Description of Restaurant Dead End BBQ is located at 3621 Sutherland Avenue Knoxville, TN 37919, directly across the street

from West High School and the new UT sports plex. The Location on Sutherland Avenue has a small parking area; however, the farmers market next door allows Dead End to use their lot as well, after business hours. Dead End opened October 5th of 2009 and has been running successfully ever since. The logo is orange, red and brown, all earth tones, with bolded letters stating Dead End BBQ. Their slogan: The search is over. The front exterior of the building is covered with slightly tented windows. Immediately after entering the building, you will see the host stand and a long pew for waiting patrons.

1 waiting pew

The oor plan is open with one main room, a bar to the right, open window kitchen in the back, a private room beyond the bar, and a large patio. The dcor is simple; most of the colors are earth tones with black accents. There is sport themed dcor on all the walls: jerseys, football helmets and the like, along with sayings such as Cheap food aint good, and good food aint cheap. Continuing the sports atmosphere, Dead End offers Wi-Fi and has TVs available in the bar area and the private room.

2 View into the open kitchen

Dead End attempts to appeal to the majority of individuals. The location itself speaks for its target market; they wish to reach athletes, families, and high school and college students, in addition to individuals coming or going from UT games and watching sporting events at the bar. The atmosphere is laid back and casual apparel is acceptable. The dining room offers both tables and booths, with a total of 30 tables in the dining areas, and fteen bar stools at the bar. The maximum capacity is 130 guests, with handicap accessible dining areas and bathrooms. Dead Ends primary cooking method is smoking; they have two large smokers. The smokers are visible from the dining room through a window. They are in a completely separate room from all other equipment, except one hand wash sink. The smokers use wood pellets and only reach about 300F. Stepping onto the cook-line, there is a six eye range, small convection over, salamander, two microwaves, a steam table, chip and bread warming drawers, a four section fryer, a attop griddle, and a hand wash sink. The service station is a pellet ice machine, also a cube ice machine, hand wash sinks, soda machine, tea and coffee brewing stations, and glass rack storage. Behind the bar is a window front beer cooler, taps for draft beer, wine cooler, blender, soda wand, and a three-compartment sink. In the back the brisket must be sliced cold, which is done by a meat slicer. The pork and chicken must be shredded by hand. Most food items are prepared from scratch. Chips and sides are made in large batches ahead of time. Sauces and dressings are sent to the store premade. As for

dishes, Dead End uses a three-compartment sink for large items, and a rack system for standard dishes. The sanitation method for the three-compartment sink is chemical and the water must be cool. The sanitation method for the dishwasher is heat. In addition to a dry storage area, an 8 by 10 walk-in fridge, and an 8 by 10 walk-in freezer, Dead End has an exterior dry storage area that holds catering supplies and nonperishable food items. Overall the restaurants equipment, dining areas, and restrooms were clean and well maintained.

3 Smoke room

Depending on seasonal specials the inventory varies, however there are always at least eight different forms of protein, nine sauces and dressings, ten vegetables, three types of bread, chips, our tortillas, ve baking items, sixteen dessert ingredients, six soda syrups, eight types of diary items (including four types of cheese), pasta, potatoes, and potato chips. In storage these items are in various forms, plus the backup items that remain in stock, totaling about 200.

Description of Menu Dead end serves lunch and dinner daily. Lunch, childrens, dessert, beverage, and daily specials menus are offered, in addition to gluten free and peanut sensitive/ allergy menus. These menus offer appetizers, entres, salads, side items, desserts, beer, wine, and non-alcoholic beverages. Traditional pulled pork, pulled chicken,

brisket, wings, smoked chicken, and smoked wings are offered. For health conscious individuals there are two salad options. The menu consists of traditional southern cuisine with sides of fried okra, corn on the cob, and baked beans. The preparation methods listed are grilled, smoked, and fried. Behind the bar you have draft and bottled beers, ciders, ve white wine options, and six red wine options. The menu draws great attention to the entrees by blacking out that area of the menu. The focus points have sandwiches and appetizers located in them. Although the house specials and customer favorites are not identied, the Rebel Yell BBQ Burger has the school mascot of West High School and an information bubble that says The Dead End Society donates $1 to West High School with the purchase of each Rebel Yell BBQ Burger, Go Rebels! The menu is straightforward and understandable. The elderly would have few questions. The menu incorporates the color and feel of the restaurant. It is perfectly evident that you are in a BBQ restaurant from the menu and dcor. The menu is paper covered in plastic, one page front and back, consisting of earth tones along with black and white text.

