The Cajun Shack, Alvin, TX: Research for an Advisory Project

Prepared: November 10, 2026

Restaurant: The Cajun Shack, 1701 Fairway Dr, Suite 7, Alvin, TX 77511

What this is: Public research to help the owner see healthy targets, delivery math, the local market, crawfish season, and holiday catering. It is not a review of his books. His actual sales, rent, food cost, and labor cost were not provided, so anything about his current numbers is marked unverified.

MODELING ASSUMPTION, NOT A VERIFIED FIGURE: Section 1 now runs the operating targets on $800,000 a year in gross sales. Cody chose that number on November 10, 2026. He first guessed near $1,000,000, then deliberately lowered it to $800,000, in his words: "I'd rather shoot under than shoot over." Treat $800,000 as a conservative model to plan against, not as this restaurant's actual sales. His actual sales are unverified. If his real sales are higher or lower, every dollar figure in the $800,000 model moves in direct proportion, while the percentages stay the same.

The improvement question

This is the real question behind every number in this file: how do we make this restaurant better? The Cajun Shack is Derek's full-time business, the main thing he is doing now (per Cody, November 10, 2026, after talking with Derek). That sets the lens for everything below. This file is not asking whether the store should exist. It is asking where the store is leaking money, where it can grow, and what to fix first.

Read this file through that lens:

* The rent, on Cody's estimate, is not the problem. At a modeled $2,750 a month it is about 4.1% of the $800,000 planning basis, inside every healthy range in Section 1. The full rent model and its sensitivity at $600,000 and $1,000,000 in sales are in Section 1.

* The fight is prime cost (food plus labor) and volume. At $800,000 in sales, one point of prime cost is $8,000 a year, and the typical full service profit is only $16,000 to $48,000 a year (2% to 6%). A small leak erases the whole return. See the scorecard at the end of Section 1.

* The upside levers in this file (delivery mix shifted to direct ordering in Section 2, crawfish season in Section 4, holiday catering in Section 5, by the gallon catering in Section 6, and the growth roadmap in Section 7) only matter if they move prime cost, average check, or off premise volume. If they do not move one of those three, they are busywork and should be dropped in favor of work that does.

* What this file cannot do: set final targets today. His actual sales, food cost, labor cost, and profit are unverified, and none of his books were reviewed. The honest path is the scorecard in Section 1: pull his real numbers, hold them against the targets for one defined period that includes a crawfish peak, and let the numbers set the fix list and the order of work.

How to read the sources: Every number below names the source it came from, with the link at the end of that section. Links were copied from live search results on November 10, 2026. Worked examples are labeled as worked examples. They are math using the cited benchmarks, not facts about this restaurant.

A note on his starting point, from public listings: The Cajun Shack is listed at 1701 Fairway Dr, Alvin, with hours Sunday 11:30 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday to Thursday 11:30 AM to 8:00 PM, and Friday to Saturday 11:30 AM to 9:00 PM, and a moderate price level (Source: cajun-shack.com listing in search results). Restaurant Guru lists it at 4.8 out of 5 from 758 reviews and a price range of $10 to $20 per person (Source: Restaurant Guru). That 4.8 is Restaurant Guru's blended aggregate across review sources, not the Google rating: Google rates the Shack 4.4 (Restaurant Guru's own page notes the Google figure; Restaurantji shows 4.4 from 257 reviews and localitybiz shows 4.4 from 397 reviews). Per Cody's decision on November 11, 2026, no star rating is displayed on any Shack surface. DoorDash lists popular items including Fried Shrimp at $16.00, Fried Catfish at $16.00, Cajun Pasta at $14.99, and a Family Feast at $69.99 (Source: DoorDash, The Cajun Shack, Alvin). Those public prices are the anchor for the price checks in this file.

1. Operating targets for a small full service restaurant

The five numbers that matter most

For a full service restaurant, the healthy ranges most industry guides point to are:

* Food cost: 28% to 35% of food sales. One guide puts the range at 28% to 35% for most concepts, and a second summary citing National Restaurant Association data puts the full service average at 32.4% (Sources: Nine Guides, citing Lightspeed and Popmenu; Restaurant Codex, citing National Restaurant Association data via WhippleWood CPAs).

* Labor cost: Plan on 25% to 35% in simple guides, but know the real median is higher. Nine Guides lists labor at 25% to 35%. The National Restaurant Association 2025 Restaurant Operations Data Abstract reported a median labor cost of 36.5% of sales for full service restaurants in 2024 (Sources: Nine Guides; Nine Guides summary of the National Restaurant Association abstract). Plain meaning: a small spot that holds labor in the low to mid 30s is doing well, and the low 30s target in older rule of thumb advice is hard in 2026.

* Prime cost: Food plus labor together. The target is 60% to 65% for full service, and 55% to 60% for quick service (Sources: Nine Guides, citing Baker Tilly; Restaurant365 via Restaurant Codex). Above 65% is described in multiple guides as a structural problem, because rent and other costs still have to be paid from what is left.

* Rent and occupancy: Base rent at or below 6% of sales is the classic rule of thumb, and total occupancy cost at or below 10% is the wider rule. Total occupancy means rent plus common area charges, property tax, and building insurance. The National Restaurant Association 2024 median for full service occupancy was 5.7% of sales, with 5.5% in suburban areas (Source: ProfitPlate occupancy calculator, citing the National Restaurant Association 2025 Restaurant Operations Data Abstract, Baker Tilly, and others). A second guide lists occupancy at 6% to 10%, with 7% to 9% as ideal (Source: Nine Guides).

* Net margin: Full service restaurants typically keep 2% to 6% of sales as net profit in one benchmark set, and 3% to 5% in others (Sources: Nine Guides, citing Lightspeed; NovaTab summary of Toast and Restaurant365 benchmarks). That thin margin is why a few points of food or labor drift matter so much.

Quick self check the owner can run each week:

1. Add food cost percent and labor cost percent. If the total is over 65%, the week will be hard to make profitable, no matter how busy it felt.
2. Divide monthly rent and occupancy charges by monthly sales. If it is over 10%, sales have to rise or the lease is the problem, not the kitchen.
3. The rent math in reverse: at a 6% rent target, every $1,000 of monthly rent needs about $16,700 of monthly sales to support it (Source: ProfitPlate occupancy calculator).

The $800,000 model: every benchmark in actual dollars

MODELING ASSUMPTION, NOT VERIFIED: $800,000 a year in gross sales, chosen by Cody as a deliberate under estimate, as explained at the top of this file.

The base math, which checks against the hours and the calendar:

* Per year: $800,000

* Per month: $800,000 divided by 12 is about $66,700 a month

* Per week: $800,000 divided by 52 is about $15,400 a week

* Per day: About $2,200 a day, if open 7 days a week. That is $15,400 divided by 7, about $2,197

* Per open hour: About $280 an hour at Cody's roughly 55 open hours a week ($15,400 divided by 55). Note on hours: the public hours listed at the top of this file add up to about 58.5 hours a week, which would be about $263 an hour. Either way, the model needs roughly $260 to $280 of sales for every hour the doors are open, averaged across slow weekday lunches and busy Friday nights.

Food cost in dollars at $800,000 (benchmark range 28% to 35%, full service average 32.4%, from the sources in the list above):

* At 28%: $224,000 a year, about $18,700 a month, about $4,310 a week

* At 32.4%, the cited full service average: $259,200 a year, about $21,600 a month, about $4,980 a week

* At 35%: $280,000 a year, about $23,300 a month, about $5,380 a week

* Plain meaning: Moving food cost from 35% down to 32.4% saves about $20,800 a year at this sales level. Moving it down to 28% saves about $56,000 a year against the 35% line.

Labor cost in dollars at $800,000 (simple guide range 25% to 35%, National Restaurant Association median 36.5%, from the sources above):

* At 25%: $200,000 a year, about $16,700 a month, about $3,850 a week

* At 30%: $240,000 a year, about $20,000 a month, about $4,620 a week

* At 35%: $280,000 a year, about $23,300 a month, about $5,380 a week

* At 36.5%, the cited median: $292,000 a year, about $24,300 a month, about $5,620 a week

* Plain meaning: Labor is the biggest single check in this model after food. One point of labor at $800,000 is $8,000 a year.

Prime cost in dollars at $800,000 (food plus labor, target 60% to 65% for full service, from the sources above):

* At 60%: $480,000 a year, about $40,000 a month, about $9,230 a week. That leaves $320,000 a year for occupancy, other operating costs, and profit

* At 62%, one realistic healthy combo (for example food at 30% or $240,000, plus labor at 32% or $256,000): $496,000 a year, about $41,300 a month. That leaves $304,000

* At 65%, the top of the target range: $520,000 a year, about $43,300 a month, about $10,000 a week. That leaves $280,000

* At 68.9%: $551,200 a year. That is what happens if both cited medians land at once, food at 32.4% ($259,200) plus labor at 36.5% ($292,000). A Restaurant Codex summary makes the same point, that those two medians add to 68.9% before rent is counted (Source: Restaurant Codex, citing National Restaurant Association data). At 68.9%, only $248,800 is left, and the model gets very tight

* Note on size: A Nine Guides summary of Baker Tilly benchmarks puts a stricter prime cost target of 55% or lower once annual sales pass $850,000, against 60% below that level (Source: Nine Guides summary in search results). At $800,000, this model sits just under that $850,000 line, so the 60% target is the right one to use here. If sales grow past $850,000, the expectation tightens.

Rent and occupancy in dollars at $800,000 (base rent at or below 6%, total occupancy at or below 10%, full service median 5.7%, from the sources above):

* At 5.7%, the cited full service median for total occupancy: $45,600 a year, about $3,800 a month

* At 6%, the classic base rent target: $48,000 a year, exactly $4,000 a month, about $920 a week

* At 8%: $64,000 a year, about $5,330 a month

* At 10%, the top of the healthy total occupancy range: $80,000 a year, about $6,670 a month, about $1,540 a week

* How to read his lease against this model, without knowing his rent (his actual rent is unverified): If total occupancy is $4,000 a month, it is 6.0% of the modeled sales and healthy. At $5,000 a month it is 7.5% and still inside the range. At $6,670 a month it hits the 10% ceiling. Above that, the lease eats the margin at $800,000 in sales, and either sales must rise or rent must fall.

