New to forum - Need some advice on summertime menu

Hi Guys, ( and Gals),

 I hate for my first post to this magnificent forum to
be a request for help, but I've spent a good while
searching for my topic and haven't had any luck
so far.

I notice the majority of members here own
hot dog carts or concession trailers...
"mobile" businesses for the most part.

My business is part time - as in weekends only
for now, but it's stationary.

I have a snack bar at the local airport here and
sell food to skydivers on the weekends.

As you may can tell from my username, the name
of the business is The Canopy Club Cafe.

Anyway, what I need help with is coming up with
a summertime menu that won't weigh heavy on the
jumpers in the heat of summer, that will be tasty
and fairly inexpensive to make.

Right now, we serve a full breakfast along with the
traditional burgers, fries, hot dogs, BLT, both ham and
turkey sandwiches, and try to have some type of
lunch and dinner special every week.

My specialties are Club sandwiches and a breakfast
burrito I make with a Jalapeno - cheddar wrap that
gets raves from everybody that tries it.

As the weather gets hotter, our burger sales are
dropping fairly quickly, and I need something to replace
them with; as well as our lunch specials which have
been stuff like Jambalaya, Gumbo, Red Beans and Rice,
BBQ Brisket, Chili, etc..

Since it's getting hotter, these don't sell well at all now.

I'm also plagued with lack of both cold and dry storage.

My building isn't as big as some of the concession trailers
in the pictures I've seen here. It's only 10 X 16 with
outside seating at 4 - 8 ft picnic tables, so whatever
I do has to be as simple as I can make it.

I've got two refrigerators - one a side-by-side that I keep
drinks in, and the other is a 15 cubic foot that I keep
everything else in.

Any menu suggestions you can offer will be greatly
appreciated, and I'm really looking forward to
getting to know you guys and hopefully becoming
a useful contributor to the forum.

In closing, I hope I'm not out of line by posting this
at this time, and if I am, just let me know. I surely
don't want to ruffle any feathers.

Thanks in advance,

Michael Worthington - owner
Canopy Club Cafe

Welcome to the forum,
 
I suggest cold wraps or sandwiches. Maybe some pre-cut cups of fruit,potato salad, coleslaw. Also some really good fruit drinks or Smoothies. Ice cream as well.  Do you have a regular hot dog on your menu?

Do you think you have enough refrigeration space to do po'boys for lunch specials? Or how about chicken salad, ham salad, shrimp salad and/or tuna salad or pimento cheese in club or single-layer sandwiches or in your jalapeno-cheddar wrap?  Maybe you could rotate the flavors, offering two of the fillings each weekend until you found what their favorites were.

quickdog


Welcome to the forum,
 
I suggest cold wraps or sandwiches. Maybe some pre-cut cups of fruit,potato salad, coleslaw. Also some really good fruit drinks or Smoothies. Ice cream as well.  Do you have a regular hot dog on your menu?

Thanks QuickDog!

That's about what I had figured. Before I took
over the place, they served a Chicken Ranch Wrap that
did pretty well if I remember correctly. I had forgot about
that.

They also had a sub type sandwich called a Javelin that had
ham, turkey, bacon, and two kinds of cheese with some
Mrs. Dash sprinkled on it that sold fairly well too.

I guess I need to bring them back.

My daughter wants to put in a "Cooler Bar" with blended
fruit coolers and maybe a smoothie or two, so we're trying
to figure out how we'll make that work since it'll have to be
outside someplace. there's just no room inside at all.

We have hot dogs on the menu but I've had to take the chili
and cheese off for a while 'till I can get the warmer I need to
keep it at proper temp without burning it up. We just serve them
right now with mustard, ketchup, relish, onions, etc..

Michael

I think you’re missing something big time.

   You need a food item that becomes a must, a tradition for people that do their first jump, the breakfast (or lunch) of the____________!


I’m not sure what would apply: fool hardy, brave, loony tunes, something to do with “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, whatever craziness you can get away with.


And then another special that becomes the celebration “If you can jump out of a perfectly good plane can you eat this?”


