This posting is going to be a little bit long, but I think you all will find what I written interesting!
Not to get too far off topic here, but in my youth I made a living working in, running and leasing a couple small restaurants.
Every Sunday Mother comes over (it is our day as a family) and we eat and then play games /cards for hours. As we were eating those cold smoked pork steaks (I cooked them in a skillet) I said to Mother, could you imagine twenty five years ago having this smoker when we had the Breakfast House. She replied, it sure would have made a difference.
I've joked with my wife that when I retire and we sell our business that for my retirement I was going to open up a small eating place from 6am to 1pm Mon-Fri.
I'm sure you all know the type of joint I'm talking about. Eggs, biscuits, smoked sausage, ham, etc.. Oh ya Good Coffee! And perhaps a couple of nasty greasy hamburgers. You know the type. They're made out of the back side of a porterhouse steak (upper-tail) and the lower part of a prime rib using some of the fat from the lip-on section. And of course my chicken sandwich, and maybe my "candied" baked beans. Not to mention pork steaks.
However, I can see the Bradley being a problem if I was to do this. Why? The quality of the eats would be so much more than the next greasy spoon that my retirement would turn into work.
Yuck!
All kidding aside. I use to grind my own hamburger meat. Can you just imagine cold smoking the meat for an hour and then waiting a day before you grind it? Then cooking that burger over a radiant gas grill? How about chops, chicken etc. Besides the buck board bacon, I can see taking a whole slab of beacon cold smoking it, and then slicing it in a slicer.
In my time I ran 14 Waffle Houses (I was a trouble shooter,) a small chain of 6 cafeterias, and a few chicken places. Single and multi-level management. Believe me the average person just wants a good tasty meal he can afford. I do hope that someone someday will realize the market potential in introducing this system to the average mom and pop restaurant.
It would afford them all of the benefits and rewards that at the moment is limited only to those who own those monster smokers that need a "Pro" to run them. Not to mention all of the ideas I listed above. And as far as real BBQ goes I would bet a dollar to a dime I could cold smoke cut up chicken, wait a day, then cook it over a gas radiant grill, coating it with a good BBQ sauce that would rival any pit BBQ house in town.
I will even take this a step further. In my area there are a couple of nice steak houses that offer raw steaks to go. They are in a deli case. How about the local meat market? They sell raw meats. I bet they sure would like a cheap way to increase the selling price by 20 cents or more per pound. Or a resturant that stores all of there cold smoked food in a deli case that they not only cook out of but sell it raw to the public. Think about it. What they could bring to a family grilling!
If only I was a younger man. If only I was not committed to my current business. I would take this idea, call Mr Bradley and run with this puppy.
It would be so easy to market this concept. All you would have to do is cold smoke some regular beacon. Take it to a manager or owner. Give them your card, and tell them that for just a dollar and 11 cents they can take their beacon and turn it into this. Or if they purchased bulk it would be more like 60 cents per hour (I found a place online that sell bulk.) Plus I would work the trade shows. For example:
http://restaurant.org/show/index.cfmhttp://www.fraexpo.com/App/homepage.cfm?moduleid=42&appname=100205Plus the price is right. A couple of SS Bradley Smokers are cheap. Just look at the cost of 1-good quality 36" radiant gas grill, and 1-24" flat grill with 2 side burners.....about $4000.00 new. Given this fact I bet with just a little R&D you could put out a dual smoker. One that hot smokes, and is also refrigerated for under $1000.00. Crap I just had to replace a working van...the new one listed for $25,510.00....Bradley(s) are on the cheap!
If only I was a younger man.....if only frogs had wings.
Olds