ESTIMATED RENT, NOT VERIFIED: Cody estimates the owner rents the space for about $2,500 to $3,000 a month (Cody's estimate, November 10, 2026; the lease itself was not reviewed). This model uses the middle of that range: $2,750 a month, which is $33,000 a year.

* At the $800,000 planning basis: $33,000 divided by $800,000 is about 4.1% of sales. That is below the 6% base rent rule and below the 5.7% full service occupancy median cited above, and rent alone is not total occupancy (common area charges, property tax, and building insurance, if he pays them, sit on top; unverified). On these numbers, the lease is not what makes or breaks this store.

* At the ends of Cody's estimated range: $2,500 a month is $30,000 a year, or about 3.8% of $800,000. $3,000 a month is $36,000 a year, or 4.5% of $800,000. The whole estimated range stays in the healthy zone at this sales level.

* Sensitivity, because the $800,000 sales figure is itself an assumption. Rent is a fixed dollar cost, so its percentage moves as sales move:

* If sales are really $600,000 a year (about $50,000 a month, about $11,540 a week): $33,000 is 5.5% of sales. At Cody's range ends, $30,000 is 5.0% and $36,000 is 6.0%. Still at or under the 6% rule, so the rent still is not the killer. The squeeze at $600,000 comes from elsewhere: at a 62% prime cost, dropping from $800,000 to $600,000 removes about $76,000 of money left after prime cost (38% of the $200,000 sales drop), while rent and most fixed costs stay the same. That is most or all of the profit gone, even though the rent percentage still looks fine.

* If sales are really $1,000,000 a year (about $83,300 a month, about $19,230 a week): $33,000 is 3.3% of sales, and Cody's range is 3.0% to 3.6%. Rent becomes almost a rounding item, and the same prime math runs the other way: the extra $200,000 of sales adds about $76,000 after prime cost at 62%, most of which can fall to the bottom line if fixed costs do not grow with it.

* Plain conclusion on rent: at $600,000, $800,000, or $1,000,000 in sales, an estimated $2,750 a month rent is not the problem. If this store underperforms its targets, it will be on prime cost and volume, not on the lease. One caution: lease term and renewal options are unverified and matter a great deal for planning ahead, especially the growth steps in Section 7. That is a lease document question, not a research question.

Other operating costs and what is left at $800,000:

* One guide summary puts the remaining operating expenses, after prime cost and occupancy, at roughly 15% to 25% of sales for a typical full service restaurant (Source: Nine Guides). At $800,000 that is $120,000 a year at 15%, $160,000 at 20%, and $200,000 at 25%, or about $10,000 to $16,700 a month. That bucket is utilities, insurance beyond the occupancy line, supplies, repairs, marketing, delivery commissions, fees, and similar costs. His actual split is unverified.

* Worked stack, using the middle of the ranges, to show why the model is tight: Prime cost at 62% is $496,000, plus occupancy at 6% is $48,000, plus other operating costs at 20% is $160,000. Total is $704,000. That leaves $96,000, or 12%, before items that sit below that simple stack in a real profit and loss, such as interest, depreciation, and owner specific items. Do not read that 12% as his profit. The benchmark net margin below is what guides say actually survives to the bottom line after everything is counted.

Net margin in dollars at $800,000 (full service benchmark 2% to 6%, and 3% to 5% in other benchmark sets, from the sources above):

* At 2%: $16,000 a year, about $1,330 a month

* At 3%: $24,000 a year, about $2,000 a month

* At 5%: $40,000 a year, about $3,330 a month

* At 6%: $48,000 a year, about $4,000 a month

* The sensitivity that matters: At $800,000, one percentage point is $8,000 a year. A 3 point drift in prime cost is $24,000 a year, which is the entire profit at a 3% margin. That is the whole case for watching food and labor weekly instead of monthly.

Sales per seat and per table at $800,000, worked examples using Cody's room description of about 12 to 15 tables and roughly 50 to 60 seats. Exact seat and table counts are unverified, so midpoints are used and labeled:

* Per seat: $800,000 divided by 55 seats is about $14,550 per seat per year, about $280 per seat per week

* Per table: $800,000 divided by 13.5 tables (midpoint of 12 to 15) is about $59,260 per table per year, about $1,140 per table per week, about $163 per table per day

* Revenue per available seat hour check: $800,000 divided by 55 seats and about 2,860 to 3,040 open hours a year (55 to 58.5 hours a week times 52) is about $4.80 to $5.10 per seat hour. That is below the $8 to $18 casual dining RevPASH range cited below from KwickOS. That does not prove the model is wrong. RevPASH in that guide is usually read on a meal period when seats are in use, and this all hours average counts every slow hour and also mixes in carryout and delivery sales that use no seat at all. The useful takeaway is the opposite of alarming: at $800,000, the room does not need to be full all the time. It needs strong peak periods plus a steady off premise stream, which is covered in the covers check next.

Average check and table turns

* Casual dining average check: $20 to $45 per guest in a 2025 KPI guide, with fast casual at $12 to $20 and quick service at $8 to $15 (Source: Restaurant KPI guide, cloudfront.net PDF in Sources).

* Casual dining table turns: 1.5 to 2.5 turns per meal period is the typical range in one calculator guide, with dining time of 45 to 75 minutes. The same guide lists revenue per available seat hour for casual dining at $8 to $18 (Source: KwickOS table turnover and RevPASH calculator). A second source lists casual dining dinner at 1.5 to 2 turns and lunch at 2 to 3 turns (Source: PrimeCost Tools table turnover calculator).

* Where The Cajun Shack sits: Its public $10 to $20 per person range from Restaurant Guru sits at the low end of the casual dining check range above. That fits a value friendly local spot, but it means volume has to do more of the work. Raising check by a few dollars through boil add ins, drinks, desserts, and family packs is likely worth more than raising entree prices alone. That last sentence is advice based on the cited ranges, not a verified fact about his sales mix.

What sales does a 12 to 15 table spot need?

His room is described by Cody as about 12 to 15 tables, roughly 50 to 60 seats. The exact seat count, his rent, and his current sales are unverified.

Worked example, using only the benchmarks above. Assume 55 seats, a $22 average check (inside the $20 to $45 casual range, and a little above his current public $10 to $20 range because a boil or drinks push the ticket up), and these cover counts:

* Slow week pattern: 70 covers per day on average. 70 times $22 is $1,540 per day. Times 7 days is about $10,800 per week, or about $46,700 per month.

* Healthy middle pattern: 100 covers per day on average. 100 times $22 is $2,200 per day. Times 7 days is about $15,400 per week, or about $66,700 per month.

* Strong pattern: 130 covers per day on average. 130 times $23 is $2,990 per day. Times 7 days is about $20,900 per week, or about $90,700 per month.

How to use those three lines:

* At about $46,700 per month, a $4,000 rent would be about 8.6% of sales. That is inside the 6% to 10% occupancy range, but tight. A $5,000 rent would be about 10.7%, above the 10% line.

* At about $66,700 per month, a $4,000 rent is 6.0% and a $5,000 rent is 7.5%. Both sit in the healthy zone from the sources above.

* These are illustrations, not a claim that he needs exactly that rent or that sales figure. The real test is his own prime cost and his own rent divided by his own sales.

Carryout and delivery matter for a room this size because the dining room caps out fast. With only about 55 seats and dinner turns of 1.5 to 2, a full Friday dinner is roughly 83 to 110 dine in covers, using the turn range above. Every extra ticket has to come from lunch, carryout, catering, or delivery. That is math from the cited turn range and the stated seat count.

Sanity check at $800,000: covers and average check

The middle pattern above IS the $800,000 model, restated in covers so the owner can feel it day to day: about 100 covers a day at a $22 average check is about $2,200 a day, about $15,400 a week, about $66,700 a month, about $800,000 a year. Two honest qualifications:

* Covers here means paid guests across every channel, not just dining room seats. A full Friday dinner in a roughly 55 seat room at 1.5 to 2 turns is roughly 83 to 110 dine in covers, so a 100 cover average day cannot come from dinner alone. It needs lunch covers plus carryout, delivery, and catering tickets counted in. If his real mix is dine in heavy and lunch is quiet, 100 a day is harder than it looks.

* Check is the swing factor. At his public $10 to $20 per person range, the low end breaks the model: 100 covers at $18 is about $657,000 a year, and at $15 it is about $548,000, using the same 100 covers times 365 days math. At $25 a check, 100 covers is about $912,500. Same workload, very different store. That is why add ons, family packs, boils, and the gallon items in Section 6 matter more than working harder at the current check.

The performance scorecard: targets to hit

This scorecard is a set of proposed performance targets built from the cited benchmarks and the $800,000 model. It is not an industry standard and it is not a judgment on his actual numbers, which are unverified. It is the target sheet to run once his real numbers are on the table.

What the store should hold at the $800,000 planning basis to perform the way a healthy full-time restaurant should:

* Food cost: at or under 32.4% (the cited full service average), which is $259,200 a year, about $21,600 a month, about $4,980 a week. Hard ceiling 35%, which is $280,000 a year. Above 35% at this volume, the kitchen is giving the profit away.

* Labor cost: at or under about 33%, which is $264,000 a year, about $22,000 a month, about $5,080 a week. That sits between the simple guide range and the 36.5% national median cited above, and it is the level that makes the prime math below work. Hard ceiling 35%, which is $280,000 a year.

* Prime cost: target 62% or under, which is $496,000 a year and leaves $304,000 for occupancy, other costs, and profit. Hard ceiling 65%, which is $520,000 a year and leaves $280,000. Above 65% week after week, the guides cited in this section call it a structural problem, and at an estimated rent of only about 4.1% of sales there is no lease excuse for it.

* Bottom line: after everything, the store should clear at least about 5%, which is $40,000 a year, as the healthy target for a full-time owner's business, and it should do it with a manager able to run the floor so the business is not hostage to the owner personally covering shifts. At 2% to 3% ($16,000 to $24,000 a year) the return is real but thin, and that gap is the improvement agenda: it says exactly how much room the fixes in this file need to find.

