Sunday, September 27, 2009

still stalled


rain has passed, should have a slab poured by the end of the week. even still it will be another two weeks before the steel gets here. have a job site review meeting tomorrow at 12:00. been designing the smoke stack for the pit furnace. wed. night i drove to Murphysboro, IL to spend some time with mike mills and his genius daughter amy tunnicliffe. been trying to get up there since late last year but something has always come up.....ice storm, inland hurricane, all kinds of stuff. very quick trip (only 3hr drive though) went up wed. came back thursday. we just hung out and had dinner.......also it was nice to see tommy houston (checkered pig) as well.....great guy! very nice operation they have going up there......and what tremendous people they are! they were getting set up for their competition this weekend and with amy in town from boston i decided to run up there and see em'. my buddy kirk duggan went with me and we worked on my books (quickbooks) while we drove. kirk has been helping get caught up on my books, ive gotten behind on reconciling my transactions on a daily basis and now feel like im behind Mt. Everest. i would drive and kirk would ask me what each transaction was for and what account it needed to be placed under. just data entry but dadgum it was very helpful - really made a lot of progress.
last week ended up pretty well, especially as rainy as it was. as you've read on here in the past the month of September is an enigma. i have learned that its an enigma for everyone, not just martins bbq. very tough to predict/anticipate. but as its done the past 3yrs the last week of september starts to heat up again and october is or at least has been strong relative to the season. added to the front of the house over the past couple of weeks......very encouraged by them! the back of the house is still trucking....stronger - and leaner - than ever. still avg under 10min ticket times on our peak service (saturday night), under 4min on weekday lunch (unless you order a burger). putting that second line in back in july was the best decision ive made since opening up, its just been like night/day. now the line to place your order is still and/or can be still pretty long, but once your order is placed you ain't there long. the new joint wont have that worry of waiting long to order, its set up to get you in and get you out if you so please......really looking forward to that kitchen!

5 comments:

Inspired by eRecipeCards said...

Bookwork, owned my own business for 28 year. I am just now getting over the nightmares (sold the business several years ago). That feeling will stay with you the rest of your life.

Charlie said...

The best to you on your new place. I have been reading through many posts lately and found them very interesting. I ran across one in particular about some folks from Corinth Miss & the surrounding area. Would like to talk a little more about that if possible. E-mail me if that's something you wouldn't mind doing. Thanks, Charlie

Dunk said...

Hi Pat,

I write a bbq blog and would love to visit with you and write a piece on your place. I've been there once and loved it. Just moved back to Nashville and would love to add you guys on there.

My email is mark.dunkerley@live.com. Would love to come out there in the next week or two.

-Mark

My blog is http://barbecuequest.blogspot.com

Pat Martin said...

dunk....just drop me a line when you head up........look forward to it!

Dunk said...

Pat,

Will try to head up Thursday after the lunch rush...will call in the AM. Look forward to visiting.

-Mark

What is this Blog???

You ever been sitting around cooking for your family and friends and been told the following: "Hoss, this is the best I've ever had in my dadgum life.....you have got to open up a place of your own". The thought crosses your mind to do just that, but for whatever reason you dont. Well I'm "that" guy that actually went through with it and did it. I had absolutely ZERO restaurant experience! I decided to start this blog about my own experience hoping that it may be of some use and help to others who might be interested in opening their own place.
I learned this craft almost 20 years ago cooking whole hogs on brick & cinder block pits at a couple of little BBQ Joints in Henderson, TN. I learned from old, lifelong career Pit-Masters, working with them as an apprentice during school off and on for four years. Over the course of that time I learned the old, time-honored craft of REAL pit barbecue. At Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint I am trying as hard as I can everyday to bring that time-honored authenticity to my customers.
As you read you'll see I've made some stupid decisions, and I've made some good decisions. If you are thinking of opening a restaurant, especially a BBQ Joint, read this blog! Maybe some of this info can be of use to you. At the very least you will be entertained because I pull no punches.
Now listen, this is my blog to not only help with information but my blog to freely rant about my day to day experiences. There is no real "bad language" on this blog but there might be some things said that are very "tongue in cheek". If you are easily offended and/or cant see the satire in my posts then please just leave the blog. It will save both of us the annoyance of each other. For those of you who do like satire and are looking for good information about this experience, then by all means enjoy!