Sign up to get updates from us
What if you could get an insider's look into the world of barbecue enthusiasts and the community that surrounds it? Join us as we chat with Steve from Alfresco Chapel, a passionate BBQ lover and owner of a premium grill shop ...
What if you could get an insider's look into the world of barbecue enthusiasts and the community that surrounds it? Join us as we chat with Steve from Alfresco Chapel, a passionate BBQ lover and owner of a premium grill shop in the northwest. Discover his journey of opening the store, the amazing products they offer.
We take you on a journey through the unique in-store experience at Alfresco Chapel, exploring the latest ranges of Traeger's, Roccbox, and Gosney Domes, as well as the bold and beautiful colors of the Delivita. Learn how Steve caters to the diverse preferences of his customers, the importance of stocking different brands, and why the online side of his business takes a back seat to the physical store experience.
Don't miss the chance to hear about Steve's personal BBQ passions, experiences, and even a few fails! From his love for the Borniak smoker to his quest for the perfect brisket, this conversation offers a glimpse into the life of a true barbecue enthusiast. Plus, get the inside scoop on Alfresco Chapel's exciting upcoming plans, demos, and events like Blackstone griddles. So fire up your grill and join us for this smokin' conversation!
This episode was brought to you by AOS Kitchen creators of bespoke outdoor kitchens perfect to pimp up your bbq area. Visit AOS Kitchens today!
BBQ Bingo is sponsored by LumberjAxe Food Company, who have a fantastic range of rubs & sauces for all your culinary needs! Check out their range.
If you want to get involved and showcase your cooks or fails, join our Facebook Group.
For all of our other episodes you can listen or watch them on our website.
Today's episode of the Meet and Greet Barbecue podcast is brought to you by AOS Outdoor Kitchens. They are the South's leading outdoor kitchen design and installation specialists. Hello and welcome to another episode of the Meet and Greet Barbecue podcast. Today we're speaking to Steve from Alfresco Chapel, who talks to us all about his barbecue store, and he'll go through that with us shortly Without much further ado. here's Steve. Hello, steve. thank you so much for coming on the Meet and Greet Barbecue podcast for this episode. If anyone who doesn't know who you are, please do introduce yourself.
Speaker 2:Hi, i'm Steve. I'm from Alfresco Chapel in the northwest. We're a relatively new barbecue grill shop. We settled last year and we're really passionate about barbecuing the barbecuing community and the barbecuing community up north, as they said.
Speaker 3:So I didn't realise that it's that new, the barbecue shop, so you were only launched last year.
Speaker 2:We only launched last May, june. We've had the shop there as a previous shop for 15 years And we've wanted to open. Well, i've wanted to open personally a barbecue shop there for about three or four years And we finally made the leap June last year. We opened the doors, so we're very new.
Speaker 3:And how's the first year been, as you?
Speaker 2:know, as you've probably heard, the first year, the first season, was trying. We've opened the shop. We opened the shop In what appears to be I'm what we've now learnt was the worst year in barbecue retail north of the memory of a barbecuing people. It was hard work, but this year is going to be awesome.
Speaker 1:It's a beautiful, beautiful building as well. Kind of looking at the pictures and you're stocking some fantastic things. What sort of products have people been able to find in there with you?
Speaker 2:We've gone for premium products, popular products. We've scoured the north of the country in the northwest and we went to other shops which are really good, really great. But we tried to do different lines. So we were crossing paths and we wanted to do premium lines. So you name it from the PK Grills to the Primo Ceramics, to Traeger to Hellraiser, you name premium brand. We've definitely got it in that shop and we've got more to come. We've still got more products due in for this season.
Speaker 3:The Hellraiser are a thing of beauty, aren't they? All of them. They're so nice.
Speaker 2:The Built Like Tanks Lifetime guarantee and built for the Canadian outdoors and Built Like Tanks. I know our supplier. he said he never, ever going to have a warranty issue, he says because he's never had anybody come back in the three years or so. he's been importing them for a while Do you never get anything wrong with Hellraiser They're made for life.
Speaker 3:Yeah, i'm quite. I like the. Is it the Nomadder, the kind of one that looks like a fire pit?
Speaker 2:that's got the kind of a kind of a bendable arm. We actually saw there were very last one this week, took a deposit on it. They're going to be a collector's piece because obviously Hellraiser unfortunately hit the rocks a little while ago and they did no more. So we saw there were last Nomadder this week and I did say to the gentleman, who's a local guy from Manchester Well, it's going to be a collector's piece soon. So what's this place?
Speaker 3:Do you have a? I suppose you can't. Can you say this Do you have a favourite brand? I can't say.
Speaker 2:If I say that now, my inbox by the morning will be absolutely littered with four letter words Mine.
Speaker 1:is it just that Mine? it's my brand.
Speaker 2:I've got to say at the moment and it does change, it does change regularly, but I've got to say at the moment my favourite brand when we don't stock it, but I've got one at home Absolutely love it Is the Somerset a South Org Grill at the moment.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. I saw that on your Instagram quite recently, isn't it? You got it.
Speaker 2:I got it a couple of weeks ago. I've been waiting for a month or two for it and I've wanted one for 12 months And I went down to Somerset and met Ben, the owner, co-owner down there, travelled down to Somerset to see him especially and to have a look at them, and as soon as I saw them I don't really mind if I was going to get one, felt in love with it, brought it home At the moment. Like I said for all the other supplies, at the moment it's my favourite grill. That could change to your grill. Next week.
Speaker 3:That was a very diplomatically perk.
Speaker 2:A brilliant, beautiful piece of kit. We have asked Ben about possibility to stock him in the shop, but I think they're looking at doing the direct to customer at the moment for the foreseeable. but we'd love to be in the Northern shoring stockings for them Anywhere. brilliant piece of kit, cal Falkland.