The two or three biggest fixable leaks, in the order this research points to:

1. Prime cost drift, especially labor in slow hours. He is open about 58.5 hours a week, including long quiet weekday stretches. Scheduling to the hour instead of the day, and portion and waste control on seafood, attack the two halves of prime. Every point saved is $8,000 a year at $800,000.
2. Delivery commission. If a meaningful share of sales runs through the apps at 25% to 30% (Section 2), the commission on that share can rival the entire net profit. Moving repeat orders to direct ordering on his own site is the single cheapest margin recovery in this file, because the food and labor are already being spent.
3. A low average check with a capped room. Public pricing sits at $10 to $20 per person against a $20 to $45 casual check benchmark, and the room cannot add seats. Check has to grow through boils, add ins, family packs, holiday catering (Section 5), and gallon items (Section 6), not through hoping for more turns.

What would say fix next, and over what period:

* Run the fixes for one full quarter, 13 weeks of weekly food, labor, and prime tracking, and judge progress across a window that includes a crawfish peak (March to May, Section 4), because a Cajun seafood spot should be measured including its best season, not only its slowest.

* Problem to fix next 1: prime cost still above 65% in most weeks of that quarter (say 8 of 13 weeks) after scheduling and portion fixes were actually made. At $800,000 that is more than $10,000 a week of food plus labor, and it means the next fix is pricing and wage structure, not more effort: reprice the plates the food cost model flags, and rebuild the schedule around the hours that actually sell.

* Problem to fix next 2: sales running below about $600,000 a year on an annualized basis (under about $11,540 a week) with no growth trend, because at that level the fixed rent and other costs leave little or nothing after prime, per the sensitivity math above, and a 12 to 15 table room has limited room to grow into the lease. The fix list for that problem is volume that does not need seats: catering, direct ordering, and the gallon ladder (Sections 2, 6, and 7).

* Problem to fix next 3: net profit under about 2% for two straight quarters after the fix period, or the store only hits its numbers when the owner personally covers shifts. A full-time business returning under $16,000 a year at that sales level is telling you the model needs structural work: a manager who can run the floor, and the highest margin channels (catering and direct) built up so the store is not carried by the owner's own shifts.

* On-target signal, for balance: prime at or under 62% to 65%, sales at or above the $800,000 pace, and a net at or above about 5% with a manager running the floor. That is the store performing the way it should, and the growth roadmap in Section 7 is then the next place to put real investment.

Sources for Section 1:

* Nine Guides, Restaurant Financial Management: https://nineguides.com/finance/

* Restaurant Codex, The 30/30/30 Rule and Other Restaurant Cost Rules, Checked: https://www.restaurantcodex.com/insights/restaurant-cost-rules-of-thumb

* NovaTab, Restaurant Prime Cost 2026: https://www.novatab.com/blog/restaurant-prime-cost

* ProfitPlate, Restaurant Occupancy Cost Calculator: https://www.profitplate.world/tools/restaurant-occupancy-cost-calculator/

* KwickOS, Restaurant Table Turnover and RevPASH Calculator: https://kwickos.com/tools/table-turnover-calculator.html

* PrimeCost Tools, Table Turnover Rate Calculator: https://www.primecosttools.com/table-turnover-rate-calculator.html

* Restaurant KPI guide (PDF): https://d3n2401vhvcfv5.cloudfront.net/dev/resources/restaurant-kpis-every-owner-should-track.pdf

* Restaurant Guru, The Cajun Shack, Alvin: https://restaurantguru.com/The-Cajun-Shack-Alvin

* DoorDash, The Cajun Shack, Alvin: https://www.doordash.com/store/the-cajun-shack-alvin-30576010/

2. Delivery economics: DoorDash, Uber Eats, and direct ordering

What the platforms charge

Both big platforms use three tiers. Industry reporting is consistent on the headline numbers, even though the platforms do not publish every rate in one public place:

* DoorDash: Basic about 15%, Plus about 25%, Premier about 30% on delivery orders. Pickup is about 6% on DoorDash in several guides (Sources: Plott Data comparison; KitchenHub 2026 commission summary; Norvet MSP delivery pricing guide).

* Uber Eats: Lite about 15%, Plus about 25%, Premium about 30% on delivery orders (Source: Plott Data comparison; DeliverGuard commission guide).

* Market share context: DoorDash held about 67% of US food delivery order volume entering 2026, with Uber Eats at about 24% (Source: Plott Data comparison). That is why most small spots feel they have to be on DoorDash first.

* Hidden add ons: Payment processing, sponsored listings, and promotions can sit on top of the headline rate. One guide warns the effective rate can run 6 to 12 points above the stated rate once processing, marketing, and refunds are counted (Source: DeliverGuard). Treat that as a warning to read his actual monthly statements, not as his verified rate. His actual DoorDash and Uber Eats plan tiers and effective rates are unverified.

What that does to a $16 entree

Worked example, using the break even formula from the pricing guides. To keep the same dollars after commission, divide the in store price by 1 minus the commission rate (Sources: Norvet MSP; DirectOrders markup guide; Pavado markup guide).

* At 15% commission, break even markup is about 17.6%. A $16.00 item needs to be about $18.82 on the app.

* At 25% commission, break even markup is about 33.3%. A $16.00 item needs to be about $21.33 on the app.

* At 30% commission, break even markup is about 42.9%. A $16.00 item needs to be about $22.86 on the app.

What restaurants actually do is smaller than break even. A Gordon Haskett check of 25 chains in March 2023 found delivery app prices averaged 19% above in store prices, up from 10% in 2020 (Source: DirectOrders, citing Gordon Haskett Research Advisors via Food On Demand). A broader guide summary puts typical independent markups in a wide range, with many owners at 20% to 30% (Source: Pavado, summarizing operator reports). DoorDash itself has warned that big markups cut orders: its study of more than 4,500 restaurants tied higher markups to fewer sales and lower reorder rates, and its Most Loved program requires markups of 10% or less (Sources: DirectOrders summary of DoorDash guidance; Pavado summary of DoorDash menu pricing guide).

Plain advice from that math:

1. Do not sell the full menu at in store prices on a 25% or 30% tier and expect delivery to be profitable. At a 3% to 5% net margin, a 25% commission on an unmarked order can erase the profit on that ticket several times over.
2. Use a modest app markup, in the range other operators use, and protect the best margin items. Consider keeping delivery focused on items that travel well and hold margin, such as boils, fried items that hold for a short drive, family packs, and add ins.
3. Keep pickup priced attractively, because pickup commission is far lower than delivery commission in the guides above.

The case for direct ordering

His own site is cajun-shack.com and, per Cody, it already takes direct orders. The economics of moving repeat customers there are strong:

* Direct ordering guides put the restaurant cost at normal card processing plus a flat system cost, instead of a 15% to 30% marketplace commission (Sources: KitchenHub summary, which lists Uber Webshop at 2.5% plus $0.29 processing for direct webshop orders; Nabe Eats guide, citing BeyondMenu 2026 data on flat fee direct systems). His direct system cost is unverified, so he should confirm what he pays per direct order today.

* One direct ordering analysis compared the same order both ways and found the customer paid about 30% less direct, while the restaurant kept about $6.29 more on that order, because the markup and platform fees disappeared (Source: Innowi, Why Delivery Apps Cost More Than Ordering Direct). That is one vendor example, not a promise for this restaurant.

* Customer behavior helps: One marketing summary reports 64% of delivery customers prefer to order directly, 70% would rather order direct to support the restaurant, and repeat guests spend 67% more than first timers (Source: Chowly, Own Your Orders). Those are marketing source figures, so treat them as directional, not as a guarantee.

* The other prize is data. On a marketplace, the platform keeps the customer name and history. On direct, the restaurant keeps it and can bring that guest back with a text or email, without paying commission again (Sources: Chowly; Innowi delivery loss guide).

Practical split that fits a small spot:

* Keep DoorDash and Uber Eats for discovery. New customers find him there.

* Give every carryout bag, catering menu, and table a reason to order direct next time, such as direct only family packs, a crawfish preorder list, or a small direct order perk that costs less than the commission saved.

* Track one number monthly: what percent of off premise orders were direct. Moving even a fifth of app volume to direct is the example used in one guide, which estimated about $6,700 per year back on $15,000 per month of app sales (Source: Innowi, Why Restaurants Lose 20 to 30 Percent). That example is illustrative and depends on his ticket and tier.

Sources for Section 2:

* Plott Data, Uber Eats vs DoorDash Comparison for Restaurants: https://plottdata.com/blogs/uber-eats-vs-doordash

* DeliverGuard, Delivery Commissions: https://www.deliverguard.io/resources/how-delivery-platform-commissions-work

* KitchenHub, What Marketplaces Are Not Telling You, 2026: https://www.trykitchenhub.com/post/what-marketplaces-arent-telling-you-how-commission-models-are-quietly-changing

* Norvet MSP, How Much to Raise Menu Prices for DoorDash: https://norvetmsp.com/blog/how-much-to-raise-menu-prices-for-doordash-uber-eats-grubhub

* DirectOrders, Should You Mark Up Menu Prices on DoorDash and Uber Eats: https://www.directorders.com/blog/delivery-app-menu-price-markup

* Pavado, How Much to Mark Up DoorDash Prices: https://www.pavadotech.com/blog/how-much-to-mark-up-menu-prices-on-doordash

* Innowi, Why Delivery Apps Cost More Than Ordering Direct: https://innowi.com/why-delivery-apps-cost-more-than-ordering-direct-from-the-restaurant/

* Innowi, Why Restaurants Lose 20 to 30 Percent on Every Delivery Order: https://innowi.com/why-restaurants-are-losing-20-30-of-every-online-order-and-how-to-get-it-back/

* Chowly, Own Your Orders: https://chowly.com/resources/blogs/own-your-orders-the-restaurant-marketing-system-that-reduces-third-party-dependence/

3. The Alvin, Texas market

Who lives here

* Population: Alvin city was 27,098 in the April 1, 2020 Census, and the Census Bureau estimate for July 1, 2025 is 30,115. That is an 11.7% increase from the 2020 estimate base, faster than Texas at 8.8% over the same span (Source: US Census Bureau QuickFacts, Alvin city, Texas).

* Wider trade area: A retail demographic packet for the Alvin area lists about 58,729 people within 5 miles in its 2025 estimate, with population growth of 16.49% from 2020 to 2025 in that 5 mile ring (Source: Showcase demographic packet for Alvin, in Sources). Treat trade area packets as estimates, but the direction matches the Census city growth.

