Food.Designed To Be Enjoyed: Smoking! An adventure that is always fun.

Food.Designed To Be Enjoyed: Smoking! An adventure that is always fun.: In May 2011, Fred took a competition BBQ meats course at Backyard Bash in Parkville , MO. “Chris Marks, owner of Three Little Pigs BBQ & Ca...

Food.Designed To Be Enjoyed: Smoking! An adventure that is always fun.

Food.Designed To Be Enjoyed: Smoking! An adventure that is always fun.: In May 2011, Fred took a competition BBQ meats course at Backyard Bash in Parkville , MO. “Chris Marks, owner of Three Little Pigs BBQ & Ca...

The First Foundation Charcoal selection

    

 Before you even attempt to fire up your Good-One Open Range for the first time there is a couple things you need to take into consideration.

There are many different types and brands of charcoal on the market from natural hardwood lump charcoal to briquettes. We highly recommend that when using any type of smoker or grill to use lump charcoal. Not only are the favors from the woods more prevalent but it also burns hotter and you are able to reuse un-burnt charcoal which is unique to the hardwood lump charcoal. What makes lump charcoal a higher quality cook is the way it is produced. Lump charcoal is basically just burn wood that is charred to a certain point and then has the oxygen cut off to turn it into charcoal. The higher quality lump charcoal manufactures such as The Good-One lump charcoal use all natural hardwoods such as pecan, oak, and hickory from central Missouri, which helps gives your meat more of a consistent smoked flavor. While most lumps are made from natural hardwood many toss in scrap lumber, flooring, ect. You need to be very careful of the charcoal that you select a very good source to check up on the quality of the brand you are using is www.nakedwhiz.com. This website is a data base full of useful information and a rating system for lump charcoal throughout the US. 

My suggestion for you would be to use 100% natural lump charcoal.  Here are the reasons:

·         Briquettes have petroleum base and are only 10 percent real wood.

·         Briquettes burn at 900 degrees

·         Lump charcoal burns at 1250 degrees

·         Lump charcoal burns twice as long

·         Lump charcoal leaves less ash

·         You can reuse any lump charcoal when you are done cooking, just shut you damper and intake spinners.

·         Lump charcoal leaves no creosote build up, unlike briquettes.

·         You will use half as much with lump than with briquettes.

·         You food will taste extremely better with 100 percent natural lump charcoal.

·         Use a chimney to start your lump, it’s faster and 100 percent cleaner than lighter fluids

If you cook with natural lump for 2-3 months and go back to briquettes, you will taste the difference.

All lump charcoal is not created equal.  If you want a hot fire in your fireplace to heat your house and you want it to burn as long as possible before you reload, you would more than likely use a hardwood that would burn for a long time and put out the most heat.  Would you pay the same amount of money for a cord of soft maple, or pine that you would for oak or hickory?  They are two different types of wood; they create different amounts of heat, and distinctly have different burn times.  Well if you would not pay the same for these two cords of wood for your fireplace, why would you do it for a bag of lump charcoal that has different types of wood and expect the same results?  The problem with the lump charcoal industry is that it is not regulated.  Manufacturers from around the world can put anything they want in their bags, as long as it is wood.  Your smoker, whether it is a Good-One or any other brand requires good quality charcoal to burn hot and long.  It must also burn clean, without lot soot or other agents which would cast a bad taste on your food you are cooking which you plan to ingest into your body.  Would you drink lighter fluid?  Then why would you start your fire with it knowing that it is going to directly transfer into your food.  So what I am saying is go to the source you trust to buy your lump charcoal.  The Good- One lump charcoal is 100% Oak, hickory and pecan deep out of the heart of Missouri.  These are all woods consistent with burning hot. They are dense enough to have a long burn time.  Our charcoal is specifically blended for Good-One owners simply because we want them to have a pleasant and successful cooking experience.  We refuse to cut corners on inferior quality wood to make a few extra bucks.  Even if you don’t own a Good-One, we don’t mind sharing our premium charcoal with you to create a pleasant cooking experience for you.

Chris

Dummies’ Guide to taking an Award Winning Sauce or Rub to Market

Your sauce started off as a unique idea and you don't want it to get lost in the crowd.  How are you going to produce, market, sell and make yours stand out to consumers who can select from thousands of BBQ sauces?

Research and Development:

Taste as much of your competitors' barbecue sauce as your stomach and time will allow to learn what you're up against. Examine each brand's marketing approach and figure out what each product's competitive edge is and what consumers think of it?

Draft a compelling story on which to rest your marketing efforts and you'll be off to the start.   Remember that there are all kinds of Championship sauces and rubs on the market, but very few are quantifiable when it comes to actual prestigious awards that the sauces or rubs have won.  How will your sauce compete against those that are backed by a host of awards?

