After taking the day off on Christmas for probably the very last movie marathon day ever, we dove headlong into a week of frenzied activity putting the Hut together. Monday began with our plumber – Jay Gula coming by to install the kitchen and wash room sinks. He did an excellent job – even being cool about my screw-up in having the wrong faucets for the sinks. (I had the wash sink faucet in the kitchen sink…)

While Jay worked on the sinks, we finished painting the prep room. That was the last of the painting needed and set us up nicely for putting the Hut together later in the week.

We left Jay to finish the plumbing job while we headed home to finish putting together the list for the Tuesday Ikea run. The goal was to hit Ikea, a restaurant supply store and Lowes all in one trip. did not turn out that way. Ikea took up most of the day. Then a bit of dinner (and beer to decompress) and a stop at Lowes for more wire shelving and 55 gallon trash cans. Thanks to B & D Rentals in Margeretville, we got a huge cargo van for a great price. Good thing we did as we pretty much packed the van out with Ikea goodies.

As we still needed to get to a supply store and Lowes, we chose to head off to Albany on Wednesday for another round of shopping. Central Restaurant Equipment, Target (for some decorating & cleaning items), Lowes (lighting, hardware & sundries) and Oliver’s Beverage (for sanity preserving foamy beverage) put an end to the two day shopping frenzy. Interesting thing about shopping for a business: it’s work not fun. You’d think shopping all day would be a blast, but it actually wears on you very quickly. Thankfully, the majority of our “set up” shopping is now done.

Now it is time to set up…

The end of last week was quite a busy one.

FRIDAY
We delivered the site plans and permit application to the New York State Department of Health. (That’s a slice of the plan above…) We now have a couple weeks wait while the DOH review the plans.

SATURDAY
It was a trip to New Jersey for research. First off, dropped by Bourbon BBQ in Wyckoff, NJ for lunch and to get some ideas for the Hut. Same concept we are setting up: order here – pick up there, no plates/glasses just paper cups and baskets lined with wax paper. I had the brisket sandwich with a side of beans and slaw. Cherie went with the pulled pork and mac & cheese. Everything was pretty good (a little dry but good). The sides were a little bland, but certainly fine for what they were. Only one house sauce – a nice spicy sweet tomato based one. I picked up a pint of their rib rub because it was packages in a Chinese takeout box. Thinking I might “borrow” that idea for the Cha Cha Hut rubs.

Next up: IKEA. Probably the best – and least expensive – way to get the counters and furniture we need. Of course, going on a Saturday may not have been the wisest choice, but we did find everything we need to furnish the Hut. Once we have the DOH approval on our plan, we’ll be renting a truck and making a return trip to purchase – though we’ll be making that trip on a Tuesday or Wednesday.

SUNDAY
Our landlords are a group of folks who own several properties along Bridge Street. We had not met half of the partners until Sunday and they wanted to discuss our cook house. The meeting went great – much discussion of BBQ and our plans for the space. In the end, they gave us the go ahead to start the build on the cook house. We’re hoping to have the poles in this week and a completed smokehouse around Thanksgiving.

So now it is a waiting game. Waiting for the DOH to give it’s approval to our plan. Waiting for the cook house to be built. Waiting to see if we can find more funding. We’re finishing up the menu (keep tweaking the selection/pricing), shopping around for signage and continuing work on our recipes.