* Income: Median household income in Alvin was $71,477 in 2020 to 2024 data, in 2024 dollars, below the Texas median of $78,476. Per capita income was $32,387, and 9.2% of people were in poverty, below the Texas rate of 12.7% (Source: US Census Bureau QuickFacts, Alvin city, Texas).

* Households and age: Alvin had 10,456 households, with 2.69 persons per household. People under 18 were 26.2% of the population, and people 65 and over were 13.6% (Source: US Census Bureau QuickFacts, Alvin city, Texas).

* Hispanic and Latino share: 40.6% of Alvin residents are Hispanic or Latino, and 27.3% of people age 5 and over speak a language other than English at home (Source: US Census Bureau QuickFacts, Alvin city, Texas). Plain meaning: this is a family town with a large Hispanic customer base. Family packs, shareable boils, and Spanish friendly service and social posts are not extras here. They fit the market.

* School growth signal: A commercial listing summary notes Alvin ISD reached 30,000 students in fall 2024, with enrollment having doubled over two decades and projections toward about 36,951 within the next decade (Source: Crexi listing summary for FM 1462, Alvin, in Sources). That figure is from a listing summary, not a school district release, so treat it as directional and unverified from the district itself.

What the customer looks like, in plain terms: A working family town, growing fast, with a lot of kids, a median income a bit below the state median, and bigger households than a downtown Houston neighborhood. Value has to be visible. A $70 to $200 family or boil package has to clearly feed a group, not just sound premium. Weeknight family deals, lunch deals, and holiday packs that save a parent from cooking fit this market better than chasing a high check from a few tables.

The competitive set near Alvin

These are actual nearby competitors found in search, with positioning from public listings. Distances and ratings change, so check again before any pricing decision.

* La Costa Seafood Grill, 1200 Hwy 35 Byp North, Suite A, Alvin. This is the closest direct seafood rival in Alvin. RestaurantJi lists it with crawfish, a seafood tower, ribeye, grilled shrimp, and fajitas, and public review summaries call out crawfish and margaritas (Sources: RestaurantJi, La Costa Seafood Grill; La Costa listing in search results). One review summary reported a 5 pound crawfish offer for $30 at La Costa (Source: WorldLocationMap review summary for La Costa). That price point, if still offered in season, is the local crawfish value bar he has to answer. Its in season crawfish price today is unverified.

* Captain D's, 1800 N Highway 35 Byp, Alvin. Fast food fried seafood, inexpensive price level (Source: Captain D's Alvin location listing). RestaurantJi menu listing shows meals such as a Batter Dipped Fish Meal at $11.04, a Catfish Meal at $13.64, a Deluxe Seafood Platter at $16.24, a Fish Family Meal at $37.69, and a Seafood Feast at $49.39 (Source: RestaurantJi, Captain D's Alvin menu). Plain meaning: Captain D's owns the cheapest fried seafood run. The Cajun Shack should not try to beat it on price. It wins on fresh boils, Cajun flavor, and a real dining room.

* Floyds Seafood, also listed as Floyd's Cajun Seafood and Texas Steakhouse, 1300 East Broadway St, Pearland. A bigger, higher priced Cajun and seafood house a short drive north (Source: DoorDash, Floyds Seafood, Pearland). DoorDash listing prices include Shrimp Dinner at $19.55 and up, Seafood Gumbo at $9.20 and up, Crawfish Etouffee at $26.45, a Seafood Platter at $33.35, and Gulf Red Snapper at $39.10 (Source: DoorDash, Floyds Seafood, Pearland). Plain meaning: Floyds shows the market will pay well above $20 for Cajun seafood when it is a full occasion meal. The Cajun Shack sits below that, which leaves room for a premium boil night or a chef special without matching Floyds on everything.

* 7Spice Cajun Seafood, served to the Alvin and Pearland area on DoorDash. A boil focused competitor (Source: DoorDash, Alvin crab delivery page, listing 7Spice). DoorDash prices in search results include a 1/2 lb EZ Peel Shrimp Combo at about $16.12, 2 Fish and 6 Shrimp at $20.29 to $20.30, Cajun Fried Rice at $12.44, and a 2 lb Crawfish Combo at $23.26 (Source: DoorDash search results for 7Spice). Plain meaning: on the apps, he is not just competing with restaurants in Alvin. He is competing with boil bags from Pearland and Houston that show up in the same phone screen.

* BB's Tex-Orleans, Webster location at 1039 W Bay Area Blvd, plus other Houston area locations. A regional Cajun chain known for boils and live crawfish, with moderate prices (Source: BB's Tex-Orleans, Webster location listing). It matters less as a weekly rival and more as the holiday and crawfish benchmark, covered in Sections 4 and 5.

* Sam's Boiling Point Crawfish, Alvin. Restaurant Guru lists Sam's Boiling Point Crawfish in Alvin as Seafood, Cajun, and Creole, at 3.8 stars from 33 votes, compared with The Cajun Shack at 4.8 from 759 votes in the same list (Source: Restaurant Guru, Top restaurants in Alvin). That 4.8 for The Cajun Shack is Restaurant Guru's blended aggregate across review sources, not the Google rating: Google rates the Shack 4.4. Details on Sam's current menu and prices were not verified. Do not rely on that rating gap without a fresh check. On Restaurant Guru's blended numbers the Shack leads Sam's, but that gap rests on the blended figure alone, and Google's own figure for the Shack is 4.4, so treat any better reviewed claim as unproven without a fresh, like for like check.

* Other names that showed up in Alvin seafood search results, with limited verified detail: Tommaso's, listed with Italian, Pizza, Cajun, Creole, and Seafood, and K R A C K Kitchen, listed as Cajun, Creole, and Seafood (Source: Restaurant Guru, Alvin). Their current menus and prices are unverified.

Positioning takeaway: In Alvin itself, The Cajun Shack looks like the Cajun specialist with the strongest public review profile among the names above. The pressure comes from three sides at once: La Costa on crawfish and Latin seafood in town, Captain D's on cheap fried seafood, and Pearland and Houston boil spots on the delivery apps and for a bigger night out.

Sources for Section 3:

* US Census Bureau QuickFacts, Alvin city, Texas: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/alvincitytexas,TX/HSG650218

* US Census Bureau QuickFacts, Alvin city, Texas (single city table): https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/alvincitytexas/TAW120222

* Data USA, Alvin, TX: https://datausa.io/profile/geo/alvin-tx?redirect=true

* Showcase demographic packet, Alvin (PDF): https://images1.showcase.com/d2/HirlNRVB03p9QIGgyyK0PSFoZ7o58DZR0WyVj1fcNaA/document.pdf

* Crexi listing, 1111 FM 1462 Rd, Alvin: https://www.crexi.com/properties/2445455/texas-dillman-agency-allstate

* RestaurantJi, La Costa Seafood Grill, Alvin: https://www.restaurantji.com/tx/alvin/la-costa-seafood-grill-/

* La Costa Seafood Grill: http://www.lacostaseafoodgrill.com/

* RestaurantJi, Captain D's, Alvin menu: https://www.restaurantji.com/tx/alvin/captain-ds-/menu/

* Captain D's, Alvin location: https://locations.captainds.com/ll/US/TX/Alvin/1800-35-W-Bypass

* Restaurant Guru, Alvin: https://restaurantguru.com/Alvin

* DoorDash, Alvin crab delivery page (7Spice and others): https://www.doordash.com/es-US/food-delivery/alvin-tx-restaurants/crab/

* The Cajun Shack: https://cajun-shack.com/

4. Crawfish season

Timing

* The traditional wild season is spring, generally March and April, with farmed crawfish now available as early as January and into August depending on the producer and weather (Source: Houstonia, When Is Crawfish Season in Texas).

* A Houston crawfish guide, citing Louisiana Crawfish Company, puts the typical live season at December through July, with peak in April and May. It says Houston restaurants usually start serving live crawfish around late January, with March through May as the sweet spot for size and supply, and June to early July as the tail end (Source: Houston.com, Houston Crawfish Guide).

* LSU AgCenter, as summarized in a 2026 price report, describes live crawfish supply as highly seasonal, with peak harvest from March through June (Source: The Pricer, How Much Does Crawfish Cost, citing LSU AgCenter).

* A Houston chef quoted in January 2026 expected crawfish to peak in March and called spring break week the Super Bowl of crawfish season (Source: Houstonia). For planning, treat late January as the soft open, March and April as the money months, May as still strong, and June as the wind down.

How price moves through the season

Crawfish is a market price item because supply swings week to week. The pattern is the same every year: high and small early, cheaper and bigger at peak.

* Restaurant price in Houston early in the 2026 season: One Houston spot, Crawfish Cafe, was reported in January 2026 selling at $12.99 per pound (Source: Houstonia).

* General restaurant range: A Houston magazine guide says to expect anywhere from $8 to $15 per pound depending on the spot, the season, and the harvest, with higher prices early and lower prices as supply increases (Source: Houston Magazine crawfish guide summary in search results, houstonmagazine.com).

* Louisiana live and boiled price track, 2026 season: A price report using Louisiana reporting and Crawfish App data lists live crawfish at $7.00 per pound in mid January and boiled at $8.99, falling to an average of $3.15 live and $4.69 boiled by May 14, and $2.99 live and about $5.44 to $5.50 boiled around Memorial Day. It summarizes the full season range as about $2.99 to $7.24 per pound live and about $5.44 to $10.10 boiled (Source: The Pricer, How Much Does Crawfish Cost).

* Portion math that drives the ticket: Plan on about 3 to 5 pounds per adult for a crawfish focused meal (Source: Houston.com guide). LSU AgCenter guidance summarized in a boil calculator puts it at 3 to 4 pounds of live crawfish per person per meal, and a standard sack at about 35 to 45 pounds feeding about 10 to 12 people (Source: Party Portions crawfish calculator, citing LSU AgCenter). Tail meat yield is only about 15% of live weight for medium to small crawfish, per LSU AgCenter as cited in the price report (Source: The Pricer, citing LSU AgCenter). That low yield is why guests order by the pound and why add ins matter.

