Today’s niche idea is a fascinating one, at least for me. Barbeque isn’t just about getting people together during the summer or having a good meal. For those who are really passionate about it, it could be the start of something exciting such as making a few extra bucks or growing your restaurant sales.
Why Go Online?
If you look up on how to start a BBQ business, many will suggest to get a vendor’s permit and food enterprise license first. This is followed by buying/renting trailers, contacting suppliers and then finding a suitable place to sell.
People who have the experience of setting up an eatery storefront, you’d know what I mean as these arduous tasks are similar to those in the food truck business model. Without a team or a huge capital investment, I wouldn’t recommend you to go down this route.
Instead, going online is a much simpler process and this applies to both newbies and business owners as well. It is more affordable, people can search for you using their mobile devices and you are basically running the business 24/7, in most cases, at a much lower maintenance.
What Do You Need To Get Started?
(1) Domain
First off, you’ll need to purchase a domain which is basically the name for your website. If you already own a restaurant, it should be the name of your shop. Domain fee usually renews on a yearly basis and they cost about $10 to $15 per time.
At the SiteRubix platform, you can purchase one for as low as $13.99 which includes privacy protection, email support and more.
(2) Publishing Platform
When it comes to selecting a publishing platform, you want a long term solution for a business setting. So, in between simple website builders (the WYSIWYG ones) and content management systems (like WordPress), the latter choice is always recommended.
WordPress offers more diversity, it is widely supported by web professionals and flexible with changes. It’s also easy to install, especially if you are using SiteRubix. After buying the domain, you just need to click on ‘Build My Website’ and a password will be generated for login. That’s it – your WordPress site is officially launched.
(3) Theme
Next, under the theme section, search for a design that might suit your niche. You can use words like ‘Food’ to narrow down the selection and that should give you about 106 themes to choose from. Pretty cool, right?
Now that you have the framework in place, we’ll need to add some content. But first, let’s find out how you can monetize from the website.
#1 Affiliate Programs
Affiliate marketing is a popular way to earn money online. What happens is that you promote a product through blogging and when someone purchases something through a unique link, you make a sales commission from the company.
The good thing about it is that, the commission is often recurring because good product reviews/articles stay in the search engines, drawing streams of visitors to your blog over a long period of time. In addition, you can work with several brands to create interesting content and to diversify your income potential.
So what can you blog about? Well, just look at what you need to prepare a BBQ meal. There’s the meat, the sauce, the equipments and the variety of ways to grill. Each of these can make an interesting topic or subtopics that could transform your blog into a knowledge hub for people who are passionate about this niche.
To find out what these topics are, you need to know the consumer keywords through some research. Think about what the users would type into Google when they are looking for a solution to their BBQ problems/needs online.
Can you relate to any of the following queries?
- Bbq chicken grill recipes
- Bbq food places near me
- Best meat to grill on charcoal
- How to choose a Bbq grill
- What kind of smoker should I buy
Now each of these topics can be linked to some products that you favor that also come with affiliate programs. Here’s a list that I’ve looked up for you.
- Traeger Grills – 5% in sales commission
- Outdoor Cooking – 5-8% (via Commission Junction)
- Curry Traders – 5%
- Sizzlefish – 5%
- BBQ Guys – 6%
- BBQ Fans – 6-12%
- BBQ Box – 7% (via ShareASale)
- Snake River Farms – 7%
- ThermoWorks – 10%
- Amazon Marketplace – 9-10% (via Amazon Associate Program)
- Craftsy Online Classes – 75%
Loads of potential, right? With just a few of those keywords and the number of brands, I am sure you already have some exciting ideas on what to write. If you want to see what a successful affiliate blog looks like, check out this one.
#2 Restaurant Website
For restaurant owners, your website is a great place to build an online presence for your business within the local community. With WordPress features, you can upload dining menus/photos, promote your products/services, take online orders and even gather customer reviews.
For example, take a moment to study the comparison between these two outlets. Both have fairly good ratings, but the one on the left (Bird Dog BBQ) has more reviews than the right (Mayo’s) and if you look closely, Mayo is missing an online element which is a restaurant website.
