Options for Earning Money From a BBQ Website

I have been blogging and writing about barbecue since 2001. I also competed in professional barbecue contests from 2001 - 2006. My original goal when starting this blog was to build an

audience to buy my spice rubs and sauces. And then, if everything turned out well, I hoped to open a barbecue catering business. If that business became viable, I planned to open a small barbecue restaurant to concentrate on barbecue carry out sales.

I sold my spice rubs from this web site and at local barbecue contests from 2002 - 2006. In total I sold about 7 cases of barbecue rub during that time, strictly from this website and via word of mouth among family and friends.

After posting the first 100 or so articles about my barbecue experiences including my personal recipes for rubs and spices along with numerous pictures of contest turn-in boxes, I decided to attempt to monetize some of those efforts maintaining the website via affiliate links to Amazon.com, to advertisers via Google AdSense and with educational materials from Click Bank. During the past 13 years, this free website has earned approximately $5,000 from those avenues and income from the contests where I was awarded prize money. I spend $10 a year or less to maintain the website, which represents the cost of the domain name.

I have learned that content is key to building an audience and ultimately earning any significant income from a free website like mine is dependent on having daily visitors who are interested in looking at my barbecue pictures, reading my articles and learning from my success and mistakes.

Based on my experiences with this website I have learned a great deal about online marketing. I have learned what works and what does not work. I receive occasional questions from others trying to build their own online presence and have tried to help them when possible.

If I were starting over from scratch with this site, I might take a different approach - an approach where content is more dependent on user and reader generated discussion and less on my own personal effort. But that ship has sailed - 14 years ago in fact.

I have other online blogs and businesses. I have used my experience here and applied it to other websites and business strategies. I have a blog about fishing, blogs about photography, about vermicomposting and even gardening. I have monetized many of those sites with Amazon, AdSense, educational material via Click Bank, but I am most excited about the step-by-step instructional material recently available teaching average gals and guys like me, how to earn income from existing websites and how to create new websites specifically to earn extra income on a part time basis.

If these educational materials had been available to me 14 years ago, I would have saved a lot of trial and error; and certainly would have earned significantly more income from this website.

Martin's BBQ in Nolensville on Diners Drive-Ins and Dives

My sister-in-law lives in Nolensville, TN so I have eaten at Martin's several times while visiting and you should too.

Tunnel Bar-B-Q Windsor Canada

Today we make the short drive from Belleville, MI to Windsor, Ontario for a site seeing trip and to eat lunch at Tunnel Bar-B-Q. Since it's opening in 1941, the restaurant has a long history in downtown Windsor.

We stopped by for lunch after a visit to the Riverfront Sculpture Garden offering a great view of downtown Detroit. 

The service was very good with a friendly waitress who is planning a driving trip through Tennessee, down to New Orleans and onward to Texas for a Carribbean cruise in a couple of weeks.

Always inquisitive, Linda couldn't resist asking if they prepare the bbq in a real smoker or in the oven. Since we parked in the rear of the restaurant with no signs of wood, a smoke stack, etc. I already knew the answer. I'll give bonus points for honesty. It is after all "the best policy".

For oven 'que that is far from the traditional southern-style that we prefer, it was acceptable lunch fare.

The dessert menu was the highlight of the visit. Linda and nephew Gus shared a chocolate brownie mousse and I had Peach Melba (ice cream wtih peaches and raspberry sauce).

I can't recommend making a special trip just for the 'que, but if you're already in town and looking for some lunch give it a try.

Bikes and BBQ

Today we took a road trip to Mount Clemens, Michigan for the motorcycle show at the Gibraltar Trade Center.  Click here to see a video of the pictures I took today.

After a few hours checking out the bikes, we headed out in search of a restaurant for lunch. When we are away from home, we like to sample the local restaurants.  We drove 3 miles without seeing a place we just had to eat at, but when we were just about ready to head home we drove by a bbq restaurant located on Gratiot Avenue in Clinton Township.