Worked margin warning, using the prices above: If he buys live at an early season $7.00 per pound and sells boiled at $12.99, the gross spread before seasoning, corn, potatoes, labor, waste, and dead loss is about $5.99 per pound. At a peak season live cost near $3.15, selling boiled at even $9.99 leaves about $6.84 of spread, on a bigger, better product that guests are happier with. The point is not those exact prices, which will change in 2027. The point is that early season is for buzz and loyal regulars, and peak season is for volume. Locking one fixed crawfish price for the whole season will lose money at one end or scare guests at the other. Market price, posted clearly each week, is the normal and safer route, as the Houston guide notes many menus already do (Source: Houston.com guide).

How a small spot makes crawfish season pay

Operational moves that fit a 12 to 15 table room. Items marked as practice are general guidance from the sources, not verified facts about his current operation:

1. Preorder and pickup sacks and trays. Live crawfish are perishable and bought by the sack. A retailer example in search results requires preorder by Thursday at 3:00 PM to ensure supply for weekend live sales (Source: Seafood Fresh Orlando, live crawfish listing). He can use the same idea at his scale: a Thursday cutoff for Friday and Saturday boil preorders, sold direct, so he buys close to what is already sold.
2. Make Friday and Saturday boil nights, not an all week gamble. Concentrate live buying on the two strongest nights, run a clear per pound price that week, and push 3 pound and 5 pound bundles with corn, potatoes, sausage, and eggs, since add ins are where a boil ticket grows without much food cost risk. The bundle idea follows the portion guidance above. His current bundle pricing beyond the public Family Feast is unverified.
3. Sell the add ins hard. Corn, potatoes, sausage, boiled eggs, mushrooms, and extra garlic butter turn a low yield product into a full check. Every competitor menu in Section 3 sells boils with corn and potatoes included, so the upsell has to be extra portions and premium add ins, such as snow crab or shrimp added to a crawfish bag. His DoorDash menu already has a Build Your Boil Bag with crawfish, shrimp, and snow crab (Source: DoorDash, The Cajun Shack).
4. Post the weekly price early and honestly. Prices swing, and guests in Houston expect market price. A Tuesday or Wednesday social post with this week's per pound price, size note, and a preorder link to his direct site does three jobs: it sets expectations, it fills Friday before he buys, and it keeps the order off a 25% to 30% commission app.
5. Watch dead loss and size. Early season crawfish can be small, per Houstonia, and guests notice. If size is small, say so, price accordingly, and lean on flavor and add ins. Do not pay a jumbo price for field run product. Grading notes: field run is about 18 to 22 per pound, select is about 12 to 17 per pound, and jumbo is 12 or fewer per pound, mostly at the April and May peak (Source: Houston.com guide).
6. Use crawfish to build the direct list. Every boil night guest is a repeat guest in waiting. A direct preorder list built in March is the same list he can sell Thanksgiving and Christmas packs to in November and December.

Sources for Section 4:

* Houstonia, When Is Crawfish Season in Texas: https://www.houstoniamag.com/eat-and-drink/food-news-and-events/when-is-crawfish-season/

* Houston.com, Houston Crawfish Guide: https://houston.com/food-dining/houston-crawfish-guide

* Houston Magazine, Crawfish Places in Houston: https://www.houstonmagazine.com/crawfish-places/

* The Pricer, How Much Does Crawfish Cost: https://www.thepricer.org/the-cost-of-crawfish/

* Party Portions, Crawfish Boil Calculator: https://www.party-portions.com/crawfish-boil-calculator/?adults=20&appetite=standard&addIns=true

* Seafood Fresh Orlando, Live Louisiana Crawfish: https://www.seafoodfreshorlando.com/products/live-louisiana-crawfish

5. Holiday catering

His catering push is well timed. The existing catering menu already has family and party sizes, party packages from $149 to $379, and a $200 minimum for delivery, per the catering menu Cody provided earlier today. Those figures came from Cody's document, not from public search, so they are not re cited here. The question is how to run the holiday version.

What small restaurants do for Thanksgiving and Christmas

The pattern from holiday preorder guides and live restaurant examples is consistent:

* Sell a short, limited menu, not the whole menu. A holiday preorder guide advises picking five to eight items that hold well, batch well, and travel well, such as whole pies, half pans of sides, family packs, and party trays, and setting a capacity cap per item before announcing (Source: Anytable, Holiday Pre-Orders for Restaurants, Done Right).

* Open about three weeks before the holiday. The same guide puts the open date at about three weeks before Thanksgiving and Christmas, and the Anytable Thanksgiving guide says hosts decide in the two to three weeks before the holiday, with the announcement in early November and the heaviest promotion two weeks out (Sources: Anytable holiday preorder guide; Anytable Thanksgiving takeout guide).

* Cut off three to four days before pickup. Both Anytable guides put the cutoff at three to four days before pickup, often the Sunday or Monday before Thanksgiving, with pickup the day before and, if it fits, the morning of (Sources: Anytable holiday preorder guide; Anytable Thanksgiving guide).

* Take money up front. For standard preorder items, the holiday guide recommends full payment at order, not just a deposit, because it kills no shows, funds the bulk ingredient buy, and keeps pickup day fast. It recommends a simple policy of full refund until the cutoff and no refunds after, because after cutoff the food is bought and scheduled (Source: Anytable holiday preorder guide). For larger custom catering, deposits are still common in live examples: one catering company requires a 20% deposit for Thanksgiving Take and Bake orders, with the balance at pickup (Source: A to Z's Catering and Parties). Another small operator example requires a 50% deposit, with Thanksgiving orders by November 22 and Christmas orders by December 20 (Source: Facebook post by Atraya Haynes, Trays By TRAYA, in search results). A holiday meal form example requires a $100 non refundable deposit (Source: Jotform holiday meal form example in search results). Plain summary: full prepay for set holiday packs, and 20% to 50% deposit for big custom orders, are both normal. Pick one rule and publish it.

* Cap it and sell the deadline. A last call message 48 hours before cutoff is described as the highest converting message of the season in the preorder guide (Source: Anytable holiday preorder guide).

A live Cajun benchmark: BB's Tex-Orleans, Houston area

BB's is the clearest Cajun holiday benchmark found:

* Cajun Fried Turkey: $89.99, and Boudin Stuffed Turkey: $99.99. Each turkey feeds 5 to 8 (Sources: Cypress Digest, Where to Order Thanksgiving Dinner in Cypress, TX, 2026, listing BB's 2026 prices; Houstonia, Houston Restaurants' Thanksgiving Meals, listing $90 and $100).

* Cajun Fried Honey Glazed Ham: $15.99 per pound, listed as $16 per pound in Houstonia (Sources: Cypress Digest; Houstonia).

* Cajun Tamales: $16.99 per dozen, listed as $17 per dozen in Houstonia (Sources: Cypress Digest; Houstonia).

* Sides by the quart: $15.99 to $23.99, including mac and cheese, sweet potatoes, Cajun rice dressing, collard greens, and giblet gravy (Source: Cypress Digest).

* Pies: Bread pudding pie and pecan pie from $16.99, with pecan pie at $25 in Houstonia (Sources: Cypress Digest; Houstonia).

* Ordering window: Opens November 1, deadline Monday, November 23 at 11:00 AM, pickup Thanksgiving Day from 8:00 AM to noon (Source: Cypress Digest, 2026). Thanksgiving in 2026 is Thursday, November 26, per the same guide.

* A Visit Houston summary of an earlier BB's holiday menu adds delivery terms: minimum 24 hour notice for all orders and a minimum $200 order for delivery, with tax and delivery fees extra (Source: Visit Houston, Thanksgiving in Houston). His existing $200 delivery minimum matches that benchmark exactly.

What that benchmark means for The Cajun Shack:

* A Cajun fried turkey or a gumbo and dressing holiday anchor in the $90 to $100 range for a bird that feeds 5 to 8 is proven in this market, at a regional chain, in 2026. He does not have to price under it to be competitive in Alvin, where BB's nearest listed location is in Webster, not Alvin.

* The money is not only the turkey. Quarts of sides at about $16 to $24, tamales or boudin items by the dozen, and pies in the $17 to $25 range are how a small kitchen adds high margin items that batch well. His gumbo, etouffee, Cajun pasta, boudin balls, and boudin egg rolls already fit that pattern from his regular and catering menus.

* For Christmas, use the same structure with a December cutoff about three to four days before pickup, following the pattern above. Live examples put Christmas cutoffs in the December 17 to December 22 range (Sources: Facebook preorder example with Christmas orders by December 17 in one post and by December 20 in another, in search results; Char Nashville holiday catering, with Christmas preorders by 5:00 PM on Tuesday, December 22 for pickup by 2:00 PM on Thursday, December 24). Those dates are from other years and other operators, so use the pattern, not the exact dates, and set his own 2026 dates in writing.

Red beans and rice and cold weather staples, by the gallon, for the holidays

Red beans and rice is the natural holiday and cold weather add on for this concept: it batches in one pot, holds and reheats well, travels in a quart or gallon container, and its main ingredients are cheap next to seafood. What other Cajun operators actually charge for it by volume (all fetched for this update; full detail and the packaging math are in Section 6):

* Ragin' Cajun, Houston, on its holiday menu: Red Beans and Rice at $35 for a half gallon and $65 for a gallon, listed as serving 10, and its holiday packages (Cajun fried turkey, cornbread dressing, jambalaya, red beans and rice, peach cobbler) run from $290 for a small package serving 6 to 8 up to $715 for a large package (Source: Ragin' Cajun holiday menu via Corporate Catering Concierge). This is the closest holiday specific, Houston area, by the gallon benchmark found.

* Don's Seafood, Louisiana: a gallon of red beans at $60, next to a gallon of gumbo, bisque, or etouffee at $90 on the same catering menu (Source: Don's Seafood catering).

* The Rouxpour, Houston area: red beans and rice with jalapeno sausage at $110 for one gallon, with orders coming with garlic bread (Source: The Rouxpour catering menu). Note this is a higher priced operator; treat it as the top of the range, not the target.

* Bayou Market and Cafe 2025 catering menu: Classic Red Beans and Rice at $13.75 a quart, $25.00 a half gallon, $50.00 a gallon, priced well below its gumbo and etouffee on the same menu ($60.00 to $65.00 a gallon) (Source: Bayou Market and Cafe, 2025 Catering To Go Menu).

* Deanie's, New Orleans: red beans and rice with smoked sausage at $49.95 for one gallon and $89.95 for two gallons, and its menu notes that one gallon yields 32 portions of 4 ounces, 21 of 6 ounces, or 16 of 8 ounces (Source: Deanie's catering menu via SpotApps).

