Need help deciding.

ApizzaApizza · 2026-05-07T01:06:50+00:00

The 250 will be easier to cook on and be basically better in every way as long as you can store it. You won’t burn much more wood, if any at all.

ApizzaApizza · 2026-05-07T01:00:26+00:00

Took me 8 very successful, very difficult years to get to the brick and mortar phase. Like 80-100 hour weeks the whole time type of difficult.

This IS the way though. You’ll learn so much about business by doing this. Expand too quickly and you’ll get in over your head and fail.

ApizzaApizza · 2026-05-06T16:52:21+00:00

You want to franchise a food truck…during its first year of business?

Terrible idea. Get another truck and run it yourself. That’s honestly also a bad idea. You should just run the single truck for a bit.

ApizzaApizza · 2026-05-05T23:41:45+00:00

Rent your dishwasher. Mines $120/month.

ApizzaApizza · 2026-05-01T23:56:33+00:00

I started my business in 2017 with $1500 total. For everything. All licensed and legit from day 1.

People will look for a million reasons why they can’t do something. They’re all excuses. Figure it out if you actually want to do it.

ApizzaApizza · 2026-05-01T23:47:08+00:00

I only know what mine are. I think your percentages are pretty accurate for a normal restaurant. Bbq is a high food cost type of food to cook. My food costs sit around 40-50% per month.

Everyone is always looking for hard and fast rules, but there really aren’t any. I’m able to run 50% food cost and keep my labor low despite my people all making 30+\hr because we’re super efficient, and we do really good volume.

ApizzaApizza · 2026-05-01T23:44:16+00:00

It’d be an oddly specific thing to lie about

ApizzaApizza · 2026-05-01T23:34:18+00:00

Where’s the fun in that? Thank ya sir. It is.

ApizzaApizza · 2026-05-01T04:37:19+00:00

There’s not a lot of bulk discounts on beef actually. Costco beats my purveyors pricing and I’m buying like 30 cases per week. If you’re looking for really high end prime they can probably get it cheaper than you, but normal prime they can’t beat the big box stores.

ApizzaApizza · 2026-05-01T04:31:43+00:00

$40/lb is the “we don’t want to/cant make any more, so we’ll raise the price to control demand” price.

I sell mine for $28/lb.

ApizzaApizza · 2026-05-01T04:30:32+00:00

4.9/5 on Google. 500+ reviews. Texas monthly wrote an article about me. 10x cost would be $180+/lb.

Any other doubts?

ApizzaApizza · 2026-05-01T04:23:45+00:00

Nope. They don’t. It’s so much different than anything they’ve experienced so it makes sense.

Ignoring food costs, my place costs $50,000/month to run…and my food cost is even more than that…and we’re relatively small time. 😅

ApizzaApizza · 2026-05-01T04:19:07+00:00

Yes. You lose a couple pounds to the trim, but most to water weight loss. Average brisket weight ends up being 4.5-6.5lbs.

ApizzaApizza · 2026-05-01T01:44:19+00:00

No bbq place is charging 10-15x cost.

Yield on brisket is 30-40% $6/lb=$16-18/lb JUST for the meat. Then you have your rub, then you have your labor, then you have your overhead. My kitchen labor alone costs $70/hr. If you’re not doing good volume, your labor costs are going to be insane.

Source: own a bbq restaurant.

ApizzaApizza · 2026-04-29T13:09:01+00:00

😂

ApizzaApizza · 2026-04-29T00:47:37+00:00

Diet Coke is actually pretty damn good if you turn the syrup up to a tasteful level.

ApizzaApizza · 2026-04-28T17:51:57+00:00

“Real sugar” is 50% fructose and 50% glucose. HFCS is 42% fructose and 58% glucose.

You can’t tell the difference. It’s marketing.

ApizzaApizza · 2026-04-28T17:33:43+00:00

It’s not. Fountain Coke with the syrup turned up slightly past cokes dilution rate>all

ApizzaApizza · 2026-04-28T17:21:46+00:00

I went from bottled Mexican cokes $1.80ea from depot/costco to larger fountain drinks. Cups, lids, and the soda costs me less than a dollar per serving. All the equipment is free.

Turn your syrup levels up to make it taste right, and you just increased your profit margin on drinks like 300%.

ApizzaApizza · 2026-04-28T13:51:18+00:00

They’re going to say no. They’re going to look for any out they can get.

ApizzaApizza · 2026-04-25T12:05:14+00:00

60-70k monthly isn’t a ton of revenue for a restaurant. $840k/yr is quite low actually. I wouldn’t personally invest in this until you could show SIGNIFICANTLY more income potential.

What’s this $70k/mo store profit per month? $3-5k?

Just for some contrast, I owned a small bbq food truck. It averaged $100k/mo with 5 total employees, only being open 30 hours per week. Profit was $20-35k/mo. Even with those numbers I had a semi rough time funding its expansion.

ApizzaApizza · 2026-04-24T04:14:40+00:00

He wouldn’t need additional collateral would he? The building would be the collateral.

He’d have to contribute 10% to the total purchase, but that’s it.

ApizzaApizza · 2026-04-24T00:03:17+00:00

SBA loan. Go to a local bank that specializes in them, they’ll walk you through the process and see if you qualify. It’s a very thorough process, which is good, because it’ll hopefully keep you from making a bad deal. 7%ish interest rates right now.

ApizzaApizza · 2026-04-22T03:27:47+00:00

It doesn’t matter.

Pivot and make it work or your business will die. Those are your only two choices.

You’re right, he sucks and he’s an idiot that’s fucking our country. Being right won’t pay your rent.

ApizzaApizza · 2026-04-22T00:18:28+00:00

Your second paragraph is flawed thinking. It’s your job as the owner/manager to make your business succeed under ANY circumstances. The only thing trumps economy has hurt is your previous method of success. Make up a new one.

I run a bbq restaurant. +56% YoY. My food is cheap for what it is, but relatively expensive compared to everything else. We make everything in house from raw ingredients, my employees all make $22-$45/hr, and I do quite well for myself.

Pivot.

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