Speaker 3:So for you then, starting last year and obviously there's a number of quite big barbecue shops now in the UK, which is obviously a fantastic thing How do you decide when there's so much choice now in terms of brands, but also rubs, sauces, accessories pizza ovens are just booming How do you sit there and go right? how can I be different but also still give customers what they want? It must have been quite a process for you on what to stock.
Speaker 2:Yes, there was a couple of brands that we initially looked at, a couple of barbecues I've actually got at home and we don't stock that brand. We did Luke thought right, but I won't name. But we'll go down that route for the such a line of Barbies pick me up very carefully And because maybe people in the area or I mean there's no, i won't say competitive there's other barbecue shopping boltz, and there's a brilliant job, but we try to do different lines than he does, and there's obviously the other barbecue shops up a little clear the wrong way and what have you? And we try to do different lines that they do, but we want to stay with premium brands. So when you get to say you gas Barbies, you're going to have three top brands and you go to your child court barbers, you're going to have three top brands. So we picked one of the top three of brands. That wasn't being done in the area And I think it works quite well. If somebody wants to order a brand A, they can go down the road. They want to go to brand B, they can go up the road. If they want to go to the best brands, they come and see us Again like how you've done that. Yeah, the all stock great, great gear, great brands, not knocking anybody and everybody. I like the barbecue community friendliness. Since we opened last year in June we've become really great friends of buddies with a lot of the Northwest and the North of the country and able to Scotland. I was away last weekend with Scott's Food to Scotland on a training day cracking a lot of funny guy. So we made a lot of friends with a lot of people in the North of the country and the barbecue community is absolutely the way they get on.
Speaker 1:You also are keeping things fun as well, with things like guess the grill and stuff on your Instagram. How much goes into like kind of planning and thinking about what you're putting on and how you're showcasing that but also keeping people engaged?
Speaker 2:Yes, the grill was one of the girls that works with me. It was her idea and I let her run it. I kind of picked the grills, but she was always on the social media for me But unfortunately she went on maternity two weeks ago, so I was here just here. For the past two weeks I've done guess the grill because I've not had time to do it. I'll be the girl who was looking after it for me. But I can't believe how so many people guess the correct answer every week. It was like how did they know these little signs on the grills and little switches we put on? It was too easy. I was going to do it and next time I do it I'm going to take a picture of me blendering the kitchen on my Hoover and put that on a deep and we guess it's that That's the end of the trick of the car, of the TV in my office and see if somebody thinks that's a barbecue.
Speaker 1:If someone gets that right, though, do you have to send it to them?
Speaker 2:I'll send one of my livers on my kidney if you get that right.
Speaker 3:That's when it just shows how much of an avid bunch we are.
Speaker 2:But guess the grill. Yeah, we love it. I need to get it rocking again this week. But what I'm thinking about doing is maybe even once a month and do a bit of a bumper prize instead of doing a bag of pellets or a bag of charcoal or a couple of rubs or a couple of hot onies. Maybe once a month, hopefully get more interaction and maybe give away a couple hundred pound barbecue or something. A bit of a chunk of a prize, not up to Alton's, not up to Alton's world's kind of prize. He's went once into the thousands but for Alpresco Chapel we might stick to a couple hundred pounds.
Speaker 3:I think everyone would appreciate that right. So you've got to start somewhere.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, yeah, and it certainly does, and we're happy the way things are going And I said this this open coming season. I think there's a general good vibe. everybody's fought to Just need this weather to change. If the weather changes, i think it's going to be a good season for everybody.
Speaker 3:Although you know the barbecue community is ever growing certainly, you know, in the UK are you still finding that the core of your business is very much seasonal, whereas the avid barbecues will do it 365. Do you notice that the weather does play a big part?
Speaker 2:Most definitely, most definitely, even with myself barbecuing outside. I mean, i have piles of barbecues in outside kitchen and when it's raining like this, like a lot of the guys, you kind of take a step back and think I'll wait till tomorrow if it's not raining, and then just keep raining and raining. But I think there's a lot of diehard barbecues in the community. I've had a conversation tonight, just before we jumped on air, with one of our pals. Woodfly had feasted in Preston. He said the same. He's not been barbecuing outside as much through the week as he'd like to do. He's just getting that motivation when the weather's a bit crappy like it is at the moment. So seasonal, yes, definitely. We noticed when we first opened, like I said, through the summer months, while we were up to maybe up to over, the Instagram was flying and people putting all the cooks on and it's kind of dwindled off for everybody over the past couple of months. As soon as the weather changes we'll be back up and running again.
Speaker 3:And are you finding you're getting a bigger reach online? I suppose, naturally, but are you? is your core focus on the showroom actually getting people to come into that showroom so they can see the grills, they can see the displays and feel the weights of the lids and all that kind of stuff, that kind of makes buying a barbecue such a great thing? Is that your kind of main focus driving people into that showroom?
Speaker 2:Exactly. The online side is secondary to us and that was the plan from day one. Our main focus is to get people in the shop to have a look at the Barbies, get a feel of the Barbies, and we have noticed we've had people travelling to I want to come and look at a Gosney Dome. We've had people at Weekend who have travelled miles and miles to come and physically see the Dome. They don't want to just look at our computer screen, they want to come and look and we've had people travelling. Have you got the pro-Qs? Yes, we have. Have you got them on display? We've got all of them on display. we'll be there in an hour and travelling to come and physically see The online side, even though we do wish to push it and our website is a look in progress and we're struggling to get everything on quickly enough. I've actually put a little job offer today to get somebody in the shop three months a week purely to get things on the website and keep up with it. Our main focus is people in the shop. show them, chat to them, give them advice. Give them the options between the pizza ovens, give them the options between the ceramic eggs. Try and give them a little bit of advice and we think it's working well that way. I think it definitely is. We get people travelling distances to come and get their hands on the gear.