* Mike Anderson's, Louisiana: red beans and rice with sausage listed at $45 where a half gallon serves about 10 on its catering menu, which is built around corporate luncheons and holiday celebrations (Source: Mike Anderson's catering menu).

The pattern across those menus: red beans and rice by the gallon clusters around $45 to $65, with one premium outlier at $110. For a holiday table it plays the same role as the quart sides at BB's in the benchmark above (about $16 to $24 a quart): a high margin, batch friendly add on sold next to the turkey or ham anchor. A quart in the $13 to $16 range and a gallon in the $50 to $65 range would sit inside the fetched market range for The Cajun Shack. His actual food cost on the dish is unverified, so final pricing should be checked against the Section 1 food cost ceiling before it is published.

A holiday plan that fits his size

1. Two set packs only, plus add ons. For example, a feeds 4 to 6 pack and a feeds 8 to 10 pack, built from items he already caters, priced as a package at a modest discount to the sum of the parts. Pricing family packs that way is the method recommended in the Anytable Thanksgiving guide (Source: Anytable Thanksgiving guide). Exact pack prices for him are unverified and should be built from his food cost, using the Section 1 food cost range of 28% to 35% as the check.
2. Cap the count. Decide how many turkeys, pans, and packs the kitchen can actually produce in the two days before the holiday, and stop selling at that number. With a small kitchen, selling out is better than ruining pickup day.
3. Sell direct and prepaid. Put holiday preorders on cajun-shack.com, not on DoorDash or Uber Eats, so there is no marketplace commission on the biggest tickets of the year and he owns the customer list for crawfish season.
4. Publish three dates everywhere: open date, cutoff date, and pickup window. Put them on the catering page, in the restaurant, and on every social post.
5. Staff pickup as its own shift. Pickup is the product on holiday week. A separate pickup table, a printed order list, and reheating instructions in every bag protect his reviews, which are his strongest asset in Alvin per Section 3.

Sources for Section 5:

* Anytable, Holiday Pre-Orders for Restaurants, Done Right: https://www.anytable.com/holiday-pre-orders-online-restaurant/

* Anytable, Thanksgiving Restaurant Takeout Catering Guide: https://www.anytable.com/thanksgiving-takeout-catering-restaurants/

* A to Z's Catering and Parties: https://atozscateringandparties.com/

* Char Nashville, Holiday Catering: https://nashville.charrestaurant.com/holiday-catering/

* Cypress Digest, Where to Order Thanksgiving Dinner in Cypress, TX (2026): https://www.cypressdigest.com/p/where-to-order-thanksgiving-dinner-in-cypress-tx

* Houstonia, Houston Restaurants' Thanksgiving Meals: https://www.houstoniamag.com/eat-and-drink/dining-out/best-houston-thanksgiving-dinner-takeout-dine-in/

* Visit Houston, Thanksgiving in Houston: https://www.visithoustontexas.com/lgbtq/post/gobble-up-these-thanksgiving-ideas/

6. By the gallon catering: gumbo, etouffee, Cajun pasta sauce, and red beans and rice

Cody's idea: for the wet dishes, sell catering by the gallon and quart instead of only by the pan. The dishes named are gumbo, etouffee, Cajun pasta sauce, and a possible new red beans and rice. This is not a new invention. It is how a large share of Cajun and Louisiana operators already sell exactly these dishes, and their live menus give him a price ladder to copy instead of guessing.

What restaurants actually charge, fetched from live catering menus

Gumbo:

* Montalbano's Seafood and Catering, Baton Rouge: Seafood Gumbo at $22.99 a quart (serves 2 to 3) and $89.99 a gallon (serves 8 to 10); Chicken and Sausage Gumbo at $80.99 a gallon, gallon only. Rice comes on the side (Source: Montalbano's catering menu).

* Prejean's, Lafayette area: Seafood Gumbo $27.00 a quart and $108.00 a gallon; Shrimp Gumbo $25.00 a quart and $100.00 a gallon; Chicken and Sausage Gumbo $27.00 a quart and $80.00 a gallon on its catering menu (Source: Prejean's catering menu via Scribd).

* NOLA Crawfish King, New Orleans: Smoked Chicken and Sausage Gumbo $55 a gallon; Seafood Gumbo $80 a gallon. Each gallon comes with 2 quarts of white rice (Source: Crawfish King catering menu).

* Zydeco Louisiana Diner, Houston: Red Beans $12.00 a quart and $45.00 a gallon; Chicken and Sausage Gumbo $15.00 a quart and $60.00 a gallon; Seafood Gumbo $20.00 a quart and $75.00 a gallon, on its bulk to go menu (Source: Zydeco Louisiana Diner menu via SinglePlatform). This is the closest Houston benchmark in this set.

* Fat Tuesday, Mississippi: Fat Tuesday Gumbo $20 a quart and $55 a gallon; Red Bean and Rice Soup with sausage $20 a quart (Source: Fat Tuesday catering).

* Seaux Cajun, Victoria, Texas area: Chicken and Sausage Gumbo $90 a gallon with a tray of rice, quarts at $22 (Source: Seaux Cajun menus).

Etouffee and Cajun pasta sauce:

* Bourbon n' Toulouse, Lexington: a gallon of any sauce $85 and a quart $22, rice included, with a gallon listed at 15 to 18 servings; Gumbo or Southwest Etouffee with crawfish is $105 a gallon (Source: Bourbon n' Toulouse catering). This is the clearest fetched example of selling a sauce by the gallon with rice included, which is the exact shape of a Cajun pasta sauce offer: sauce in the container, starch on the side or mixed at pickup.

* Floyds, Pearland and Webster, the Cajun seafood competitor named in Section 3: Etouffee at $45.00 a half gallon and $90.00 a gallon on its catering menu (Source: Floyds Pearland and Webster catering via Toast). A direct local competitor already sells this dish this way.

* The Rouxpour, Houston area: Crawfish or Shrimp Etouffee $120 a gallon; Shrimp or Crawfish Etouffee $30 a quart (Source: The Rouxpour catering menu). Top of the fetched range.

* Don's Seafood, Louisiana: a gallon of gumbo, bisque, or etouffee at $90 on one line, which shows operators often price the three wet dishes off one ladder (Source: Don's Seafood catering).

* Bayou Market and Cafe, 2025 menu: Crawfish Etouffee $18.75 a quart, $32.50 a half gallon, $65.00 a gallon; Chicken and Sausage Gumbo $17.75 / $30.00 / $60.00; Seafood Gumbo $18.75 / $32.50 / $65.00 (Source: Bayou Market and Cafe, 2025 Catering To Go Menu). Bottom of the fetched range.

* Abe's Cajun Market: its catering heading is literally "Gumbos and Bisques by the Gallon and Quart," with Crawfish Etouffee listed at three volume sizes up to $210 (Source: Abe's Cajun Market catering; the size labels on that table were not fully readable in the fetched text, so the top figure is cited as listed, sizes partially unverified).

Red beans and rice: see Section 5 for the full holiday set. The short version: $45 to $65 a gallon at most fetched operators (Zydeco $45, Bayou $50, Deanie's $49.95, Don's $60, Ragin' Cajun holiday menu $65), with The Rouxpour at $110 as the premium outlier, and quarts around $12 to $14 where listed.

No fetched menu was found selling a dish explicitly named "Cajun pasta sauce" by the gallon. Unverified as a named item. The working model is the sauce by the gallon pattern above ($85 a gallon and $22 a quart at Bourbon n' Toulouse), plus his own Cajun Pasta, which DoorDash lists at $14.99 as a single entree (Section 1). If a gallon of sauce plus pasta or rice lands 15 to 18 servings like that benchmark, a gallon price in the $85 to $105 band matches the fetched sauce and etouffee ladder. His sauce food cost is unverified, so that band is a market check, not a costing.

The ladder, summarized from the menus above:

* Quart: gumbo and etouffee cluster at about $18 to $27. Red beans cluster at about $12 to $14.

* Gallon: chicken and sausage gumbo about $55 to $90; seafood gumbo about $65 to $108; etouffee about $65 to $120; red beans and rice about $45 to $65.

* Quart math worth noticing: four quarts bought separately usually cost more than one gallon (for example $22.99 times 4 is about $92 against an $89.99 gallon at Montalbano's, and $20 times 4 is $80 against a $75 gallon at Zydeco). The gallon is a small bulk discount, not a giveaway, and the quart is the high margin small ticket. Both sizes earn their place.

How many servings a gallon actually yields

A gallon is 128 fluid ounces, 16 cups, 4 quarts. Servings depend only on the scoop:

* At 8 ounces (1 cup) a serving: 16 servings. Seaux Cajun states it exactly that way for both gumbo and crawfish etouffee: one gallon is 16 one cup servings, served with rice (Source: Seaux Cajun menus).

* At 4 ounces: 32 portions; at 6 ounces: 21 portions; at 8 ounces: 16 portions. Deanie's prints this yield line on its catering menu (Source: Deanie's catering menu via SpotApps).

* As a meal, plan on about 2 cups of gumbo per guest served over rice, which makes a gallon feed about 8 as a main course. One crowd feeding guide puts it at one quart per two people and about 1 gallon for a group of 8 to 10, with a half cup of rice per cup of gumbo (Source: Cook for Folks, How Much Gumbo to Feed to a Crowd).

* Operator serving claims on the fetched menus run from serves 8 to 10 (Montalbano's) to 10 to 15 (Crawfish King) to 15 to 18 for a sauce with rice included (Bourbon n' Toulouse) to "up to 20" (The Rouxpour, whose gallons come with rice and garlic bread).

Why the claims differ, in plain terms: a gallon served as the main course over rice feeds about 8 to 10; the same gallon served as one item among several, in smaller cups, stretches to 15 to 20. The honest move for his menu is to print both: "a gallon is 16 cups. As a main course over rice it feeds about 8 to 10. As part of a spread, plan 15 to 16 cup servings." Overpromising servings is how a small spot buys a bad review.