4 Dead end menu

Pricing

The per person average is about $16, although the price range is $10-$30. The Average cost per appetizer is $8.50, $6.60 per salad, $9.40 per sandwich, $14.45 per entre, $5 per childrens item, and $6 per dessert. Dead End also offers a family feast that feeds 4-6 people for $49. Food costs are listed to the lower right of each item, most but not all are a simple whole number. Beer prices are the same and listed at the bottom except for the Olivers spiked cider, the price is listed directly beside. Wine prices are by glass/bottle and listed to the right of the title. Food cost is determined by the food cost percentage, which is different for every item and is kept below 30%. Beverage cost is determined by the market price, supplier and the beverage cost percentage. Last month food accounted for 85.4% of sales, wine accounted for 1.3% of sales, beer for 6.7% of sales, and non-alcoholic beverages for 6.6% of sales. Throughout the months of last year there is slight variation. Dead End just recently changed their prices for the rst time since they opened three years ago. The next price change is projected for 23-30 months from now. The price change was implemented after consideration of the local economic climate and competitors pricing. The prices for the childrens menu remained the same.

Sales The Aloha System that is in place runs the sales analysis daily by a computer program and is reported to corporate every night. A manger can check the sales information as it stands for that day at any time. To check weekly, monthly, and annual sales, the manager has to run a program on the computer in the office. This information is kept for comparison and forecasting. Sales are much more predictable in the summer months, and sporting events create new revenue. New items are added as often as the culinary staff nds new ways to present existing ingredients. They begin as a daily or weekly special and if they do well, they are added to the core menu. Management The primary competitors for Dead End are Calhouns and Famous Daves. They do not consider Buddys a competitor anymore because the management team feels that they have a distinctly different target clientele. Although there is not a clear difference between Dead End and Buddys, the management team feels that they are a slightly more polished concept that focuses more attention to dine in guests, rather than catering services. Calhouns is considered a competitor with most restaurants in this area because they serve many kinds of dishes and have a clear brand presence in the area.

The most evident industry trend is that BBQ restaurants are busiest during the summer months. Within the catering business that Dead End runs, there is a major market for weddings in the summer months. The recent offering of more health concise meals and catering to special dietary needs has greatly increased business as well. The biggest weakness for any restaurant that is open for lunch and dinner is communication. The projected budget and forecasting of product are two major strengths of the management team for Dead End. Observations The restaurant seemed casual, comfortable, and fun. The open kitchen and window to the smokers make dining more of an experience. Dead End is closed for special holidays, which adds to the feeling of it being a local, rather than corporate, concept. The management team has taken steps to be part of the community by participating in events and making charitable donations. The service is good, not excellent. This kind of establishment does not call for extensive service. Drinks are kept full and orders taken, but there is not a great deal of relationship building with the customer. The manager was open with all the information that we requested. He was more than happy to walk us through the restaurant and show us all areas. The layout and separation of raw, ready to eat, non-food items, and the sanitation practices support what we have covered so far in this class. The forethought about menu and location beforehand also seems to have been well covered. Recommendations We would suggest getting a liquor license and adding liquor by the ounce to the beverage options. Make communication between lunch and dinner staff a much higher priority. For example offering salmon on Fridays for lent is something both shifts need to know, and mention to every guest. Have competitions for your servers to reward them for liquor, beer and wine sales; those percentages are rather low. Consider your advertising options and commit to at least one form of advertising. The health conscious options seem extremely limited; there should be a few more diet friendly options, even though it is a bar-b-que restaurant. The Facebook page is a bit lackluster, but a great way to appeal to a younger crowd. The actual Dead End website, however, is very well kept. Trip advisor gives Dead End a 4.0 out of 5, but there are many poor reviews.