Southern Smoke BBQ is no more

After a lot of discussion, we've decided to close Southern Smoke BBQ. It was a hard decision to make, but we felt it was the best one. Last season went pretty well, but needed to do much better this season and we weren't in a position to take another risk this year.

We want to say a big thank you to all of our customers who ate with us last year, especially our repeat customers. You are what made all of the hard work and long hours worth it. Maybe we will open up again in the future in some shape or form. Who knows. But for now, Southern Smoke BBQ is no more.

If anyone has any questions or comments feel free to leave them on the web site. I don't have any plans of shutting it down, at least not immediately. Again, thanks for the support patronage. We really appreciate it.

- Chad

No Longer Taking Orders

The deadline to get your order in for a butt or brisket has passed. Thanks to everyone who ordered food. $5 of your purchase will go to the Children's Miracle Network. We had such a good response from this so we will likely do this again throughout the winter. The best way to keep informed of this is to follow us on Twitter and Facebook. We will advertise through these mediums. Thanks again!

Closing for the Winter

Well, I didn't want to do it, but I think I'm going to close for the winter. The few days of cold weather we've had so far have been really slow, and it doesn't make financial sense to stay open. Thanks to everyone who ate with us and made this season a great success! We learned a lot this year, that's for sure! A big thanks to those of you who ate with us even when it got cold these last few days. We appreciate everyone's support and feedback on the food, and are looking forward to next season.

We have some remaining inventory and will be having a end-of-season sale on Friday, December 11th. We will be selling whole pork butts for $30 and whole brisket flats for $40. Also, any of the cold pre-smoked meat I have I will be letting go for 1/2 off. I have ribs, brisket, tri-tip and pulled pork left. If you are interested in ordering a pork butt or brisket, you can place your order here. The pre-smoked orders will be taken as walk-up orders at our location on Friday between 11 AM to 4 PM.

We will still be available for catering over the winter, so give us a call if you need some good BBQ for your event. We will reopen in the spring, probably sometime in March. I will keep you all updated.

Thanks again and have a great winter!

Website Changes

I made some website changes this weekend. Here they are listed out:

• Updated the Catering section to reflect our current pricing and catering brochure, which is also available for download in PDF format
• Added the ability to leave a voice testimonial. You can now click a button on the website, enter your phone number (you can keep it private if you want) and you will get a call and the opportunity to leave a voice message commenting on your experience with our food/catering/etc. Your comments may appear on our website for others to hear.
• "Human" form submission verification. I was starting to receive automated form submissions from robots on the contact and feedback forms, so I've included a simple math question that a person must answer in the forms before the submission will be accepted. Don't worry, you won't have to break out the calculator!

That's about it. More changes to come in the future. If you have any ideas you would like to see incorporated on the site, let us know.

180 lbs of brisket flats

Some friends of ours got married this past weekend and they hired us to smoke brisket for their reception. They provided the meat and we smoked and delivered it to their reception. This is only the second time I loaded the Ole Hickory completely full of product. It took me 3 hours to prep the 22 brisket flats (I was interrupted a few times) and a little over 2 hours for me and my emloyee to slice it all. Here are a few pictures I snapped with my phone of the meat.

 

New Location

We've finally moved into our new location at Republic and Fremont. It
should be much easier for everyone to get in and out of. I didn't get
the trailer moved into position until late Monday night which put me
behind for getting everything ready for Tuesday, so we will be closed
Tuesday. We will be back open on Wednesday. Come out and see us at our
new spot!

Decisions, Decisions

This whole idea of operating out of a trailer was to be an experiment from the get-go. A temporary thing. It was the only way I could think of getting into the BBQ business and putting my food out there for people to try without the risks and expenses of a full blown restaurant. If the people liked the food, then I would move into a permanent restaurant. Well, the experiment worked. People not only like the food, they love it. Read the comments and reviews for yourself.

We've started seriously contemplating whether or not to make the move into a restaurant. I've had several of my customers asking "When are you getting a place?" The plan for now is to try going through the winter in the trailer. We will be offering a drive thru service as well as delivery service, so this will hopefully keep people eating through the cold months. With the economy the way it is, I'm still a little gun shy on going into a full blown restaurant. But still in the back of my mind I keep thinking it would work. That is just the eternal optimist in me. I can make anything work. But I can't help but continue wondering when the right time is to make the move into a permanent structure. Is there that right, perfect time? No reward comes without risk, right? Decisions, decisions...