Per person price at those yields, worked examples from the fetched prices: a $90 gallon of etouffee feeding 10 as a main course is $9.00 a person before rice and bread add ons. A $60 gallon of chicken and sausage gumbo feeding 10 is $6.00 a person. Compare his current catering favorites in Section 5's source document, which run roughly $6.67 to $11.11 a person, and his party packages at about $16 to $20 a person. Gallon items sit at or below his existing per person range while being simpler to produce, which is the whole point.

Packaging and transport, the practical side

* For pickup: food grade quart and gallon deli style containers with tight lids are the standard unit on every menu above; the customer buys a sealed container, not a pan. Rice goes in its own container or tray (Montalbano's serves rice on the side; Crawfish King includes 2 quarts of rice per gallon; Seaux Cajun includes a tray of rice). Specific container brand and unit cost for him are unverified; price them before publishing, they are part of food cost.

* For delivery and events: an insulated soup carrier, sold as a Cambro Camtainer, is the standard tool. The 3.375 gallon Camtainer holds temperature for up to 4 hours, is NSF listed, stacks, and serves up to 61 cups of 7 ounces, in sizes from 1.5 to 4.75 gallons (Source: WebstaurantStore, Cambro 350LCD Camtainer listing). One carrier covers a 2 to 3 gallon order without juggling loose containers in a car.

* Food safety line that governs all of it: hot food must be held at 140 degrees Fahrenheit or above, and perishable food left between 40 and 140 degrees for over 2 hours (1 hour above 90 degrees outside) should be discarded (Sources: FDA Food Code guidance as summarized in the soup catering guide in Sources for Section 6; KaTom heated cabinet guide, citing FDA regulations). Sell it hot and ready to serve, or chilled with reheating instructions, and say which on the order confirmation. Chilled quarts and gallons also suit the holiday model in Section 5: sell ahead, hand over cold, let the customer reheat.

* Freezing is a quiet advantage of this format, stated generally and not tied to a fetched price: gumbo and red beans are routinely made in big pots and portioned. A small kitchen can build gallons on a slow weekday and sell them on the weekend. Any specific shelf life claim for his kitchen is unverified and should follow his local health code, not this file.

Why gallon pricing can beat pan pricing for a small kitchen

1. Pans are ambiguous, gallons are not. A full size pan holds about 8 quarts at 2.5 inches deep, about 13 to 14 quarts at 4 inches, and about 20 to 21 quarts at 6 inches, so "a full pan" can mean anything from 2 to 5 gallons depending on depth (Sources: catering pan capacity guides in Sources for Section 6). Customers argue about pans because nobody agrees what one holds. A gallon is 128 ounces everywhere. Fewer arguments, fewer remakes, cleaner phone orders.
2. It matches how the food is already made. Gumbo, etouffee, sauce, and red beans are pot food. One big batch, cooked once, portioned into quarts and gallons, is less labor per dollar than assembling pans to order, and labor is half of prime cost (Section 1). Batch on slow hours, sell on busy ones.
3. Portion control is automatic. A sealed quart is a quart. Pan pricing invites generous scooping and uneven fills, which is food cost leaking a spoon at a time. Containers turn portioning into counting.
4. It sells at three sizes at once. The quart is a family dinner add on and a trial size; the half gallon covers a small gathering; the gallon is the party and office item. The fetched menus show most operators offering exactly that ladder, and the quart price per ounce runs higher than the gallon, so small orders subsidize the bulk discount.
5. It travels and stores better than pans. Sealed containers stack in a cooler, ride in a car without spilling, go straight into a home fridge, and reheat cleanly. Pans slosh, need chafers to stay hot, and come back or get thrown away. For pickup and delivery within his $200 delivery minimum framework, containers are simply the lower friction package.
6. It creates a freezer and retail habit pans do not. A customer who buys a quart of gumbo to take home is a repeat direct customer (Section 2), and a gallon sold chilled for a holiday (Section 5) is production the kitchen can do days ahead instead of in one holiday week crush.
7. Honest limits, so this is not oversold: fried food does not belong in this format; it goes soft in a sealed container, and his fried items should stay in pans and trays. Gallon pricing also needs the container cost and the rice cost inside the price, and seafood gumbo at the top of its range carries market price risk, the same warning as crawfish in Section 4. Price the gallon off current seafood cost, and be willing to mark seafood items "market" in season swings, as his boil add ins already do on the catering menu Cody supplied.

Suggested starting ladder for The Cajun Shack, built only from the fetched ranges above and to be checked against his real food cost before publishing (his costs are unverified): chicken and sausage gumbo $22 a quart and $75 to $85 a gallon; seafood gumbo $24 to $27 a quart and $90 to $100 a gallon; shrimp or crawfish etouffee $25 to $30 a quart and $90 to $110 a gallon; Cajun pasta sauce $22 a quart and $85 a gallon with pasta or rice included; red beans and rice with sausage $13 to $15 a quart and $50 to $60 a gallon. Rice included with gallons, following the Crawfish King and Bourbon n' Toulouse pattern. Every one of those points sits inside a fetched competitor range cited in this section.

Structure decision (Cody, November 10, 2026): the pasta sauce points above stay in this section as market evidence, because other operators do sell it by the container. The Cajun Shack does not. On his menu the ladder is named Cajun Staples and covers gumbo, etouffee, and red beans and rice in quart, half gallon, and gallon sizes, with half gallon pricing to be set with Derek. His Cajun pasta sells by the half pan and full pan, and as a box lunch main; his sandwiches sell as a party platter in half pan and full pan sizes. Pan pricing is not set yet, and no figure for it appears in this file.

Sources for Section 6:

* Montalbano's Seafood and Catering, Catering Menu: https://www.montalbanoseafood.com/catering-menu

* Prejean's Catering Menu (Scribd): https://www.scribd.com/document/413215571/Prejeans-Catering-Menu

* NOLA Crawfish King, Catering Menu: https://crawfishking.com/catering-menu/

* Zydeco Louisiana Diner (SinglePlatform): http://places.singleplatform.com/zydeco-louisiana-diner/menu

* Fat Tuesday, Catering: https://www.fattuesdaysandwichshopandbakery.com/catering

* Seaux Cajun, Menus: https://www.seauxcajun.net/menus

* Bourbon n' Toulouse, Lexington Catering Services: https://www.ilovecajun.com/catering

* Floyds Pearland, Catering via Toast: https://www.toasttab.com/local/order/floyds-pearland-1300-e-broadway-st/r-b24d8210-d952-4852-9e2e-741cf51d2fdd/item-bring-your-catch_7cfcb98f-2fe2-4cc7-9ca4-5c99453f4d47

* The Rouxpour, Catering Menu (PDF): https://www.therouxpour.com/files/2026-rouxpour-catering-menu-pdf.pdf

* Don's Seafood, Catering: https://www.donsseafoodonline.com/catering

* Bayou Market and Cafe, 2025 Catering To Go Menu (PDF): https://www.bayoumarketandcafe.com/_files/ugd/a358a8_798bcccbbc7945dbbe3c3871af56885d.pdf

* Abe's Cajun Market, Catering: https://www.abescajunmarket.com/catering

* Ragin' Cajun Holiday Menu (Corporate Catering Concierge): https://corporatecateringconcierge.com/restaurant_menu/fax_pdf_menu?seo_url=ragin_cajun_holiday_menu

* Deanie's Catering Menu (SpotApps PDF): https://static.spotapps.co/website_images/ab_websites/74131_website_v1/dea_9_2026_catering_menu_web.pdf

* Mike Anderson's Catering Menu (Squarespace PDF): https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b36b03f4611a07e438e9bb8/t/685af10ab73872346aef0d40/1750790411213/Catering+Menu+-+June+2025.pdf

* Goode Company Seafood, Bulk Menu (red beans, quart and gallon): https://goodecompanyseafood.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/SEA_Westpark_Bulk.pdf

* Cook for Folks, How Much Gumbo to Feed to a Crowd: https://cookforfolks.com/how-much-gumbo-to-feed-to-a-crowd/

* WebstaurantStore, Cambro 350LCD Camtainer: https://www.webstaurantstore.com/cambro-350lcd110-camtainer-3-375-gallon-black-insulated-soup-carrier/214350LCDBK.html

* KaTom, Heated Cabinets (FDA 140 degree holding): https://www.katom.com/cat/mobile-heated-cabinet.html?brand=Metro&certifications=Energy+Star

* Standard Catering Pan Sizes capacity guide: https://www.aluminumfoil-factory.com/news/industry-news/standard-catering-pan-sizes-full-half-third-and-quarter-pan.html

7. The growth roadmap: smooth the year first

The central problem: a seasonal year

Crawfish season is the big season: late January to early July, with the peak from March to May (Section 4). The off season, roughly August through January outside the holidays, slows down. A store can look healthy in April and still have a hard year. So the first growth question is not how to add more peak. It is what carries the slow months.

The candidates, in the order this research supports them:

* Catering. It sells without seats, it runs on pot food that batches well, and its best customers (offices, schools, churches, employers) order on schedules that do not depend on crawfish. This is the lead lever, and Stage A below treats it that way.

* Holiday preorders. November and December already have a proven pattern (Section 5). They bridge the gap between the fall slowdown and crawfish season.

* The direct customer list. Built during crawfish season (Section 4), spent during the off season. Every name captured at peak is a person the store can sell a Thanksgiving pack, an office lunch, or a gallon of gumbo to in October.

* Cold weather pot food. Gumbo, red beans and rice, and jambalaya are fall and winter food that the store can make in batches. The by the gallon ladder (Section 6) is an off season offer as much as a catering offer.

Judge every stage below by one extra test: does it sell in August and October, not just in April?

Make crawfish season do double duty

Section 4 covers how to run the season: Thursday preorder cutoff, Friday and Saturday boil nights, add-ins, weekly market price posts. Three additions make the season pay twice:

1. Capture the customer, not just the sale. Every preorder, boil night ticket, and direct order during peak should leave the store a name and a way to reach that guest again, with their permission: a phone number or an email on the direct ordering list. The practical goal is simple: come out of May with a list large enough to sell the holiday packs and the off season catering offers to. A season that ends with only memories is half wasted.
2. Sell bulk group boils as catering during peak. Company boils, team celebrations, and family gatherings booked as one catering ticket, produced in one batch, sold direct. Same crawfish, bigger tickets, no extra seats needed, and the buyer joins the catering account list for the off season.
3. Test prepaid boil bundles, carefully. ASSUMPTION, NOT A VERIFIED OFFER: a small, capped bundle of boil nights paid up front at a modest discount could pull cash forward and lock in repeat visits. The math only works if the bundle is priced off average peak season crawfish cost, the count is capped at what the kitchen can serve well, and a market price adjustment rule is stated in writing before anyone buys. If his real crawfish costs make that math thin, skip the bundle. The preorder list in move 1 is the safer version of the same idea.