A view of the signage from the parking lot

Sliced brisket sandwich and barbecue beans

A sampling of the sauce offerings

Nice logo

When I eat at a new bbq restaurant I almost always choose to eat brisket. As a bbq enthusiast and former contest competitor, I know that brisket is the most difficult bbq offering to produce in high quantity with high quality. So any bbq restaurant worth it's logo and catchy name needs to have a killer brisket to earn a return visit from me. I am happy to say that Smokin' BarBQ serves very good restaurant quality brisket. When I ordered, I didn't realize it would be served on a bun, but I enjoyed it a lot.

While we were there, we witnessed several people coming and going and they all seemed to enjoy their food. One guy who was dining alone made a special point to walk up to the serving counter and comment about how much he enjoyed the bbq sauce choices.  Just before leaving he returned to the counter and explained that he was scouting the place before deciding to bring his family back for a larger meal. He promised to bring them back at a later date.

The Boss Hog with slaw, macaroni and cheese

Linda ordered The Boss Hog - mostly because of the uniqueness of the name. The sandwich was served with bbq pulled pork and Monterrey Jack cheese with slaw. She liked everything about it, except the sweet pickle garnish on top of the bun. (She's a dill pickle girl.)

For anyone looking for a bbq business opportunity, Smokin' BarBQ is expanding their restaurant concept throughout Southeastern Michigan. With all of the empty restaurants I've seen around metro Detroit, this opportunity could be very lucrative for the right person.

Here's a link to a review by the restaurant critic from Detroit Free Press.

Slow's BarBQ Detroit

My co-workers took me to Slow's BarBQ on Michigan Avenue in Detroit for a birthday lunch earlier this week. I had the brisket entree with black beans and potato salad.  For a bbq restaurant, the brisket was very good. I really enjoyed my lunch.

It was my third trip to Slow's and the second time I actually got to eat bbq while I was there. That's the trouble with hip and happenin' restaurant's sometimes - they are so busy you have to wait 3 hours to eat at them. That experience is a long story that I won't go into here, but if you decide to make a trip to Slow's I encourage you get there early, or plan on the possibility that you may be waiting a while.

Bubba Ques - Brandon Florida

We made a second trip to Bubba Que's in the Brandon-Valrico area this weekend. The restaurant is located on Hwy 60 near Wal-Mart. The tables provide a choice of 6 different bbq sauces for your bbq entree or sandwich.

The bbq was pretty good, but we especially liked the restaurant's atmosphere and decor. As you might expect, with a name like Bubba's, there's not a lot of fancy fixin's or fancy furniture. They even use Igloo coolers for seating at some tables.

Their website is also uniquely different, although I had trouble accessing the online menu. I also enjoyed the banana pudding for desert.

This is a nice restaurant concept. I think they'll be successful.

Restaurant Start-up for $10?

This news article details a rib joint in Hamilton, OH that was started with $10. Amazing story.

This seems to illustrate that 1) dreams really can come true and 2) I gave up too soon (lol).

BBQ Road Trip

I am planning a road trip from Las Vegas to Albuquerque to Amarillo next month. It's a driving vacation that includes a visit to the Grand Canyon. I'm looking for ideas for bbq restaurants we should check out along the route.

A Google search brings up quite a few, but I'd like to weed out the contenders from the pretenders before we leave for the trip.

Amarillo, TX

A. Dyer's Bar-B-Que - (806) 358-7104
B. Cattle Call Express - www.cattlecall.com - (806) 331-1227
C. Desperado's BBQ & Steaks - (806) 372-3030
D. Texas Roadhouse - Amarillo - www.texasroadhouse.com - (806) 352-7427
E. Big Daddy's BBQ - (806) 383-9731
F. Jerry's Famous Pit Bar-B-Que - (806) 376-9932
H. Wesley's Bean Pot & BBQ - (806) 381-2893
I. Hickory Stick Barbecue - (806) 373-3322

Albuquerque, NM

A. Rudy's Country Store & Bar-BQ - rudys.com - (505) 884-4000
B. Quarters BBQ - www.thequarters.com - (505) 843-7505
C. County Line BBQ - www.countyline.com - (505) 856-7477
D. Robbs Ribbs
E. Powdrell's Barbeque House Mr - (505) 345-8086
F. Golden Pride BBQ Chicken - www.goldenpridebbq.com - (505) 294-5767

Any suggestions?

