You can make sure that your barbecue goes with the right kind of bang by looking at the different things that you can do to create selling points, something different, or even just to make sure that your customers receive the level of quality they are used to.

The Meat
Getting good quality meat, even when you are serving up beefburgers and sausages can make a huge difference to the end product. Good quality meat will hold together well under barbecue conditions and will ensure that the end product is the best it possibly can be. Offering the right range for your customers is also something to be considered. You can get some great cuts of lamb or beef that really benefit well from barbecue cooking and a great range of marinades you can use. You could even put on a completely organic or localised offering – is this something that your customers would pay a little more for?

The Condiments
Usually, as with many burger vans, condiments areas are little more than a selection of non-descript half empty plastic bottles but with a little pre-planning a selection of inexpensive chutneys, sauces or dressings can be served up. As well as the obligatory onions, having a little salad on hand to dress burgers, hot sandwiches or buns, is a great addition. A nice tip is to also have a bowl of fresh herbs that complement your meats. A little basil with a chicken fillet and some tomato is a great summery plate.

The Alternatives
Barbecues can be landmines especially given that children eating healthily, vegetarians, vegans, and organic-only families are food phenomena that are growing more and more rapidly around us. Make sure that you offer alternatives to suit your outlet. Luckily barbecue cooking is a fairly healthy way of doing things and although traditionally meat led, there are a number of treats you can cook easily such as potatoes, corn with a honey glaze, or baked bananas.

The Setting
Making sure your outside area remains clean and tidy can be a nightmare on barbecue day, but ensuring that seated areas are clear and available, rubbish is kept to a minimum and glass collections are made regularly can all have an impact on how much you sell. Making sure that there are large bins around and you use as much disposable cutlery, plates and napkins as possible means that your customers should help with this and it also makes your staff’s lives easier as they can simply move around, tipping used items into the nearest bins.

The Entertainment
Having some music out in the open air is a great way to keep people at your venue and spending. You could add to this by putting on some stalls or entertainments for the children. Anything that makes your event stand out from the rest. For example one absolutely mad but worth it idea barbox just read about was the publican who bought a lorry full of sand and turned her car park into a beach party for the day – a great idea and worth it for her venue.

The Drink
With everyone hopefully outdoors you need to have mechanics in place to help them get to the bar. You could install an outside drinks bar, or if you can’t do this, just an order point where customers can order their drinks. Even better would be table service so that your customers get really spoiled, but if bringing the drinks outside just isn’t possible, what about organising a menu of beer, cocktail and soft drinks pitchers?

barbox.com can help here! When you are ordering online make sure you look out for our great summer promotions and check out the product knowledge sections of the site for great summertime pitcher and summer drinking ideas!

You may also, as one final thing, want to have a weather contingency plan. Although there are no controls over the rain, you can put things in place to make sure your barbecue doesn’t go out – covered areas for cooking and seating may be a good idea, although let’s keep our fingers crossed that the weather stays as hot as that barbecue grill!