PSA: I sold 47 briskets in 3 days for a Texas game day order, but I'm not sure I earned it
Last month my shop in Amarillo got a 47 brisket rush order for a college football weekend, and we knocked it out in 3 days with 2 guys on trim and me on the smoker, but a buddy says any shop with a good supplier could've done it, so I'm asking: does fast volume actually mean skill, or does it just mean you had the meat and the bodies to handle it?
Your buddy is looking at the wrong part of this. The supplier and bodies matter, sure, but nobody talks about the timing puzzle. You had 47 briskets that all had to rest, slice, and box at the right window so they didn't sit cold or go out too early. On a normal day you cook to your own clock. On a game day order you're cooking backward from a kickoff time you don't control, and one smoker running behind wrecks the whole line. Two guys on trim plus you on the pit means you were also the one making call after call on when each brisket wrapped and pulled. That juggling is the skill part. Any shop can buy meat, but can they hit a hard deadline with 47 of them?