 Again a food item that becomes a tradition.Those traditions hard hard to start but if you get it going people will eat those items even though they didn't jump or what the season.


THINK OUT OF THE BOX!

6star


Do you think you have enough refrigeration space to do po'boys for lunch specials? Or how about chicken salad, ham salad, shrimp salad and/or tuna salad or pimento cheese in club or single-layer sandwiches or in your jalapeno-cheddar wrap?  Maybe you could rotate the flavors, offering two of the fillings each weekend until you found what their favorites were.

All great suggestions, 6Star!

I only live 3/4 mile from the place so I can
move my dry storage goods to the house
and bring over what I figure to use for the
weekend.

That way I can add a couple of those little
refrigerators like college kids use in the dorm
to have more cold storage. It wouldn't take
a lot of space to do stuff like that at all.

It's almost shrimp season here on the MS coast,
so boiled shrimp and shrimp po-boys will work
as well!

Thanks guys! I've been wracking my brain
so hard, I couldn't think of what to do.

I really do appreciate the help.

Michael

Dr of BBQ



I think you’re missing something big time.

  You need a food item that becomes a must, a tradition for people that do their first jump, the breakfast (or lunch) of the____________!


I’m not sure what would apply: fool hardy, brave, loony tunes, something to do with “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, whatever craziness you can get away with.


And then another special that becomes the celebration “If you can jump out of a perfectly good plane can you eat this?”


Again a food item that becomes a tradition.Those traditions hard hard to start but if you get it going people will eat those items even though they didn't jump or what the season.


THINK OUT OF THE BOX!

Wow! That certainly opens up a lot of possibilities!

I'll have to brainstorm this and see what I can
come up with.

Thanks!

Michael

"We have hot dogs on the menu but I've had to take the chili
and cheese off for a while 'till I can get the warmer I need to
keep it at proper temp without burning it up."

If you aren't using great quantities of chili and cheese for the dogs, you could probably keep them in crock pots on the "low" or "warm" setting without burning them.  A 5 or 6 qt. crock pot will hold an institutional size can of chili or cheese sauce.  If you want to minimize cleanup, use a crockpot liner in the pot.

A great street food that is easy to make, light and very tasty is Satay.  Pork, chicken, beef.  These are dead easy to make, you can place on the skewers ahead hold in the fridge in the marinade and cook on a simple charcoal hibachi, they also cook very quickly.  Peanut sauce is a great one, there are tons of others, both Indonesian and Thai.  Here they are usually sold in 3's, then dipped in a sauce and popped in an open plastic bag, easy to carry.  Kinda surprised I don't see more folks doing these.

===And then another special that becomes the celebration “If you can jump out of a perfectly good plane can you eat this?” ===

Are you suggesting that he serve oysters?  

mark

Fish Taco with Mango salsa
Crispy chicken caesar salad
crispy shrimp caesar Tortilla wrap
Shrimp spring roll with peanut sauce and oriental slaw
Monty Cristo Club ( using egg bread, ham, turkey, cheese dipped in egg and bread crumbs and deep fried served crispy and crunchy.
Grill fish sand on a Kaiser roll
Cuban Sand (Pork, pick, ham, cheese, mustard on a hoagie buttered and pressed on the grill with a brick)
Po boys are a good idea using all the items like  Fried shrimp, and meats.
Chicken cheese Quesadillas with Charro beans
Taco salad in Fried Tortilla shells
Super Burrito wrap
Chicken Fajita Montrey jack Hoagie melt
Lemon chicken Greek salad
Grilled tuna melt
Grilled Chicken Pita
Grilled shrimp and swiss melt sand
Shrimp Taco with a creamy sauce and slaw
Turkey swiss Panini
Chicken Parmagina Hoagie
Chicken lips/with fries
Buffalo chicken sliders with ranch dip
Grilled Reuban Sandwich
Grilled Phily Cheese melt

Good luck, and remember there is no pre ordering in skydiving
 
 

 

Thanks, BillyB. All fantastic suggestions.

By "No pre-ordering", you mean they pay up front, right?

That's the way we do it anyway. You pay first,
then I cook your food.

Michael