Evaluate your audience to see if your background story will stand up to the scrutiny of specialty stores--for example the high-end or gourmet market--or whether it's a better fit for mom and pop stores.

Develop---or hire someone to develop---collateral to support your sauce, including a great package design, a catchy name and an unforgettable slogan or tag line that is capable of following your barbecue sauce from bottle to shopper’s cart.  Also, consider not only how you will get your product into the store but more importantly off the shelf and through the cash register.

The Economics:

The economics of the ingredients you're going to use in your sauce as part of the recipe phase is important to understand. The price of all the ingredients times 3-4 are likely a gross estimate of the retail price. You can have the best sauce in the world, but if it costs you $7.00/bottle to make, you're not going to be able to sell much at $21 to $28 per bottle. Converting your recipe to 500 gallon batches is more than just simple math. There are often an assortment of “scale up” issues.  And it can be rather expensive to mix up 500 gallons of something that turns out to taste bad.  

Expensive Ingredients: 

§  Honey

§  Fresh Vegetables (Onions, Peppers, Jalapeños)

§  Fresh Fruits(Apples, Raspberry’s, Blue Berries)

§  Liquors (Bourbons, Wines)

§  Custom Syrups

All the above ingredients require refrigeration, special handling or processing by the packer which adds cost to the overall end price of the product.  Some co-packers will not pack sauces that have any kind of liquor added due to local and state liquor laws regarding % of added liquor.

A good starting point is $20K as a standard figure just to get the first bottle onto a shelf. Add in the cost of your time for 3 years of blood, sweat, and tears to get a small business built. And in the end, you will have pennies in your pocket.

How do I market the New BBQ Sauce?

Local markets, not the chains and sample it out on one of those table stations at the stores on Fridays or Saturday, that's your best bet, but I'd add a few things.

1) You may have to offer consignment terms to the local market. They're taking a huge risk by giving you shelf space (which they don't have much of), and there's no way they can afford to pay you up front for the sauce. Think about the economics of putting out a free case in every market you want to be in. If you can't afford that, it's not going to work.

2) The best way to sell an unknown sauce is to sample it. The label won't sell it for you. People will buy new products from companies they know, but must test things from new ones It's not about taste—Think of how much Apple Computer spent trying to market the Mac only to be beat in the marketplace what many consider an inferior product.

3) Sampling is very hard work. You'll be giving up your Saturdays, working an eight hour shift to expose your product to 200 people, 20 of which may buy the sauce, and 2 of which will become repeat customers. And that's if your sauce is really good. With a margin of $1/bottle, you're making $2.50/hour. You won't quite cover your gas to get to the store if it's not close.

Internet, you cannot sell a sauce that people haven’t heard of  on the internet.  If they won't buy it in the store by just picking up the bottle and reading the label, there's absolutely no way they're going to purchase it on the internet. It makes a lot more sense to market through someone like Amazon.com, but even they can't perform magic if there isn't any demand for your sauce. The service the internet marketer is providing is the framework, distribution, and fulfillment end of things. They can quickly dominate the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) for a given produce because they're an authority site.

Word of mouth is the best way to advertise. Try entering bbq competitions in your area. People will get to talking and then maybe that will help spread the word to someone who has a connection.

 That will get you a few hundred loyal customers that purchase a bottle every month or so, if you're lucky. Can you live on $100/month?

Just remember, there are 1,000 other people that have the best sauce that any of their friends have ever tasted trying to launch their sauce this year. 2 of them will be around in 3 years.

Grills and Barbeque: The Good One Open Range Smoker (Model 30-P)

Grills and Barbeque: The Good One Open Range Smoker (Model 30-P): "Chris Marks and his Three Little Pigs barbecue team are one of the top teams in competition barbecue (8 time grand champion of the America..."

Anytime is Barbecue Time in Canada

Canadian chef and author Ted Reader, who owns more than 100 barbecues, says about half of Canadians grill 12 months a year. He says when it's cold outside, the barbecue should be preheated five to 10 minutes longer than in the summer. Barbecue manufacturer Traeger Canada suggests adding 20 minutes of cooking time per pound for every five degrees below 45 F. If you're using a charcoal grill, you may need to add charcoal more often to keep the temperature constant. .Read more: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/112665/20110215/anytime-is-barbecue-time-in-canada.htm#ixzz1EF9Iz8q4

Three Little Pig's All Natural Gluten Free BBQ Sauces and Seasonings - products and services from Three Little Pig's BBQ Sauces and Seasonings

Three Little Pig's All Natural Gluten Free BBQ Sauces and Seasonings - products and services from Three Little Pig's BBQ Sauces and Seasonings