifesaver. If you own a food service business then you know the expense involved when purchasing equipment; especially stainless steel. We started pricing sinks, and/or the separate parts needed to "make" a mobile sink before we set up at the 127 sale. We checked restaurant equipment stores, private ads from businesses selling their equipment, auctions, just about every where you could think of that sold a three compartment sink. Then, one day I just happened to be on EBay and decided to search for mobile concession equipment. I am so glad I did. Anyone out there thinking of starting a tear-down mobile concession stand, or heads an organization that conducts fundraisers such as a hamburger stand for the boy scouts, this is the sink for you. Lightweight, compact, exceeds most health department requirements for most states, and has a wireless battery backup option that allows you to use the sink at remote events where there may not be an electric outlet. (Which we totally opted for) I highly recommend and encourage you to check out this EBay Store for all the specifics and technical details. The people are friendly and stand behind their product. There is no assembly or difficult instructions to follow; just uncrate the sink, plug it in to charge, fill the water tank, and it's ready to use in 24 hours...so simple! Ok, on to the event.

JD and I have been attending a four day car show event in Charleston, WV since 2006 and it was the first event we thought of setting up our little bbq stand at when we started planning after the pig pickin'. We are even featured strolling down the boulevard on the Charleston Rod Run & Doo Wop Car Show website in 2008! You can see the video here. (scroll down to the slow drive down the boulevard clip.) We are the couple a few seconds into the video holding hands; JD has on a blue t-shirt and I am pointing to a Mustang off to my left.  So, I went to the event's website and downloaded a vendor application, contacted the local health department regarding requirements to set up, and made our hotel reservations. Then it was onto to planning the menu! We again decided to keep the menu simple, mainly to keep the costs down, but also since we were new to this business and we wanted to see how our type of food sold at this event. We filled the smoker with pork butts, beer can chicken, and brisket and set the smoker up for an all night smoke so we would be ready for the crowd coming in for the National Mud Racing event which was the biggest attraction during the car show. As fate would have it, we were set up right in front of where the race was to be held. You guessed it folks...everyone attending or participating in the race had to walk right by our stand and be forced to smell all that good food we were cookin' up! Loved that!!! Just as we had done at the 127 sale, we set out our bbq sauce against the Sweet Baby Ray's and gave the people their choice. And again we were not disappointed! We arrived Thursday night and by late Friday we were again making more of our sauce after taking 3 gallons with us. I was convinced now more than ever that we had a marketable, sellable product in our sauce and that got my little creative wheels spinning out of control in my mind.

I love this event for a lot of different reasons...mainly because it is home! That's right folks...I am a West Virginia girl; born and raised in the neighboring Mason County of where the car show is held every year. So going to this event each year truly is going home! As you can see from the above picture, the boulevard is located along the Kanawha River and is held the first full weekend in October. Last year there were over 900 vintage and restored cars and close to 50,000 in attendance. We did not participate in last year's event because we were in the middle of moving and planning my oldest daughter's wedding. I think those are good reasons to skip the event. Nonetheless; we do plan to attend in the future and would love to be able to do so this year as the World's Championship Chili Cookoff will be held during the car show October 5-7!

Once we arrived at our location to set up, we were greeted by that all familiar West Virginia hospitality that I adore. The folks in charge of planning the event were beyond helpful in explaining the process of having sponsored vendors such as Pepsi for the drinks, and other vendors for ice and bread, and so many other details we were oblivious to. Pepsi provided all of the drinks to be sold during the car show and would bring us case after case to sell for a commission. This set up works perfect and saves vendors a lot of time of restocking and avoids shortage and overage issues on buying beverages from the vendors point of view. We started will a couple of cases of each and as we sold out Pepsi supplied us with more to sell and we didn't have to worry about settling the bill until the event was over. The same holds true to ice and bread. Event organizers and volunteers were very deligent on making the rounds to check on vendors every 2-3 hours to see if they needed any supplies and that the water and electric hookups were functioning accurately. This event has grown so much since the first time we attended and the way the staff and event has managed to keep up with the increase in attendees and in vendors is to be complimented. So many times we have seen events that we really enjoy attending go by the wayside due to poor management and we were so happy to see that this event is honestly getting the attention it deserves. I think the staff could pick up on the fact that we were more than just a little nervous about our set up and this being our first "real" event. Once our nerves settled and we took in the fact that we were really there and it was going to happen, we did what we do best...smoked some bbq!

Our food stand was located next to the "Tastee Chef" which specialized in sweets, my personal favorite being the deep fried Oreo's...Oh My Goodness! The couple that operated that stand provided us with some very sound advice on how to schedule for the year's up coming events and to get your next year's calendar booked by the end of December each year so you have more time to plan and market your product in advance. Sage advice! They were also very helpful in providing some mechanical assistance as we did not bring the appropriate electrical cords with us and they were nice enough to let us borrow one of theirs.

We discovered we needed a generator, electrical supplies, lights, a cooler, a banner, a better menu board...basically a complete overhaul on our set up if we were going to attend these large events! So, that is where we are today...regrouping, planning, and designing a new set up that will allow us to be more efficient and cost effective in this economy. Where do we start...from the beginning of course.

We have decided that our needs would best be suited with a standard, drive unit food truck that contains the proper refrigeration units, ample room for storage of dry goods, a prep-table, and possibly even a steam table. We would then pull the smoker behind the truck and be able to operate more effieciently. Plus it would look more professional and at least give the impression we know what we are doing. (Insert laughter here) I wouldn't trade our experience at the car show for anything because it was a valuable lesson that you cannot obtain from a book, a lecture, or just by someone guiding you in the right direction. Anyone who has ever had a dream of accomplishing something important to themselves has had to take that first leap of faith, bite the bullet, and just go for it. We are!

So what lies ahead for Whiskey River BBQ is to research the bottling process and get our product out there on the shelves and hopefully do a lot of in store demos as well. I found a great local source with lots of details on how to accomplish that very goal and of course I will be sharing our progress right here at Que-Licious! on a regular basis so be sure to follow us and join us on this fabulous, whiskey soaked bbq journey!

Keep cookin' y'all!