Speaker 1:It makes such a difference as well because, for example, the new Triggers it blew my mind how heavy those lids are and just the build quality on them. Just saying there's an induction hob on there, but actually seeing these things in the size of them in person. The rock boxes I'd seen a lot of them online and they look online, but in person they're almost like art pieces Seeing those things in person makes a huge difference. Anyone listening who's really into barbecue but hasn't stepped foot into any of these shops it's so important to do, particularly if you've got whole ranges, go up and see yourselves right.
Speaker 2:The new Yellow Rock Box that they released last week week before. It's absolutely beautiful People coming over short. We're primarily a bottle of gas company. We always have been for 25 years but like store cal. Their core business is Caligas. Our core business is bottle of gas. So we get people coming in. I was showing them every five minutes for bottles of gas. And people come in with a bottle of gas and they're like, wow, where's the blue shop gone that you used to have? Where's all these barbecues come from? And then they see the rock boxes and the dorms, which is the first thing you see when you come in through a door, and they've not even come in for a pizza and they migrate to the rock boxes and go. Artly, beautiful, art-lum, look at these, look at these, look at these built, look at these.
Speaker 1:And they come in these little oddies, and they're like.
Speaker 2:Look at the colours on these peach trimmings. And then they turn and see the dorms which are just around the corner and the mounts drop open. The works of art, the Gosnes are absolutely works of art.
Speaker 1:I love the kind of olive green one and also is it the signature the black one as well. It's really striking, really really striking. I've got my eyes on them. I think I'm going to end up with one and with the also the wood fire attachment as well, just so I can play between gas and wood with it as well, to see what the difference is with the outcomes.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, we had a little change of display about a couple of months ago. We just had initially one of the rock boxes and one of the dorms on display and it looked cool and, like I said, people with the mouths are dropping open when they came in the shop and they were getting people's attention, even, like I said, just coming in for bits and pieces of bottle gas. And then we decided a couple of months ago we'll put the whole range out. So we've got both of the dorms on stands and we've got all four of the colour of rock boxes on a lovely piece of prep table, and the other is done by our friends who made the bespoke and the display. Now it just looks absolutely awesome and it's probably the best thing we've done with gas and piece of evidence.
Speaker 3:It's quite amazing, isn't it, at the moment, that brands like Rockbox, de La Vita we interviewed a barbecue manufacturer called Charlie Ovens making these bold, beautiful colour statement barbecues and ovens in comparison. Obviously, traditionally they're black, you have a black pettil or you have a black drama, whatever it might be, but actually they're more definitely becoming more of an art thing right now with all these big and bold colours which is quite funny.
Speaker 2:The beautiful, the full range of the colour range of the Delby and Peach Robins. They're like. I actually like to initially have stuck in them and then when I saw the number of colours I could just see the pound size of the stock sat in the back of my thought. But they're beautiful, they're absolutely a cracking piece of cake. We also stocked the Clementi Peach Robins, the Woodfine Clementis, which I've actually got a Clementi or my father Clementi. I've had it at my house for six, seven, eight years. Absolutely love it. Big piece of cake, brilliant they are. And then when we got approached by the imports of Clementi's, they approached us up to see in the showroom, said would you be interested in stocking the Clementi's as well as the Gossi's? I jumped at the chance because I know they're a cracking piece of cake, absolutely cracking for a woodfire piece of cake. You can't grow them.
Speaker 1:I think as well the colour point. This is going to sound quite sexy, so I won't say wife, but I'll say partner. Sometimes if you've got one person who's a particular enthusiast on outdoor cooking and things, you need another way of convincing the partner why you need these and the colour choices and the artistic piece. It helps a lot, you know from an enthusiast. I'm very thankful that these companies are doing that, because instead of saying to your partner or your wife, oh, i really want a pizza oven, what do you think of this? you go right. Which colour It takes the no away straight away, right?
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, if you bring the other half in and you show them and the beautiful, sometimes crazy colours, that's from the deal. You know you're not arguing with the other half. You take them home.
Speaker 3:So what are you finding, I suppose, is the most common questions or advice that you're needing to give to people when they come in the showroom, perhaps beginners and enthusiasts alike.
Speaker 2:I think the most questions we get asked, if I'm honest about it, is about the pellet grills, about the triggers that we stock. What is a pellet grill? What are these? How do they work? Look at the size of the new triggers especially, like you said before, they're absolutely massive. They catch your eye and customers they're like what is this? It's the pellet grill. What's that? And that's the most common question we get asked of anybody in the shop Mainly the novices, because obviously the BBQ guys know what they are. But a general BBQ, a general guy coming through the door for a BBQ, they've never heard of pellet grills and you have to explain the concepts.
Speaker 3:And you finding that those beginners or novices that are coming into the showroom are there? I suppose are there by and habits changing, in that we've spoken to lots of people on this podcast before and we always ask about what BBQ did they first get or where did they start? and there's a lot of people that start on gas. 15, 20 years ago they started on gas, then they moved to charcoal and jumped straight into an offset, which is crazy to me to start with an offset. Are you finding that new people into BBQ are becoming more adventurous and don't just come into your showroom and go I want to learn to BBQ. Give me a gas one.
