Part 1 (Long winded ) opinions

Redneck cuisine from the hunting camp.
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ICDEDTURKES
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Part 1 (Long winded ) opinions

Post by ICDEDTURKES »

Part 1

We cook for alot of friends and family. Everyone always say you two should open a restaurant. Not bragging but she and I love to cook, all my Facebook saves are recipes, we have 100s of cookbooks. Now with a restaurant comes hiring folks brick and mortar has harsh regulations tons of over head waste.

I come from a small town in northern Michigan 600. Our town has a cafe and a Subway. But what we do have is businesses. Our downtown which is small has about every professional building dentist, doctor, hair salon, bank small grocery grain company a coop attorney insurance etc

We also have 2 schools combined employ probably 250 folks. Our public school allows kids to walk downtown for lunch, the lot I want is 200 yards from school and is up for sale. We are a farming community and most everyone comes to town everyday for something. We have alot of mega farms close, we have a car dealership, a John Deere dealer, and linesman trading center 4-5 miles

Sal and I discussed doing bbq, but even here it's beat to death. Sal proposed buying a food trailer the other day and doing soup in said lot. We have probably 30 soup recipes we make and I found a taste of home cookbook other day that is all soup, 400 recipes I and she could tweak. Some very unique outside the box.

We would do our chicken noodle everyday, our chicken noodle is extremely thick, I hate broth soups and would be on menu everyday. Honestly sal whipped this up and I hate to give her credit lol best anyone's had.

We'd probably do chicken noodle soup every day and 3 others. For example we make a mean white chicken chili, a Southwest chili and a regular chili. One day would be chili day. Another may be southern day Brunswick stew, gumbo. We make a great beef barley, loaded potato, corn chowder, clam chowder, shrimp bisque etc

Imo it's keeping the menu revolving so people don't get burnt out and providing unique homemade soups We'd open mid September and close mid April

We have an awesome bakery that makes amazing bread we'd strike something up and give bread with order.

We'd serve in 12 oz, 24oz and half gallons for offices and folks that wanna take home. We'd be open mon-fri Sunday is a no no in our town.

It would be call up or takeout. I found a really nice 2015 trailer for 10k but may try to find one with a drive through.

Most everyone I know could eat soup daily in our frigid winter's and if you kept adding new soups nobody would be burnt out. Plus being open for half a year nobody would get burnt out and you'd essentially be new next year

Thoughts?
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Re: Part 1 (Long winded ) opinions

Post by timbrhuntr »

Soup Nazi !! No soup for you !!! :LMAO:
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Re: Part 1 (Long winded ) opinions

Post by Hobbes »

Do you have to buy a lot to serve from a food truck? Can you park in a local parking lot or will the town allow you to park along the street, moving around slightly occasionally to meet mobile rules. The town that I used to work for had much different rules for food trucks than say a restaurant because they were mobile. I don't recall the difference, but do recall the council and community development department having some concerns because they couldn't regulate them as well. It probably had more to do with some tax they were avoiding. Not owning the lot may save some property taxes unless you feel it's an investment. However, lots in towns that size may not be much of an investment because they aren't growing.

Michigan laws may be different, but if you are talking a small farm town...
Are they incorporated (sounds like they would be)? If not and it's an unincorporated community, you'll be dealing with the county more.

I used to eat from a taco truck (real Mexican food) in Colorado. Dang thise Hispanic ladies could cook. It sounds like a reasonable idea. I'm not a big soup guy, but could do it a couple times a week especially if it's good. I do like a good homemade cup of soup instead of a salad. The bread idea sounds good. Maybe consider some basic sandwiches on good bread that are simply made for soup and sandwich lunches, but again I'm not a big soup guy.

Small Town USA seems to be dieing if big box options are within reasonable driving distance, but good food is good food. Good luck with the idea.
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Re: Part 1 (Long winded ) opinions

Post by ICDEDTURKES »

timbrhuntr wrote: February 12th, 2019, 10:55 pm Soup Nazi !! No soup for you !!! :LMAO:
Lol been thinking of that episode. I better work the back I love our small town and vast majority in it but they're is some.
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Re: Part 1 (Long winded ) opinions

Post by davisd9 »

If it is something you enjoy doing and will not set you back financially a lot then I say go for it. There is no sense in putting yourself in a bad financial situation. I understand investment, but I have also seen bad investment. Remember that you are taking something you love and trying to make money from it so do not let it take the joy out of it. I swore I would never do anything hunting/fishing related for a living as it would take the joy out of it. I, like Hobbes, am not much for soup. I would add a couple easy items to whip up besides soup, club sandwich, patty melt, etc. If it is a success do not try to grow to quickly or add before you are ready. I can name multiple businesses that were awesome and doing great that tried to expand too much, too fast to only a little while later fold. Be smart, have fun, and make sure it does not take away from God, Family, or relaxation.
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Re: Part 1 (Long winded ) opinions