Stage A: How to really start pumping catering

Catering is the lead growth question because it uses the existing kitchen, the existing staff pattern, and food already made in pots, and because it is the strongest off season carrier above. Concrete first moves, in order:

1. Publish the Cajun Staples ladder (Section 6), each line checked against real food cost first. Gumbo, etouffee, and red beans and rice by the quart, half gallon, and gallon are the catering core: cook once on a slow weekday, sell all week. Cajun pasta is not a ladder item; it sells by the half pan and full pan, and sandwiches sell as a party platter in the same two sizes. Half gallon and pan pricing are not set yet; both are to be set with Derek, and nothing in this file invents them.
2. Fill the gaps the proposal names: tea and lemonade by the gallon, a dessert line, and the box lunch and plate lunch program for Alvin employers. A box lunch is a shrimp or catfish po'boy, or Cajun pasta, with Zapp's chips, a cookie, and a fruit cup, pasta salad, or a salad, so an office can order ten individual lunches instead of serving out of a pan. The plate lunch is the same idea served on a plate. Box lunch and plate lunch pricing are to be set with Derek.
3. Build a named account list in the Alvin trade area and work it in person: Alvin ISD campuses and district offices, employers along the Highway 35 corridor, churches, and youth sports leagues. Give each account one simple recurring offer to say yes to: a weekly staff lunch, a monthly meeting meal, a game day boil. Recurring orders are the point. One-off party orders are welcome, but the smoothing comes from accounts that order on a schedule. (Market context: Section 3.)
4. Book catering direct only. Section 2 shows what marketplace commission does to a ticket. A catering order on his own site keeps that margin in the store, and the account history stays his.
5. Use the holidays as the proof events. The Thanksgiving and Christmas preorder runs (Section 5) are the first big catering tests, and every holiday buyer is a name for the January and August offers that follow.
6. Track one number monthly: catering sales as a share of total sales, next to prime cost. There is no verified baseline yet, because his current catering share is unverified. The first quarter of tracking sets the baseline; growth from that baseline is the Stage A scoreboard.

Stage B: On-site catering, evaluated honestly

First, the term, because everything in this stage hangs on it: on-site catering means the Shack goes to the customer. A trailer, pots, and burners roll to the event, the crew cooks there, and the food comes off the fire in front of the guests. Events of roughly 100 people: weddings, company picnics, festivals, church and community events, big backyard boils. It does not mean renting out the dining room. The dining room is not part of this stage at all.

The question was whether it is worth exploring. The honest answer is: yes, carefully. It sells the Shack's strongest product, a live boil, in places the restaurant cannot reach, but only after the investment questions below are answered.

What counts in its favor:

* It fits crawfish season exactly. A boil is already an outdoor, big pot, cooked in front of people format. On-site events let the store sell that moment at a wedding or a company picnic in April, not just inside 12 to 15 tables.

* A big group event is one ticket, one menu, one batch. A boil for about 100 people cooked from one or two pots is a simpler production than 100 individual covers off the line, and the buyer books ahead, so the store buys seafood against a sold event instead of a forecast.

* It is the natural bridge to the food truck in Stage C. The trailer, the burners, and the off site routine are most of what a truck operation needs. Stage B proves the demand and the crew before the bigger purchase.

* It feeds Stage A. Every on-site event puts the food in front of a crowd of future catering accounts, and every host is a name for the direct list the off season sells to.

What it takes, honestly stated:

* A trailer and the cooking rig: boiling pots, burners, propane, tables, tents, and the serving gear to feed about 100 people away from the kitchen. None of it is confirmed owned today; unverified, and every price is a local quote to get before any budget is set. ASSUMPTION TO QUOTE, not a verified figure.

* A cook crew that can leave the store. An on-site event pulls the people running it out of the restaurant for most of a day, setup and teardown included. If the owner is the crew, the store loses him for that day. The staffing plan has to name who cooks on site and who holds the store before the first booking is taken.

* Permits and insurance, all unverified: temporary food service and event permits vary by county and city, festivals often require their own vendor paperwork, and cooking at a customer's site raises liability questions his current policy may not cover. VERIFY with Brazoria County, each event city, and his insurance agent before the first paid event.

* Working capital for the seafood. A 100 person boil is bought by the sack before the event. A deposit paid in advance is what keeps that buy from coming out of the store's operating cash; an event with no deposit is a loan to the customer.

What does not fit:

* An on-site event booked on a peak Friday or Saturday when the same crew has to cover the store too. Two services, one crew: ticket times at the store are where that bill arrives.

* Events far outside the trade area before travel time, holding temperatures, and seafood freshness on the road are proven close to home.

* Any event sold before the permit and insurance answers are in writing.

Verdict: worth exploring, in this order: permit and insurance answers first, local quotes on the trailer rig second, a staffing plan that does not gut the store third, and the first events close to home in crawfish season with deposits up front. It earns its place if each event clears the Section 1 prime cost targets after the crew, the fuel, and the seafood are counted. Drop-off catering in Stage A is still the growth engine; on-site is the premium version of the same engine, not a replacement for it.

Stage C: A food truck as the expansion test

Sequenced after Stage A and Stage B prove out, not before. A truck is the cheapest way to test a second market without signing a second lease. It runs the same pot food that travels well, it can work lunches where people work and events on weekends, and it can support catering jobs too far from the store. Treat every cost here as a labeled planning estimate to be quoted locally, not a verified figure:

* The truck itself, new or used, plus build out and a wrap in the store's own brand. ASSUMPTION TO QUOTE: prices vary widely by age and build; get two local quotes before budgeting anything.

* Permits and licenses: mobile food unit permits for each county and city the truck will operate in, plus a commissary arrangement if the store kitchen cannot serve as its base. ASSUMPTION TO VERIFY: exact permit fees and rules with Brazoria County and each city before purchase.

* The operating test: the truck menu stays short (boils, gumbo, etouffee, and fried items that hold), and the truck has to hold prime cost at the Section 1 targets on that menu. If it cannot, it stays a catering support vehicle and Stage D waits.

Stage D: A second location, only after the gates

A second store is a reward for a system that works without the owner in the room, not a fix for one that does not. Open it only when all of these are true at the same time:

* Prime cost at or under the Section 1 target range for four straight quarters at store one, on real POS and invoice numbers, not the model.

* Net margin at about 5% or better over the same period, after paying a manager a real wage.

* Catering and direct off premise sales are a material, tracked share of revenue, and the off season months are visibly carried by them rather than by crawfish alone.

* A manager already on staff has run store one for a full month, including a crawfish peak weekend, without the owner covering shifts.

* Cash is set aside for the second store's opening costs and its first slow quarter, separate from store one's operating money. The reserve amount is a planning figure to set with his accountant; unverified here.

* The truck, if it ran, showed a specific neighborhood or town where demand is proven. The second location goes where the truck already sold food, not where a map looks promising.

What could not be verified

Be careful with these. They were looked for and not confirmed from a fetched source:

* His actual sales, food cost, labor cost, and profit. Unverified. None of his books were reviewed. His rent is known only as Cody's estimate of $2,500 to $3,000 a month; the lease itself and its term are unverified.

* His actual DoorDash and Uber Eats plan tier, effective commission after fees and promotions, and what he pays for direct ordering on cajun-shack.com. Unverified.

* His exact seat count and square footage. Cody described about 12 to 15 tables and roughly 50 to 60 seats. The seat count used in worked examples is 55, as a midpoint illustration only.

* Sam's Boiling Point Crawfish current menu and prices, and Tommaso's and K R A C K Kitchen current menus and prices. Unverified beyond the Restaurant Guru category and rating lines cited above.

* La Costa's current in season crawfish price. A review summary mentioned 5 pounds for $30, but the date and current availability are unverified.

* A specific Cajun holiday family pack price for a restaurant of exactly his size in Alvin. No such local pack was found. The BB's prices in Section 5 are the closest verified Cajun holiday benchmark, from a larger regional chain in the Houston area.

* Crawfish wholesale prices for the 2027 season. All crawfish prices cited are 2026 season reports. 2027 prices will move with weather and harvest and must be rechecked in January.

* Alvin ISD enrollment projection. It came from a commercial listing summary, not a district source. Unverified from the district.

Bottom line for the owner

1. The improvement targets come first. On Cody's estimated rent (about 4.1% of the $800,000 planning basis), the lease is not this store's problem. Prime cost and volume are where the gains are. Run the Section 1 scorecard on his real numbers for one quarter including a crawfish peak: the targets are prime at or under 62% to 65% and net at about 5% or better. Where the numbers miss (prime above 65%, sales under about $600,000 annualized, or profit under 2% after the first fixes), that miss is the next fix on the list, in that order.

1. Watch prime cost weekly. Food plus labor at 60% to 65% is the line. Everything else is secondary.
2. Delivery is a discovery channel, not a profit channel, at 25% to 30% commission. Mark up modestly on the apps, and move repeat guests to direct ordering on his own site.
3. Alvin is growing, family heavy, and value sensitive, with a median household income of $71,477. Family packs and shareable boils fit the town.
4. Crawfish season runs late January to early July, with March to May as the sweet spot. Price it weekly at market, sell preorders by Thursday, and use boil nights to build the direct customer list.
5. By the gallon is the simplest catering upgrade in this file. Quarts cluster at $18 to $27 and gallons at $55 to $108 for gumbo across fetched Cajun menus, a gallon is 16 cups (about 8 to 10 as a main course over rice, 15 to 16 cup servings in a spread), and sealed containers beat pans on portion control, transport, and batch labor. See Section 6.
6. Holidays are a preorder business. Open three weeks out, cut off three to four days before pickup, take payment up front, cap the count, and anchor on a Cajun holiday centerpiece in the $90 to $100 range that BB's has already proven in this market.
7. Growth runs in stages (Section 7): catering first, on-site catering second, a food truck as the low-capital expansion test third, and a second location only after the readiness gates there are met.