Speaker 2:I'm not sure, you know, i'm not sure. I think The old generation of people coming through the door are pretty much gas-oriented. It's more the younger side of people who are more adventurous. I mean, when we've explained about the pellet grills, it's somebody coming through the door. They're like oh no, no, just have you got a gas barbecue And, you know, can switch it on and whether going 15 to 5, 10, 15 minutes. So definitely the younger side. But it's also surprising where we had a couple in this morning who had come in for a built-in gas barbecue for an outside kitchen or building And the guy was pretty jammed up. He knew what he was talking about and he had his eye on a ceramic keg. So people do have an understanding more for ceramic kegs. He would have asked somebody 3, 4, 5 years ago about a ceramic keg, the one about what he was talking about. I thought you were talking about Easter eggs. There's more and more people now who, right, i'm going to get a barbecue, let's research it. And then, oh, there's so much choice out there. like you said, gas, charcoal pellets, the pizza ones are so popular. like you said, pizza ones are the new fashion. But right, there's social, there's social animal. People love pizza parties. I can't fault them. I've got two pizza humans, all of them. I'm rubbish at making pizzas. If I made some pizza nights. my wife, my Nautilus, she hits the roof because she's thinking of the mess I'm going to make in the kitchen. She won't let me make them anymore. She makes them and I do them, but she won't let me start preparing them because she knows I'm just going to have flour on the kitchen.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm the same. To be fair, my wife does the most of the prep work. We had to move from flour. We moved from flour to semolina because I was literally, I just literally was covered in flour all the time.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, We tried our pizza nights one night a week. To be honest with you, maybe I shouldn't be lecerus, since I brought my rockbox home. I barely used my wood-fired oven just for ease of use. I said with the dark nights don't you come home Because switch your gas rockbox on and it's open for over 20 minutes, half an hour. My comment has been a little bit neglected, but as soon as the light nights come, it'll be getting a hammered cooking, the chicken in it and the raw semavia, not just the pieces.
Speaker 3:So you've mentioned a couple of times. Obviously you've got two pizza ovens.
Speaker 1:Tell us about your full arsenal at home.
Speaker 2:Oh, really, afternoons, They're like a spoiled brat. I've got a Napoleon built-in gas head unit. I've got a Primo XL 400 ceramic. Love the primos, they're a weapon, the brilliant primos. So I've got the Primo egg, which I replaced by a big green egg. I took out the big green egg and put the Primo 400 in when we started stocking them. It didn't look quite right on the social media stocking the primos about having a green egg at home. But the oval shape of the Primo is just so versatile with your indirect and direct It's just so much easier. Love it, use it all the time. I tend to use it a lot more as a charcoal barbie these days, which I know Devs at Primo would absolutely put me through a rinse of the same. I've got one of the new triggers. I've not got the XL, i've got the Wolves just down from it, the new Timberline. I brought one of those home for myself. That's the tool. I've got my son's set of Sado. I've got my Clementi pizza oven and I've got my Rockbox And I think that's it at the moment. Oh, i just thought, oh dearly. I forgot about my new Offset Spocker that I got last Friday as well. I completely forgot about it. I couldn't forget about that. I think Offset Spocker.
Speaker 1:I was going to ask you about it on the socials. I saw it.
Speaker 2:Yes, I ordered a while ago put my name to it a while ago from Danny at Midwest Pits and Grills, And they're only in Bolton. They're only 15 minutes away from where I am. I was looking on the social media and I saw them. They're pretty cool And they might have looked at the contactors and where they were located The 10 minutes up the road. So, very long story short, I got myself this beautiful Offset, All extras on it insulated fireboxes, the big wheels, reversible stacks, got everything on it. So I put that outside the shop literally a couple of days ago. I'm going to leave it outside the shop for a couple of months as a bit of a feature And then I will be bringing it home and using it at my house and give that a go. Never use one before. So it's going to be a learning curve, and all that for the first.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a piece of kit. So we looked on the socials and it looks heavy.
Speaker 2:It's a baseball, you know what, with the big wheels on it, because obviously at night we move it every night and put it away safely. It's so mobile. On those big wheels There's no effort moving it, none at all. Maybe it had been on the little wheels, little casters, maybe it might have been a bit of a strain, but on those big wheels, one handed I can move it. Oh OK, yeah, it's a heavy load, it's a big, heavy load.
Speaker 1:He says more about your muscles than anything else.
Speaker 2:That's what it is.
Speaker 1:That's what it is around all day I think. So are you Oh come on, dan, obviously a huge barbecue enthusiast with everything you've got and also the fact that you have a shop. How did you originally get into barbecue?
Speaker 2:We, myself and my wife, we wanted an outside kitchen. So we had an outside kitchen built and it kind of spread from there And we were in it all the time and especially through COVID, with the nice weather at night, we were eating outside and cooking outside five, six nights a week. I think we only used the kitchen in the house once a week for months and months and months And that was only when we had a point so we needed to use that kitchen in the house. You know the way We were eating outside and cooking six nights a week And, like I said, through COVID, you couldn't go out, you know, you couldn't socialise. So I was happy, i had the barbecues. I'd be outside by the TV and I was cooking away and I was over the moon And it kind of progressed from there And even back then I had the idea about opening up a grilled barbecue shop. It worked in well with the bottle gas side. I would first choice for the barbecues was the gas barbecues, because obviously we want to sell the bottle gas with the barbecues, or even give a bottle of gas is a little incentive as part of the sweetener on the deal. Yeah, because you buy a bottle of gas and it's going to cost you 80 quid to buy one. So if you get one of those free with the barbecues, this is a little bonus. So I would first barbecued decision of who we were going to stock and was right, who was stocking gas. And then we went somewhere and they're both. I've always been into cooking. I said I'm not. I'm not a good barbecue. I'm going to be honest. I'm not the best. I'm far from it. I'm not even half decent barbecue, but I like having to go on. I'm keen as mustard So I keep trying to be fair.