Mike's Smokehouse BBQ & Grill in Tampa

Linda and I ate lunch at Mike's Bar-B-Que in Tampa recently. It's located at 7117 N US Highway 301 near I-4. The restaurant has seating for 30-35 inside and room for another 20-25 on an outside patio.

Mike Andrews used to have a 2nd location in Brandon, but that restaurant is now closed. The St. Petersburg Times featured an article titled "The Ripple Effect", which included a few paragraphs about Mike's. According to the newspaper article, the restaurant that used to employ 28 now has 5 employees.

I urge you to support your local restaurant owners. After reading the newspaper article, I think I'll be going back to Mike's again soon. If you're in the area, stop by for lunch.

I had the pulled pork plate with fried okra and hushpuppies. The okra is breaded on the premises and the hushpuppies were good. The place was packed for Saturday lunch. I'm glad to see it.

J & R Manufacturing

Like many bbq enthusiasts, I've spent the last few years dreaming, thinking, and researching different types of equipment to use in a future bbq restaurant. I've always thought Ole Hickory to be the gold standard as far as bbq restaurant equipment goes, but the more I explore the offerings from J & R Manufacturing, the more I think I might change my mind.

They make three types of bbq smoker ovens:

The Little Red Smokehouse
The Oyler Pit
The Smokemaster Convection Oven

The pits are wood fired with electric assist available to add consistency, predictability, and to reduce costs. According to their website, the electric assist also will not taint the taste of food like a gas assist pit will.

The pits are NSF and UL listed. And, they also have an impressive listing of professional chefs and bbq restaurants that use their wood fired pits.

I've not seen one up close yet, but I want to. I see that Jimbo's Pit Barbecue in Lakeland, FL uses one. I might have to make a road trip soon.

BBQ Tour: Columbus, GA que restaurants

We traveled to Columbus, GA this weekend. Sunday afternoon we made up our own informal tour of bbq joints in the area.

We stopped by Chester's BBQ, Hog Rock BBQ , Fat Freddy's, and Thorton's BBQ to name a few. I'm not quite sure where the folks of Columbus eat bbq on Sundays, because most of the joints were not open for business, but that turned out perfectly to snap a few pictures.


Chester's Bar-B-Q with locations on Veteran's Parkway and Northstar drive has a storied business history in Columbus dating back to 1939. The restaurant is previous People's Choice Award winner as the favorite bbq joint in town. (See more pictures here.)

Here's a view of the front door at Fat Freddie's Bar-B-Q on Hamilton Road.

Hog Rock BBQ, on the 280 by-pass in Phenix City, AL, across the river from Columbus gets my vote for the best bbq logo and paint scheme.

Mike & Ed's on Crawford Road in Phenix City looked busy on Saturday afternoon, but they were closed when we stopped by on Sunday.

Next to Kansas City or Memphis, I've never seen more bbq restaurants in a single community. I'd be willing to wager that Columbus, GA might hold the record for Most BBQ Restaurants Per Capita compared to most any medium to large sized city in America.

Martin's BBQ Joint

Brian and Linda

We visited Martin's BBQ Joint in Nolensville, TN on the Tuesday during Christmas week. For those that haven't followed posts about Martin's on my bbq blog, you can read more about Pat Martin's step-by-step progress from planning, opening, marketing, and daily operation of a bbq restaurant on Martin's Bar-B-Q Blog.

Nine of us converged on Martin's at 11 a.m. just prior to the lunch rush. I had the ribs, my sister-in-law had the Red Neck Tacos, and most everyone else had pulled pork sandwiches.

After finishing my rib basket, I introduced myself at the counter and asked to speak to Pat. I'd never met him before in person, but I've been reading his blog for many months. He was nice enough to take a few minutes to talk about his experience opening and operating his bbq joint.

He showed me the kitchen layout and the Old Hickory smoker out back. Pat also mentioned that he was invited to speak at the 2009 NBBQA conference in Austin, TX in February. It sounded like Pat is planning a "no holds barred" presentation to ensure that those thinking about opening a restaurant do it with their eyes wide open. If you're at the conference and get a chance, I highly recommend you make a point to listen to his presentation.

