Over the years I have been in the catering business I have seen extremely successful fundraisers and some that could have been more successful had the planners followed a few simple tips.

The following steps produce a successful BBQ fundraiser:

Committee planning their Fundraiser

1. Form a committe to help with this event

2. Find the correct location to host your event at

3. Date and time

4. Set goals for your event

5. Advertise your event

6. Pre sell tickets prior to your event

Setting up your Committee   

Once you have decided to hold a fundraiser for a family or your favorite charity, the next step is to form a committee. This is a fairly big job and you should have help with this project.  Ask people to be on the committee who have expressed the desire to help. Or those who have been on a committee similar to your event.  Establish meeting dates,times and location to hold your meetings. Friends,family and co-workers are usually ready to lend a helping hand.

First thing to decide is where to hold this event:

 Questions for the committee to discuss before picking a location to hold this event:

1. Is there seating for dine in customers

2. Will the carry out line allow people to stay in their cars and have their dinners brought  to them.

3. If the food is to be cooked onsite does the site have the things needed to accomplish the onsite cooking

Answering these questions will tell you what your site must have in order to full fill your goals. May be a local church,school or one of the civic groups will be the answer.

Date and Time to hold your Event

1. Location you pick to hold your event may dictate your date and time.

2. Check around the area to find out if there are other  fundraisers being held on the same date your thinking about having yours. If you find other fundraisers are being held in your area on the same date find out what type of fundraiser they are. If theres a car wash or bake sale on the same date these type events probably will not affect your event. If theres food served you’ll have to decide if it will affect your fundraiser. If the answer iis yes it’s probably best to pick another date.

3. Best days to hold this type of fundraiser is by far Sunday right after church. Holding in a churches parking lot is a win-win for your event and for those inside the church who haven’t started anything for lunch.  

Set Goals for Your Event:

1. Decide how much you would like to try to make for your charity

2. Do some math to see how many dinners you will need to sell to make that goal. If your having dine in you can always sell 50/50 tickets to help raise more funds.

Advertise your Event

1. Some local papers have a section where they place “Up coming events”. Some papers charge for this and others do it as a service to the community.

2. Flyers put in local store windows or bulletin boards at grocery stores. Web pages for local companies,local community TV channel or local church Sunday bulletins.

3. Advertising and the way it’s written up is important. At the top of your advertising the name of the charity or family this event is being held for. Why the event is being held. The date,time and location. Price of the meal and what the meal consists of. Most caterers have a following so make sure you include who is preparing the meal.

Pre Sell Tickets

During your goal setting you decided how many dinners you want to sell. Once that amount has been determined the committee decided how many tickets to have made up. Once the tickets have been printed 1 committee member needs to be responsible for those tickets. Best advice I can give is number every ticket. Log them in some way(spread sheet,notebook etc)Who you gave what ticket numbers to. This will be really important closer to the event. Give each committee member tickets to sell.

Last Meeting Prior to Event:

Hold this meeting 2 days before the date you need to give your caterer your final numbers. Why because there will always be someone who has tickets that doesn’t call you to tell you how many they have sold. This will give you time to call them so you’ll be prepared to give your numbers to the comapny preparing your food. At this last meeting it’s time to decide how many dinners you want available to sell at the door. I have seen fundraisers moving along smoothly only to have tickets pre sold but no one knew. So at the event everyone is trying to figure out if they over sold and do not have enough food if people come in with tickets they don’t know about. Best advice I can give is keep a good handle on those tickets.

Normal man grilling in his backyard

This article will help you cook in your backyard just like we would if we were there. We follow these tips but on a much larger scale. You can produce the same good BBQ in your own backyard. Try our tips and see. Be sure to use your favorite spices.

• Tip 1 Selecting Your Meats

Only buy the freshest and best quality of meats for your BBQ. If possible buy your meat at a meat market so you can select the exact piece of meat that will work for your BBQ. Choose meats that are  naturally tender.

Red Meat

Good cut of steak to BBQ

Buy your red meat several days prior to your cook out. This gives the meat time to age and also softens the muscle.

Most tender cuts would be sirloin and porterhouse. T-bone and rump are tougher meats that require marinating. 

Poultry

Poultry is a healthy food but can be a little bland if not flavored in some way. Pick your favorite seasoning.

Pork

Pork is the easiest to cook

Pyramid stacking of charcoal

• Tip 2 Preparing Your Meat/Poultry

If you’re cooking chicken, wash the bird or parts prior to cooking. Since poultry is naturally bland use a flavoring especially made for poultry. There are many to choose from. We use a custom seasoning made just for us.

If  ribs are chosen we have found no difference in removing the membrane or leaving it on.

What ever type of meat your cooking use your favorite dry rub or marinate prior to cooking.

• Tip 3 Preparing the Grill

Always clean your grill from the prior use. A clean grill produces a better flavor and quality.  Remove the old ash from your prior cook to guarantee good air circulation.

• Tip 4 Preparing Your Charcoal

Although all charcoal will light and burn -to get the job done the best,  Kingsford by far out weighs all others.

It burns longer and does the best job of any we have tried using. When starting your charcoal place the briquets in a pyramid in the bottom of your grill.

Use liquid lighter fluid(we suggest Kingsford). Never use gasoline. Wet the coals from bottom to top without soaking them completely. Light and let fluid burn off.

You’ll know when the coals are ready when they are grey or white ash in color. This process should take about 25 to 30 minutes. Do not use charcoal in confined spaces.

• Tip 5 Getting the Best from your Charcoal

When coals are hot, take a small fire place shovel and spread them around the bottom of your grill to fill the grill completely. Good coverage means evenly cooked meat. Keep air circulating in your grill.

This helps keep all coals white hot which means they are at their optimum for cooking.

• Tip 6 Grilling your favorite cut of meat

Poultry

Legs and thighs take longer to cook that breast and wings. If cooking pieces, start legs and thighs first. Place those pieces on the grill and baste with your favorite marinate. Baste regularly to retain moisture and give maximum flavor.

Cook for 12-15 minutes on one side then turn for another 12-15 minutes.  To prevent charring or burning do not baste in the last 5 minutes of cooking.

Breast and wings place skin side down on the grill first,cook 10 minutes then turn and cook until done (about 8 minutes)

Red Meat

This is the only meat that can be safely cooked in different lengths of time based on a personal preference.  Steaks take different lengths of time to cook based on their thickness and type.  Sirlions and porterhouses usually take the least amount of time to cook. Again cooking time will be based on rare,medium rare or well done. The same thickness of a T-Bone for example will take a few minutes longer than the same thickness of sirlion. Normal cooking time shouldn’t take longer than 10 minutes.

Pork