Speaker 3:So it's the same for us. I think the. But actually that's the. It doesn't really matter how good you are, as long as you're enjoying yourself And you know you're not poisoning yourself. And job done.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, i'll poison everybody else. Yeah, it's the dictates, isn't it? It's the dictates. I mean, it's the dictates of collective barbecues, but it's the dictates of cooking on them. I think you know, and the whole, the whole, the whole aspect of it and community of all that Brilliant.
Speaker 3:I mean, you must have some willpower, in the sense that you go into a barbecue shop and you every single day and you see all these amazing things and you get to see talk about new barbecues and stock is. I don't know how you haven't got more than what you already got.
Speaker 2:That's called the lady wife. That's why I went on a Bornyak smokers training there last weekend, there at Marcus's place, because we we do stock in the Bornyak smokers, the Polish cabinet type smokers, the electric smokers, but the Brabless probably know them, and I went to the training and I'm down there for all right, that's for you, i'm taking one of them all. After a weekend I'm going to have a Bornyak smoker. And then I mentioned it to Natalie. She just said you're taking them. The Mickey steak Word doesn't face me. No, no. So I'm working on that one. I'm working on that.
Speaker 1:Get one for, get one for the showroom, and then be like, oh, we don't have space, we don't have space for this, where are we going to put it? We're going to have to take it home.
Speaker 2:Yeah, It's a perfect job. I absolutely love the job now going into work. It got to before opening the barbecue shop and coming a bit of a going to work and, you know, a bit of a grind and a bit of a drag, But since we've opened the shop I love it now And I love when people come in looking for barbecues And I love it when the barbecue guys come in the barbecue lads and they want to chat barbecues, Talk about rubs It's absolutely like I'm boring talking about rubs. I absolutely love it. What rub do you recommend for chicken steak? Sit down and listen. Oh really, Yeah. We get loads of guys just coming in, even just little members of the public who have been in for other items, coming back to buy a couple of rubs And we'll say I'll say what you cook in the civil, cook in the lark. What do you recommend Be your steak? It's great, honestly.
Speaker 3:If you've been looking or thinking about an outdoor kitchen, then look no further than AOS outdoor kitchens.
Speaker 1:They are the South's leading outdoor kitchen design and installation specialists.
Speaker 3:Their extensive showroom is based just outside Bournemouth on the Dorset-Hamshire border and, as well as numerous in-store displays, also features a live outdoor kitchen where they cook every week on Commado grills, pizza ovens, and all filmed and shown on YouTube.
Speaker 1:They offer a wealth of knowledge on how to transform your patio into the most incredible outdoor dining area, with styles and options to suit every budget, and you can guarantee they will be able to create something perfectly suited to you and your home.
Speaker 3:They stock and supply everything that you're going to need for outdoor cooking, including barbecues, Commado ovens, pizza ovens, outdoor fridges and every accessory that you would need to become the ultimate outdoor chef.
Speaker 1:So if you want to make yourself the envy of your friends and neighbours, get in touch with them today to arrange a consultation and take the first step in transforming your back garden into the most incredible entertainment space.
Speaker 3:Visit aoskitchenscouk. Well, even in that is addictive, just chatting about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Here we are, what, 60 episodes later, talking to you, and we had the same idea. Wouldn't it be fun just to have a little chat with people about Marvicky?
Speaker 2:I have to really sell binning, sometimes honestly, because I can go on all day about it and like that's what we had to say to them last week. He said sometimes people have already said they haven't even made it in the mind of him, he's still talking about it and it's not made their interest in me talking back to him.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I love it honestly.
Speaker 2:If you don't have to keep going on about it. They're already buying the rope and they've already made decisions to. Yeah, but we're having a crack about it, we're having a chat about it. You know, i'll have to just sell them a rope, and we're having a crack about cooking and using the rope. So I think it works well.
Speaker 1:People come back for it. People will come back for that sort of service as well, because people yes, they want to buy the product and people who understand no one care. I can also point them in the right direction. If they want other bits of advice in the future, they're much more likely to come back and buy like more bits from you than if they just came in, took something off the shelf and paid for it and no one said anything at all.
Speaker 2:Yes, i totally agree. Yes, we like that interaction. We love the interaction. I mean the rubs of that. You don't make any money out of it. We're not the hurts of that money out of it. You make pennies on the rubs of the sauces, but it's good to have because people come in and you can have the crack with them. You know, on the chat bar, because we get people coming in all the time just coming in and have a little chat about the bar. But it's on what they were cooking this weekend. What are you cooking this weekend? Someone come in for a roll of bookshops but they're going what are you cooking this weekend? I'm cooking, oh yeah, well, you're cooking and you're having a little chat about it, you know, and they've only popped in to spend a couple of quid and they've both. They've got a way. They've both had a little chat about your barbecue and it's good, it's brilliant love it, yeah, and again, it's just the community aspect, isn't it Which is so important?
Speaker 3:I actually just want to kind of go back a couple of minutes to where you were saying about. You know you've got all these barbecues, but you don't think you're necessarily the best cook. One of the things that we hold dear on the podcast is our barbecue fails. You know some of the cooks that haven't gone so well. Have you got any stories for us of any barbecue fails?
Speaker 2:Of course say one word brisket.
Speaker 3:I think do tell.
Speaker 2:Oh, just it's my name is just cooking the brisket that I've only ever cooked two decent and finished on time brisket, and that's been a pass. So over the past couple of months, but for the previous eight, nine months, every brisket I've cooked, it's not so much turned out too badly. It's just that my timing is terrible. It'll be ready at midnight on a Sunday when I'm supposed to be on it for four o'clock tea time Sunday.
Speaker 1:You can't get a stall. You cannot get a stall.