Post by soiltester »

Not to be negative, but can be most of the time, especially if I want to :LMAO:
I'd bet the town would want you to get the lot zoned commercial(if it already isn't) and then probably a special use permit or/and some type license from the Heath Department or controlling permit office when you "hang your shingle" in your trailer "soup wagon". :lol:
Are you good friends of the Subway and café manager's/owners and is there enough room for another "eatery" business in your town.
Could your winter months only "soup wagon" be enough competition in your area, to be like our area where Wall Mart put the mini-Wall Mart's and put local business out and then didn't make enough and closed. :shock:

Regardless, I doubt you'll be able to stick with and just serve soup & a side as your business grows ;)

Another thought: I see when I visit the central Michigan area, that a lot of the auctions have gone online now. If you know your local auctioneers, I'd get with them and get names(maybe you already know some) of the people that have "lunch wagons" for farm/estate auctions and you may be able to pick one up real reasonable already to go!!
Yes, you're welcome for my comments :thumbup:

Oh , and don't forget the Liability Insurances, to start with :bom:
ever wonder where the white goes when the snow melts??
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Re: Part 1 (Long winded ) opinions

Post by Hognutz »

With all due respect, Tom, I’m thinking that a soup and bread only mobile trailer, in a small town, would be a long shot, at best. I’m not a huge soup guy and think that most people would rather have a burger and fries or sub sandwiches over a bowl of soup, regardless of how good it was.
I live in a small town, as well, with a small restaurant, supper club and two or three pizza joints along with a few bars that serve food. The small breakfast/lunch diner is forever changing hands because it’s such a hard way to make a buck with a relatively small profit margin.
This is just my 2 cents worth and I may be totally off base. Either way, I wish you well on your decision!!
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Re: Part 1 (Long winded ) opinions

Post by ICDEDTURKES »

So we got logo design done. Sal's neighbor a kid she has known forever is a graphic designer. With a few tweaks we agreed on this were both happy
15324.jpeg
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Re: Part 1 (Long winded ) opinions

Post by Hognutz »

That'll work! It really looks good, Tom!
Did you notice the date of the first post and your last? Coincidence?
May I assume you're not here to inquire about the alcohol or the tobacco?
I am the man from Nantucket.
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When attacked by a group of clowns...Go for the Juggler!!
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Re: Part 1 (Long winded ) opinions

Post by ICDEDTURKES »

Bwahaha now you see mention it. Lol I'll share tommorow
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Re: Part 1 (Long winded ) opinions

Post by appalachianassassin »

Going on some of the food pics you share here. Well... just be sure you let me know the location you are going to set up. When I make my way to MI to kill some of your turkeys I'll come by and show my support.
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Re: Part 1 (Long winded ) opinions

Post by GLS »

At one time the two leading failed businesses were 1) bookstores 2) restaurants. This observation was made years before Amazon eliminated most local mom and pop bookstores. Gil
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Re: Part 1 (Long winded ) opinions

Post by soiltester »

I'm sure you'll do very well with traveling the area events :thumbup: :thumbup:

Post lot's of pics to keep us hungry :cheers:
ever wonder where the white goes when the snow melts??
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Re: Part 1 (Long winded ) opinions

Post by ICDEDTURKES »

Thanks guys I'll share pics soon we have 4 pages of things we wrote down four pages jotted down where we can do different, venues our ideas are unique. Not burger hotdog elephant ear stuff I am excited to show y'all. We're gonna have friends over next few weeks you will see pics for sure.

We've been hit up with a good number of graduation parties just by a pic of trailer as folks know were foodies
It's parked in Sal's ma and dad's yard they've had multiple people call outta curiosity. My BFF sister does event planning and decorating her girl backed outta her events, she said she said we'd be booked for graduation

I'm in charge of booking Sal's in charge of everything else
Gonna be a pia calling the 30 fairs festivals we want to get packets from. A kid I went to school with opened what is called the truck stop he put up a building beer and wine wants a many trailers he can get. It's brilliant it eliminates the age old argument "what you want" I dunno. It's like a food court at mall we'd use something unique, as you still have competition, but not really as everyone do something different. It's cheap to, and would serve as a place we could come and go for other venues. Bonus it's right next to every major plant in town.
As for restaurants yup out a business, watched a many go out. One woman had a booming bbq trailer on highway, took a brick and mortar and went out in two years. Way to much headache and overhead We've had two restaurant owners that do trailers and they say they net more off trailer.
We're excited were scared we fail we fail. Cannot wait to show u our ideas
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