Toward the end of our conversation, Pat introduced me to the publisher of ULIKA Food Blog, Rob Marlowe, who was also at Martin's eating lunch. If you haven't visited his food blog, I recommend you stop by for a visit. Rob has a lot of pictures of Nashville area bbq restaurants and some valuable insight into all things bbq. He also competes in KCBS bbq contests.

Christmas in Tennessee

I'm enjoying a week in Tennessee visiting my in-laws who live near Manchester. It was 12 degrees this morning and is currently 19 degrees. The forecasters are predicting warmer weather tomorrow - 29 degrees. To quote Linda from last night, "There's something to be said for living in Florida during this time of year."

Tomorrow, we're going to take a drive up to Nolensville to visit my sister-in-law. I've been trying to find an excuse to visit Martin's BBQ restaurant since I found his blog two years ago. I've enjoyed reading about his experiences - good and bad. I'll try to take a couple of pictures while we're there.

Local Bar-B-Que Restaurant

We were in St. Petersburg this afternoon and stopped by Fred Fleming's bbq place for lunch. Linda had the brisket and I had pulled pork.

I preferred the brisket to the pulled pork sandwich. The brisket was moist and tender, but there was very little bark. My sandwich was a little on the dry side and needed quite a bit of bbq sauce to perk it up a little.

The baked beans were good.

It's kind of funny how your tastes change after you learn to make traditional style barbecue on your own.

Tampa Area BBQ Restaurant

Last fall Linda and I scouted out some of the bbq restaurants in the St. Petersburg/Brandon/Valrico Florida area and wound up eating at Jaymer-Que in Valrico.

The St. Petersburg Times featured Jaymer-Que in an article earlier this year. I found it informative and refreshing. Besides filling in some of the blanks I'd wondered about, the article confirmed what our visit revealed - the folks at Jaymer-Que are good people.

The restaurant is located on Lithia-Pinecrest Road in Valrico. It's a strip mall location, but it has a nice atmosphere. You can eat inside or outside on the side patio. I had brisket and Linda had the pulled pork. Both were pretty good and the staff was very friendly and attentive.

If you're in the area and looking for something to eat. Check it out.

BBQ Research

Whether you are preparing bbq in the backyard, for a contest, or for a restaurant, the success of the effort is largely dependent upon the foundation you build under the effort in the beginning.

To start a restaurant, you'd most likely begin by researching the competition in the market area where the restaurant will be located. You'd pay particular attention to the menu choices, parking availability, pricing, hours of operation, location, and on and on. As a next step, you'd be wise to prepare a business plan and a pro-forma balance sheet and income statement that projects the first three years of expenses and revenues.

Some seasoned business people might feel comfortable preparing these items on their own, but most would want to seek out the services of a professional. Financing is another consideration. A local bank might be able to assist you, but you might have better success consulting a bank and loan officer that has experience loaning money to start-up restaurant operations. If financing doesn't work out, a long-term lease is another option. A good accountant or CPA with experience in working with small businesses can offer guidance and recommendations for all of these items.

If your barbecue goals are less ambitious and you simply want to learn how to cook some good barbecue in your backyard, you might seek out the advice of a friend that cooks barbecue, or you might take a class from one of the multiple guru's that cook barbecue. Or if you're like me, you'd probably take a trip down to the local book store or visit Amazon.com to read some books on the subject. The Internet also provides an excellent source of information through various bbq blogs, barbecue forums, discussion lists, newsletters, directories, etc.

Here's a few to get you started:

VirtualWeberBullet.com
HomeBBQ.com
TheBBQForum.com
KCBS.us
FLBBQ.org

When learning anything new, these preliminary steps are the least rewarding part. It's sometimes dirty work and not very glamorous. Many try to skip these basic steps and simply throw money at barbecue by purchasing a turn key business opportunity they know little or nothing about. Backyard barbecuers might purchase the shiniest, newest, latest and greatest most expensive bbq smoker they can find, before they really even know how to use it and if it will work for a particular application.

Take a deep breath and a step back. You just might save yourself some money.

Martin's BBQ Joint

If you've ever contemplated opening a bbq restaurant, bbq joint, or even a bbq concession and catering business and haven't been following along with Martin's BBQ Blog, then you're missing out on a valuable source of information and dare I say -- reality.