Speaker 2:Terrible. honestly, i'll say it's an atlantic. I've just had a big brisket delivered yesterday from, wasn't Tom Hicks? is it John Davidson on the line? Yeah we've got a discount code. There's this code flying around and I thought, alright, i'll treat myself to an American high-end brisket because it had a discount code. So Natalie comes to the shop. Comes to the shop, it's brisk, it's just been delivered, get it in the freezer. She's like you're not cooking, that it'll be ready midnight Sunday. You're cooking brisket. I might as well just not have any tea, or yeah. So brisk is my arch enemy because the timing. I can never, ever get it right. But surprisingly well the past two times I've got it right. Is it only because I've done an overnight cook and that is the only reason that I've actually had my tea at tea time on a Sunday? Because of that, if I'd done the four o'clock, five o'clock in the morning, got up at that time, all three Sunday. No, no, like I said, it hits the stall, i'm rushing it. It tastes like bloody, don't know what, rock hard and it's early hours in the morning. I give up and go up bed and just put it in the fridge the day after. So yeah, brisket hates it, but overnight is the future. I might be swerver, but I've done the past two on my new Traeger and it was actually the best brisket I've ever done, and it was actually awesome.
Speaker 3:I was funny enough. I was going to ask what you were cooking it on. What temperature are you cooking the brisket on?
Speaker 2:I did it a little tiny bit lower these past two times because it was an overnight, because I didn't want to get out of bed at half six, seven in the morning. To wrap it, i'll do what I had to do before. What I want to do is I put it on about 11 o'clock at night.
Speaker 1:I was trying to plan it, because this is how bad.
Speaker 2:I'm at time and I put it on 11 o'clock at night. If I put it on at 95 instead of 105, 110, i get extra trouble. I was sleeping in the morning and that's so about 95, 100, because I was trying to get a lie in 110, generally overnight. And the last one I did, i did for, i think, 11 hours, wrapped it. I did it for another three hours and then I let it rest in the cool box and I put loads of blankies in it and I really filled the void up in the cool box this time because I've been you know, yeah, you know the crack and it was actually beautiful, it was awesome and a vacuum sealed up because badly hardly eats anything. I'm a greedy sort, but Natalie Burlentouch is a void. So I had three quarters of the brisket left, so I sliced it and vacuum sealed it and filed it away in the freezer.
Speaker 1:Oh, there's so much good stuff you can do with it. I love leftovers from Barbecue. Owen and I were saying like, even when you freeze it, there's something about smoke that when you open it up in the future day it's so much more powerful and it's like magic. If you add it to like bolognese, if you add it to like chili, anything, it just lifts and elevates so much food.
Speaker 2:She made the wife made with that brisket the last one we did. The following day she made a brisket cottage pie. I think it was exactly what you said. It tasted better than the brisket the day before. Like you said, when you vacuum sealed it up, it must keep the smoking and it just seems to make it more powerful, more, super strong and totally agroovy.
Speaker 3:One thing I'm really into at the minute myself and Dan went down to sizzle first last year. Oh, i went down yeah, oh, i've missed you. well, we've been both years. We're going down again in September, so if you're there.
Speaker 2:We'll be there in person.
Speaker 3:One of the vendors there last year was selling feather blade burgers.
Speaker 1:Oh, that was mind-blowing.
Speaker 2:The best beef, oh God wasn't it the best thing you've ever had? I?
Speaker 1:don't know what they did to it. I do not know what they did to it. They might have even sprinkled like crack in it. I don't know what it was, but it was so good.
Speaker 3:I've now fallen in love with feather blade.
Speaker 2:Honestly. yeah well, i went down with a friend of mine who was working with us at the time and I said, if you come down and I'll cover costs of everything and all the what, so I said let's get one of these feather blade burgers I can't think of the name of it, gentlemen, i don't know the company name. It was by the big.
Speaker 1:The axe throwing, was it? It was behind the axe throwing by the mechanical bull.
Speaker 2:Yeah, next to the iron brand, it's a James from the iron brand, the smore, because we're next to him. I paid for the burgers and then I went fled and gnawed at it, but I didn't use them words. I went fled and gnawed at 24 quid for two of them, 12 quid apiece. So I took a bite and I went, I took one bite and I went. I took one bite and I went with every penny. That was the 4. I was actually just going to start calling it, but I took a buy-in and I was like, damn, that is good, that was well worth 12 quid. I don't give them 20 pounds for that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we were so impressed that it's now my go-to. I've cooked one brisket so far this year, but I've cooked two feather blades. Actually, I've cooked one at the weekend in the Traeger. I think it's so much more cost-effective in cost per kilo or whatever. My local butcher is charging me the same for a piece of feather blade as what he does for brazen steak. It's super cheap.
Speaker 1:They're worth it.
Speaker 3:I think you should give it a go If you're struggling with brisket but you want to have that brisket taste, but you don't want to spend 60, 70 quid on a British brisket or even more we're talking into the hundreds for a USDA prime one. I honestly try and get a piece of feather blade. It's half a third of the cost but I think you get just as good results.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's definitely the. When we finish tonight, I'm going to be junk on the iPad and sourcing the feather blade. I'll have to get all the messages to the two watches that we deal with online, which is another chapter, then Yeah, it's good.
Speaker 3:Anyway, digress, i've just fallen in love with it.
Speaker 1:I've gone into Dreamland. I'm just remembering It wasn't just how they cooked it, it was how they paired it up with the pickles and stuff they put in there, the fun they'd served it in. It was like a piece of art, it was phenomenal. This is what we say. This is why people should go to these shows, because you don't experience that type of food unless you go to these places where there's masters at work.
