Small Pulled Pork Stand

[DanMonte]

Hello Everyone,

I am new to the forum, came here for some advice.

I live in a small Southeast European country called Montenegro. While I am a big fan of BBQ and have been regularly cooking, this style of cooking is non-existent here. Recently I have been offered a small place in the busy part of town with a very low rent, which gave me the push to consider opening a pulled pork stand.

The concept would be to sell only pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw, which would be prepared in an off-site kitchen. We are currently looking into building an off-set smoker with the help of an experienced welder.

The part that I am not 100% clear with is, how to store the cooked meat. The stand would open around 1pm and close at around 11pm, we are looking into selling from 50-100 sandwiches a day, or hopefully many more. Ideally we would cook the meat during the day, let it cool down, refrigerate it and store it overnight. The next day we would transport it to the stand, which takes about 3 minutes, pull smaller portions of a the meat at once and keep it heated in buffet heaters. Would this method work or would I end up with a dry mess? Depending on demand, I think the meat would only stay in the heater for a couple of hours. Any other suggestions?

Thank you in advance!

[k.a.m.]

You're opening at 1:00 P.M.. Why not cook the day of and sell fresh instead of warmed over pork? You can hold the whole buts above 140° all day and pull as you need to. Cook what you need to carry you to a time and when you sell out go home. Start small and figure your quantity out through a week or so. Before long you will know how much pork you need for a day of sales and left with small amounts of left overs.

[ChileFarmer]

I think you stand sounds like a great idea. Kam has the best idea on the meat. Fresh is always best.
Welcome to the forum, looking forward to you progress post. CF

[spacetrucker]

the above is the way I feel also, cook and serve fresh, a sell out is always a good thing no left overs, no warmed up old tasting food.
I don't know about your health department, but would run the idea about cooking off site and transporting to the serving site by them to see about their requirements...
Customers in the food business only give you one chance at their business, so if you serve left overs the word will spread quickly....

[Papa Tom]

What KAM said. Leave the pork whole and wrap in the clear plastic wrap (Saran Wrap here) store at 140°F until you need it then unwrap and pull.
I know that the overnight cooking is probably not the most desirable but the product will be much better.