British BBQ Society Forums

Slatts, I looked into this and they wanted Vat number, company invoices and proof of running a company

Hi Eddie

I emailed the manager yesterday stating I think I had made a mistake and shouldn't of applied as I didn't think I had the right credentials for the membership and stated I was an self employed tiler. I apologised if I was wasting their time and had got it wrong.
He phoned me and said its ok and to just take my 2 forms of ID in and i'll be fine.

I'm still a bit unsure and will not be entirely 100% certain im in until ive taken my ID in and got my membership card in my hand.

Im not VAT registered but some companies will not be unless over £60,000 a year goes through the books, I let my customers buy their own tiles so I'm nowhere near that amount, probably wouldn't be with the tiles aswell.
Hopefully being non VAT registered wont be a problem, I have invoices and other forms of ID in my business name.

I'll be going next week hopefully.............

You guys are making a mountain out of a molehill. They're not all that anal about membership criteria. Really! In fact, if you call them up and say you need to make a specific purchase, but are not a member they will more than likely let you buy (particularly if you know what you want). They do this all the time for schools who are buying for fundraisers, faires, etc. This is all above board - just give them a call!

Just replying and answering questions Aris not making a mountain out of anything.

I always thought Booker's was a membership only thing and Eddie said he's been trying for 2 years, seems like it depends on how anal the manager of each store is.

slatts wrote:Just replying and answering questions Aris not making a mountain out of anything.

I always thought Booker's was a membership only thing and Eddie said he's been trying for 2 years, seems like it depends on how anal the manager of each store is.

Hi slatts - not taking a dig at you Hope you did not take offence.

If you are a sole proprietor, you should be more than welcome to become a member. Booker don't only sell food either. You should not need to be VAT registered either - plenty of businesses aren't if their turnover is less than 70k.

Again, if you do catering every weekend or even once a month at events or at a street market you are perfectly entitled to become a member at Booker. That is Bookers bread and butter - small businesses. Large enterprises would not go near them. The thing is though - if you're running a small enterprise, you need to act like one:

http://www.startups.co.uk/registering-a ... e-trader_1

Hi Aris

No offence taken, hence the smiley face.

I'm registered as a sole proprietor and use Costco quite a bit, the wife gets her household stuff from there.
In the summer I hope to be doing bbq's every weekend, I love my meat to much not to take advantage of any sunshine and cheaper meat.
I'm a total beginner in real bbq cooking so like to get as much info as possible, which might explain my long replies sometimes. I'm a tiler and go on tiling forums and usually give as much info as possible to people asking questions on there, just the way I am I'm afraid

if you need any info on tiling I can help you out though.

Cheers
Slatts

PS; really appreciate the help so far, got a couple of books but learning so much more on here.

Hi

Went to Booker's today, I gave them my online customer number and they sorted out my membership there and then, well they gave me a temporary card and said i'll get my proper one in the post in about 2 weeks. Asked if he wanted to see my ID and he glanced at what I was holding, public liability insurance document and driving licence and said that's fine.
Think they might be struggling for members, my wife didn't like the place though. I know its only a cash and carry but isn't a touch on Costco and more expensive on most things.

I did see 3 different boxes of ribs though, German, spare rib and oriental. From what ive read on here i'll be sticking to the German ribs. Didn't see much fresh meat but they did say the butcher will cut meat to what I ask for.

Went to Costco afterwards and they didn't have any packs of ribs in there this time but did have brisket, think it was £7 per kilo.

Booker is a very different beast to Costco. It s a proper cash and carry.

Hi

Yes my wife pointed out how different they was and in not so nice words lol something along the lines of this place is a sh*t hole.
I love places like that though, i'm like a kid in a sweet shop in Costco and probably will be next time I go to Booker's with some money in my pocket.

Wasn't as big as I thought it would be though.

One question though, I think I read somewhere on here that Booker''s charcoal is good for low and slow cooking and its the blue bag, is that correct or have they changed the bags or standard of the charcoal. I didn't actually see any today.

Many thanks
Slatts

Last I went they still had the blue ages- about £9