Speaker 2:Frankly, Yes, yeah, totally, I would notice. It's the very first barbecue show I've been to and I've been going again this year. It's a bit of a drive for us, bit of a trek, but I'll definitely go and do it again. When we went there, we saw a lot of faces that we've been having banter with on Instagram Skinny Boy and Swifty Small Shack and we've been having bits of banter online and going down to actually see them and share it with them. It was brilliant, So I'm definitely going to make the trip again this year. See you soon.
Speaker 3:We'll definitely meet you there At the shop. are you either at the moment or perhaps you're looking to plan for this season, starting to bring into demos and perhaps little events and things like that with the shop? Is that in the pipeline for you?
Speaker 2:Yes, most definitely. We've already done a couple of open days. The actual day we opened, we did an open day and then we did a little Christmas-type market open day. I think it was the 2nd of December. The both went really well. The initial opening day was crazy. It was mental busy. We did put a free barrel, so I think that helped things a little bit.
Speaker 1:I think that's really big. Can I go back?
Speaker 2:Yes, And then we did the Christmas one, which was busy. But, yes, going forward, we've got big plans to do different Coug open days. It's just staffing with myself at the moment With Abbey going on maternity, just staffing them at the moment. But we have spoken to Gosney and we've spoken to Debs from Cremal who came up on the Christmas one and so they attended. But we've spoken to Tomatrager and Jack Gosney, a few of the guys, and they're going to send up maybe Demo Shevston, give us a pair of hands. That's the only thing. Home is back. We have got a little bit of room in front of the shop, you see, where you could quite easily get five gazebos and 10 barbuses, and it's right on the six main row position. It's a prime spot for passenger traffic. Yeah, most definitely are. We've got a lot of demo units and we've used and we're going to use again. It's just literally the manner of them. for me and the manpower. It's something I need to get my bum in gear about really well and get lined up, fantastic.
Speaker 3:And what else have you got planned for 2023? Any secrets you can tell us?
Speaker 2:We've got a few more bits due in the shop. We're waiting on the Blackstone griddles. We've got the Blackstone griddles coming in, which are going to be all the rage. I think that's the latest must have, latest fad. I'm having one. I know I'm taking one, all That's true.
Speaker 3:Ever is out of stock at the moment aren't they?
Speaker 2:You can't. They've not landed in the country yet. They've been put back another month. I don't think they've quite got the UK certification just finalised off yet but it's only a matter of a couple of weeks. They were supposed to be here last month, this month I'm going to get in the next month. But we're really excited for that Because apparently, as you know yourself, in America the states they're massive. They do more units than Traeger or anybody. They sell millions of them, massive in America. We're looking forward to getting the rage in. We've got our boxes of wood Smoky wood being delivered tomorrow. We've been lining up wood. We're going to get the wood splits and the wood chunks in the big boxes and hardwood can link to the beaker ovens. That's another little line we started. We've just got all the books in, all Marcus's new books in them. We've got a few other lines we're bringing in We're looking at. We had a meeting last night. We're looking to move into the other doing the outside kitchens, the modular units that. There's a few other that do them Whistler, bull, beefy. There's a few other kind, the modular units that you can buy. We're looking at doing those. For the meeting last night with one of the suppliers about getting one in the showroom and doing them. I'm hoping. I think I'm going to expand the PK grills range. We've got the PK360 in but I've had a little message today with our suppliers. They're looking to get the PK going and the PK300. Because the PK grills? they may be a little bit expensive for the general public walking off the street for a charcoal barbeque but you pay for what you get. They've been around for 70 years. They tried to test it. They're a bit like the Hellraiser, they're a bit like Tanks. They're a cast aluminium box. They're not going in rush to there, not breaking. But when your public is going to walk you off the street not a barbeque enthusiast but just a man looking for a barbeque he comes in and you're looking at a PK360. That's £7, £800, £900 is like I'll go to Beancube for £99, good, i'll go to Beancube for £199. But that's going to last you two, three years being a barbeque like that with that quality. If I say it. You buy PK grills and they're going to last you a lifetime virtually. So we're going to expand the PK range. There's a couple of other lines we're going to expand. The only thing that's holding us back is the space in the shop. We're full. We're absolutely chocker. I've actually got tomorrow a couple of friends builders coming in And in my showroom they're knocking a doorway through the back of it And in the storeroom behind and my office is behind that aren't really open to the general public. I pinched some space and we're building another room And we're going to get some of the stuff in the shop primarily all the charcoal and smoking woods and put it in there to free a bit of room up. If we had limited resources of money I'd be putting the mezzanine flooring, but these are the kind of money hanging around this present climate. We've got room for a mezzanine floor because we've been in an old church building where the suspended ceiling is now Above. That is another full floor. So there is the room and the angle is just closing the shop for a month to do it and finding 50 grand or 100 grand to do it, but that's not going up in this year, yeah Well, at least there's something that you can do for the future and plan for Let's see how the season goes And you never know what's next year. I'd love another floor to fill with barbecues, because I'm thinking that for every barbecue I bring in, i can bring one home And I can have four in a collection.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's the way to do it.
Speaker 3:I think it would be a good time to go on to our BBQ Bingo challenge. BBQ Bingo is brought to you by Lumberjack Food Company. Your ticket to Flavortown. Hopefully you can see this list of ingredients on our high-tech spinning wheel.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:So the one that says my signature dish is what would be your signature dish? What are you best known for?
Speaker 2:My lamb roast. I'm quite good at doing the lamb roast and all the rotisserie. I'm pretty good at those and I enjoy doing those And the answer today is pretty good for me.
Speaker 3:Awesome. So if it lands on that, that'll be your thing. We mentioned to you before we kicked off. If you can have an ingredient ready to put back onto the wheel for the next guest, that'll be amazing. But let's give it a spin and see what you get.
Speaker 1:Liver.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, I feel really bad for you because I would not want to do that.