In just a few short months Martin's in Nolensville, TN has gone from a remodeled Mexican restaurant to one of the best bbq joints in the Metropolitan Nashville area. He's cooked for the Nolensville locals and served bbq to some of Music City's biggest and brightest, and it's all documented on the blog for everyone to read about.

The restuarant has been written about in the local newspapers and news / advertising magazines with good reviews.

My sister in-law lives in Nolensville and vouches for the quality of the 'que. I haven't been there yet, but I've been following along via the World Wide Web. The next time in Nolensville visiting, I'm definitely going to stop in.

Martin's BBQ Blog documents the reality of borrowing money, choosing a pit, hiring staff, keeping staff, controlling costs, seasonal sales considerations, and installing a Point-of-Sale system to keep track of the numbers.

Jon El's BBQ - Boonville Missouri

Linda and I visited my parents, sisters, and brothers in Boonville, MO last week. There's a new bbq restaurant that opened this year on Route B near the I-70 overpass and we stopped by for lunch on Thursday.

It's kind of funny now that I've become a bbq afficianado, because growing up in Missouri I never ate bbq in a restaurant. I didn't know there was such a thing.

The location is great and decor is about what you'd expect from a small town restaurant or cafe. The restaurant has seating for about 30 people and plenty of parking.

I had beef brisket and several in our group had the bbq pork. For $7.95 the portion sizes are good. The marcaroni and cheese and the french fries were popular side items, but the bbq was dissapointing.

BBQ Restaurant Menu

If a fellow was to purchase a bbq restaurant and the menu included Philly cheese steaks and traditional hamburgers, I'm thinking the first step to improving the business foot print and credibility would be to get rid of the Philly cheese steaks and hamburgers from the menu.

Do you agree?

Also, I'm thinking that if the restaurant is closed on Sundays, the second step to improve profits would be to open on Sundays.

Am I on the right track here?

The business was established in early 2007 and is apparently not meeting the owner's expectations. I've not eaten at the restaurant yet at this point, but I'm thinking that part of the problem is that they serve a lot of non-bbq items. The owner is also talking about adding breakfast to the menu.

From my personal viewpoint, a bbq restaurant should serve bbq and only bbq. I can see hotdogs for the children's menu or possibly fried chicken, but not Philly cheese steaks.

If a guy just had to have hamburgers on the menu, I'd prefer a "bbq hamburger" and not the traditional McDonald's variety burger.

Here's some more details about the business I'm referring to:

Asking Price: $62,000 (cash, no terms offered)
Gross Revenue: $172,784 (annualized)
Cash Flow: $31,460
Inventory: $2,000 (Included in Asking Price)
FF&E: $15,000 (Included in Asking Price)
Rent: $1,700 per month and 1,100 sq feet with parking

Competition BBQ Secrets

Shane's Rib Shack

Linda and I had lunch at Shane's Rib Shack yesterday. We ordered the large sampler platter, which included a 1/3 rack of ribs, about a 1/2 pound of chopped pork, and 6 fried chicken fingers. The large platter also comes with a choice of two side orders. We chose the fried okra and baked beans for our lunch.

Before I describe our impressions of the meal, I'd like to give you some background on Shane's. According to the website, Shane is a real person that used to have a corporate job. He took an old family recipe for bbq sauce and created a chain of bbq restaurants that is spreading it's influence across the country.

Getting back to our lunch yesterday...it was dissapointing.

The bbq sauce was good, but the ribs weren't much more than luke warm. They were charred with some type of black substance that reminded me of steaks that I used to cook on the grill when I was about 13 years old. The ribs were on the dry side and absent of any smoke flavor or smoke ring. The chopped pork wasn't warm at all--actually c0ld--but it did have a nice hint of vinegar flavor. The chicken fingers don't belong on the menu at a bbq restaurant, but I realize that kids like chicken so that probably explains why they are included on the "bbq sampler" platter. When I was a kid, I'd have rather eaten bbq, but I realize most kids like chicken tenders. The fried okra and baked beans were the best part of our lunch. I recommend the fried okra. It wasn't as good as home cooked, but it was close.

I realize that my experience is based upon one single restaurant on one single day, so I'll probably give them another chance sometime, but our lunch experience yesterday was a huge dissapointment.