BBQ Business Plan: A Smokehouse Restaurant's First Year

A barbecue restaurant's food cost lives in its brisket: a whole packer loses about half its weight to trimming and twelve hours in the smoker, so a pound sold costs about twice the price of a pound bought. Sides and drinks keep far more of each dollar, and catering fills the smoker on weekdays. The plan turns on beef prices, wages for pitmasters who start before dawn, the smokers and the build-out, and selling out without running out. In the example, a Lubbock barbecue restaurant starts with $186,500, ends its first year about $24,300 behind before the owner's pay while sales build, and makes about $2,500 a month at full speed. Below is each part of the plan, the first year month by month, the startup budget, and a free template.

The short version

• Describe the restaurant in a paragraph: the meats, the street, the goals.
• Cost a pound of brisket after trim and cook loss, not as bought.
• Plan sales by category per $100: meats, sides, drinks, catering.
• Sides and drinks carry the margin that meats don't.
• Catering keeps the smokers busy on weekdays.
• Hold hot meat at 135°F or above, and cool leftovers fast.
• TaroStack makes each pound of brisket a recipe, so its true cost follows the price of what's in it. More below.

Part 1: the business description

Caprock Smokehouse, a made-up barbecue restaurant in Lubbock, Texas, writes:

Caprock Smokehouse is a 2,000-square-foot barbecue restaurant with two offset smokers, selling brisket, ribs, sausage and turkey by the pound, sides made in house, drinks, and catering for offices and events. In its first year it aims to reach $34,000 of sales a month.

Part 2: what a pound of brisket costs

A 14-pound packer brisket at $3.50 a pound comes out of the smoker at about 7 pounds sliced, so its meat costs about $7 a pound before what's left unsold; the table includes that. Barbecue catering on its own is in bbq catering business plan.

Part 3: the pits, the line and the food rules

The pitmaster lights the smokers at 3 a.m.; doors open at 11 and close when the brisket sells out. Meat waiting to be sliced is held at 135°F or above, and anything left at close is cooled fast and logged, the way the Food Code's cooling rule asks, in cooling log template. The house sauce, bottled, is in bbq sauce business plan.

Part 4: what each category earns

At full speed the business sells $34,000 a month and keeps $21,820, 64.2%; smoked meats bring $10,440 of it.

Part 5: the first year, month by month

Fixed costs are $19,350 every month: wages ($11,000), rent ($5,000), wood and utilities ($1,800), insurance ($400), ads ($400), register and software ($250), and other costs ($500). Sales start at half of full speed:

The year's sales are $324,000, and the business ends it $24,268 behind, before the owner's pay. It breaks even at about $30,150 of sales a month, in the eighth month. The lowest cash point, −$31,805 in month 7, is covered by the $40,000 of working cash with about $8,200 to spare. Meats are most of the sales and keep the least of each dollar; the sides, drinks and catering are what make the month work, and selling out by 3 keeps waste low.

Part 6: the startup budget

The $146,500 before working cash is earned back in about five years at full speed. A food truck version is in food truck business plan.

Get the template

Download the bbq business plan workbook. Four sheets: your categories, each per $100 of sales with its variable cost and hundreds a month at full speed; the first year, month by month, with sales ramping up, profit, cash, the first profitable month, the lowest cash point and whether the working cash covers it; your fixed costs; and the startup budget. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.

Where this stops working

The plan uses one brisket yield. Packers that trim heavier, a smoker that runs hot, and a Tuesday that sells half as much change the meat cost, and nobody knows what a pound of brisket really cost last week.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack makes each pound of brisket a recipe, so its true cost follows the price of packer briskets and ribs.

Pound of briskets as recipes. Each pound of brisket is a recipe by weight, so its cost moves when the supplier's price does.

Counts with no signal. The cooler and dry storage can be counted on a phone with no signal, and the reorder list shows what runs out first in days of cover.

Waste with a reason. Meat left at close is recorded as waste with a reason, reported by item.

Recipes, counts and the reorder list are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.

Questions people also ask

How much does it cost to start a barbecue restaurant?

The example budgets $186,500, including $40,000 of working cash; the build-out and hood is the biggest item.

Is a barbecue restaurant profitable?

It can be: the example makes about $2,500 a month at full speed before the owner's pay, after a first year that ends behind.

How much does a pound of brisket cost to make?

In the example, about $11.38 a pound sold: brisket loses about half its weight to trim and cooking, so $3.50 a pound raw becomes about $9.80 a pound sliced, with wood, paper and the card fee.

Why is brisket so expensive?

It loses about half its weight to trimming and twelve hours of smoking, so a pound sold takes about two pounds bought.