Speaker 1:I know what I would do off the bat.
Speaker 3:Throw it away.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, I would do. I'd put it in a pie and do some baking on the barbecue.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:If you can have a steak and kidney pie, surely you can do something with liver in a pie. And then you've got the pastry and stuff as well to kind of take on cover up some of the flavour if you're not confident with it.
Speaker 3:Actually, didn't you say right at the beginning of the podcast that, because everyone was guessing the grills if you were going to do your Hoover or whatever and tell us the brand, you were going to give them your kidney or liver anyway?
Speaker 1:There you go, just cook it first, right?
Speaker 2:so I've got to make a liver dish. I've got a barbecue liver dish. Is that what we're saying?
Speaker 1:Yeah, liver is one of the ingredients, so if you really wanted to, you could do a pizza and then put tiny bits of liver on it if you wanted to.
Speaker 2:I'm sure we can manage that, can't we?
Speaker 1:It's been a while since we've had what feels like one of the stitch up items come up, so that's going to hurt. Are you going to leave something to stitch people up, or are you going to be kind?
Speaker 2:of. That's what I'm thinking is very second, what can I watch? the most possible thing in the world could be, by the end of the day, all the best ones have been picked up, and then that's our little Luke.
Speaker 1:I mean, some of the things we've got on there is like octopus, mungfish, beef, tongue, artichoke, duck, paella, seshwam pepper. We've had strawberries on there before, can be anything Chocolate.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we've had chocolate buttons, we've had pineapple, we've had mangoes I don't know, they're on there already.
Speaker 2:Chicken hearts. Oh, awful to awful, yeah, chicken hearts.
Speaker 1:I think We've not got it on her, have we? No, yeah, i've never heard you do that.
Speaker 2:Not everybody's cup of tea.
Speaker 1:They're quite the in thing at the moment, though A few of the shows that we've been to, people have done things with chicken hearts on the skewers.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's exactly what I was saying about the old kind of Brembresilk Finsenda type. places the skewers But chicken hearts. I think it's not a bad one for somebody that I think that's doable.
Speaker 1:It sounds like you take them over liver, right.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah.
Speaker 3:You won't talk to us again now. Oh, these guys stitched me up with liver.
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm going to block you. I'm going to block you.
Speaker 3:We always ask is there anything else that you'd like to talk about that we haven't brought up yet, or that you wanted to mention about RBQ, or just anything in general, really.
Speaker 2:Do you guys talk about the festival in Preston? There's a BBQ festival in Preston. I think that needs a bit of a bit of a butler's steer really.
Speaker 3:The BBQ at North Festival.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's the Flamin' Food Festival. When we went down to the training, the access place for the Barney House, mokers, last weekend, there were a number of people and nobody had really heard about it. I think it needs a bit of pushing into the BBQ community. So people, you know, because all the festivals, as you know, they all seem to be down south.
Speaker 1:Oh no, i've been saying we don't know what it is about Hampshire and Dorset, but everything seems to be down there.
Speaker 2:I think what I was saying sounded like I was being segregation. I don't feel like I've ever heard about it. But all the BBQ festivals are all down south and there are a trek. For us lads up here in the north and for the guys in Scotland in Preston. It's a four, five hour trip. Each way it's a mission. Even the Midlands would be cool. Even something around the Midlands or Birmingham would be doable for all of us. But does this show any Preston? It's a two-day festival in Preston in May. It should be good. There's all sorts on. Should be whether it's tickets to cheap family tickets, only about £35 for a family at fork. They're not sub-imprices for the tickets, if I can say only £20 at tickets together and £35 for a family. Then some of the big names are there. Cosney's going to be there with us because we're going up, so Cosney's going to be there. Tony Axe-Morquh is going to be there. Webber's one of the main sponsors. We're going up. There's all sorts going on. There Should be a good weekend. Like I said, it's the first BBQ festival up in the north of the country. Hopefully they'll do one over here. They'll look at the guys.
Speaker 1:Great stuff.
Speaker 3:Well, it's been an absolute pleasure having you on Steve. Obviously, congratulations on launching your BBQ showroom and your business. We hope A to meet you in person this year, but also for you to have a fantastic season and many to come.
Speaker 2:Thank you very much, guys. It's been a pleasure Great to meet you both. We're going to have a good season this year, all of us at the BBQ and the sun's going to be out and we're all going to be outside cooking on our different BBQs and grills. I'll see you guys then at the sizzle festival. I'll see you before.
Speaker 3:Yes, before you go, just tell people where they can find you, what's your website, Instagram, etc.
Speaker 2:Our fresh store Chapel. We're in Chorley in Lancashire. Our website is our freshstorechapelcouk. On Instagram. I think we're our fresh store Chapel. You'll soon find us. We're pretty keen on that. The shop's awesome, the showroom's brilliant. Come and have a look. Come and look at the BBQs, get hands on, have a play with them. You don't need to buy anything. They'll come along. Let's talk rubs and sauces. Brilliant.
Speaker 3:Well, thanks very much for your time, steve. All right guys.
Speaker 2:Lovely to speak to you, cheers.
Speaker 1:Bye Bye, bye, bye, bye.
Speaker 3:That's it for another episode of the Meet and Greet BBQ podcast. Thanks so much to Steve at Alfresco Chapel talking to us about his new venture, his new business. It's been open for a year. Please, if you're in the Northwest, go visit his showroom. As ever, we want to hear from you. Please get in contact through the usual channels at Meet and Greet BBQ podcast on Instagram and Facebook, our website, meetandgreetbarbecuepodcastcom. Until next time, keep on grilling. Today's episode is brought to you by AOS Kitchens, the South's leading outdoor kitchen designer and installation specialist.
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Overcast
PocketCasts
RSS Feed