I am pretty sure if they have one, they can attract more local customers and boost the number of their business reviews. If you are wondering how to notify Google about your business online, follow the step-by-step process here.
The strategy is exactly the same as with affiliate blogs, but in this case, you write stories that revolve around your restaurant. Feature a special menu, share some delicious recipes, highlight a promotion or even showcase community activities that you are involved in.
All this will go a long way to build your audience who in turn, will recommend your business to other people as well.
What Makes a Good BBQ?
Answer that question passionately and I am sure it will lead to some interesting topics that you can share with the online audience through your website. No one ever gets tired of good food, so whether it’s affiliate marketing or running a small restaurant, this is an evergreen niche that is worth trying out.
I hope you’ve learned how to start a BBQ business through the step-by-step explanation. If you want to search for a domain and get access to a powerful WordPress hosting, check out the training program at Wealthy Affiliate to learn more.
Have any thoughts or questions about this niche? Just leave them in the space below and I’ll respond the soonest.
You may also be interested to read;
How to Bootstrap a Restaurant Website
Cathy,
This is such a great example of a targeted niche! It’s a great idea for anyone who has a passion for BBQ, but I think it really goes to show that if you’re passionate about anything you can turn that into an online business.
Great ideas you have there. Nice to show people a different way to run a food business. And since their business is online, everyone can keep enjoying BBQ, without having to grill everyday for eight hours in a food truck for a living.
By the way, would you recommend to even make clips for YouTube?
Hi Manny, doing a BBQ video channel to include in your blog is a great way to attract new visitors. You can use it to demonstrate a product or share the latest cooking recipes. YouTube hosting is free and it can potentially improve your website ranking too.
Hi Cathy,
I’m so excited to read your article on how to start a BBQ Business. I like the way you have explained step by step on how to make a website on this niche. I didn’t know how a food business can work online, but your article has become an excellent eye opener. I think I would recommend this website to my wife who wants to start a food business. I’m very sure it will be a good idea for her too.
Just to ask this Cathy, how would one promote affiliate products in a food website? I’m wondering if someone can promote international products as well as local ones.
Hi Paul, the food niche is a very broad one, but they could come in several forms. With a recipe/cooking blog, you can discuss about ingredients/products that you are affiliated with or you could write reviews for restaurants and earn from reservation fees. The choice of promoting international or local products pretty much depends on the demographic that you are targeting.
Hope this helps.
Great information! I have always wanted to learn how to start a business online, because I DO want time freedom to be able to really do the things that I wanna do. You laid out very easy to follow steps for me to follow and I understood them. Usually all these other websites offering work-from-home jobs are very complex and not a lot of good information to trust.
I really enjoyed how you threw in the BBQ example. Maybe I’ll do that one 😉
Hey Kyle, the BBQ business is a fun niche and there are a lot of opportunities to explore. You may love doing it.
Hi Cathy, thank you for this elegant review regarding why you should start an online business vs. trying your luck as a BBQ restaurant owner. You wrote that if you don’t have a huge capital, it is not recommended to start a food restaurant. I’ll argue that even if you do have a huge capital to spare, it is still not worth the risk. Since statistically, 90% of the restaurants don’t make it over their first 2 years, so why take the unnecessary risks?
In the second part, you shared two ways for monetization – affiliate programs and a restaurant website. Which lead me to think – can you combine both of them? Have you stumbled upon restaurants that offers affiliate programs?
I’m asking since in my case (and I guess it is true to the majority of the people), I love to eat a good BBQ but not necessarily hassle myself with the preparation…
And when we visit a good restaurant we share the experience anyhow, so why not get compensated for that? If you know that such a model already exists I would love to hear about some examples. Thanks.
Hi there Nahum,
I am pretty sure there are, but I’ve yet to come across one within my locality. What I do see very often though is restaurant booking partnership program. For example, at Reservation Genie, the commission is $1/person for all reservations that originates from your website and 5% of the average tour ticket price. Likewise, if you find a BBQ that you like, check if they integrate any booking system that you can use to refer diners to that place online.
Hope this helps.