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From 10 Employees to 50: Cookshack’s Journey in Premium Barbecue Equipment Manufacturing
Transcript
Hi everyone and welcome to Growth Challenges for Manufacturers and How to Overcome Them. I’m your host, Katherine Seymour. This episode is brought to you by MaCRAE’S, a trusted North American businesses for over 100 years. As a leader in B2B digital marketing, we help industrial and manufacturing companies struggling with stagnant growth or leads by leveraging advanced AI integration and automation in our SEO and our lead generation programs
We help you appear prominently on search and AI powered results, including chat GPT, Gemini, AI overviews, and local searches. This drives significant and qualified traffic to your website, resulting in stronger flow and increased revenue, crucial in today’s highly competitive digital landscape. Learn more at mcraze.com today. Today’s guest is Stuart Powell, president of Cook Shack.
A company with over 60 years of heritage in designing and manufacturing premium electrical and pilot smokers used by everyone, including world-class pit masters to commercial kitchens to culinary schools. Under Stewart’s leadership, CookSatch has continued to evolve in innovation and holding true to its commitment for quality craftsmanship, customer service, and made in America manufacturing.
From barbecue competitions to high value restaurants, Cook Shack’s products have earned a reputation of performance and durability. Stuart, welcome to the show. It’s great to have you.
Great to be here.
Thank you so much. So Stuart, let’s get started. What’s the story behind Cook Shack? It’s a name that has been around for decades. How did you get involved in the company and how has it evolved over with your leadership?
So our founders founded the company back in 1963, Gene and Judy Ellis. Unfortunately, in 1985, they passed away in a boating accident and their kids inherited the business. And in 1991, they hired me to manage it for them. And I’ve been doing that ever since. 1999, I took the range as president and CEO. When I started here, we were a small manufacturer.
with about 10 employees and doing less than a million dollars a year in sales. And we basically had a small product line of electric smokers. So ⁓ since then we’ve grown quite a bit over the years to having upwards of around 50 employees, ⁓ getting to about 10 million in gross revenues. ⁓ there’s been a lot of challenges along the way, but a lot of new products, a lot of successes.
and a few times of stubbing our toes and having some failures.
Yeah, and I think that’s with every company. You have to try new things, see how it works out, and if it doesn’t work, you pivot, right?
Absolutely.
Awesome. So Cookshark has a strong identity rooted in traditional but it embraces innovation. What’s the balance between staying true to your roots but embracing and adapting to a new market demands?
Well, I think that, you one of the things that we always talk about is, is, you know, what, what are we and who are we? And, you know, we always come back anytime we start that conversation to say that we are manufacturers of quality barbecue equipment. And, and so, you know, it’s been a few times that we’ve tried to dabble in other things. And what we’ve always found is, that we’re much better off to stay in our roots. And so we’ve always done that.
However, at the same time, while you stay at what you’re good at and what your niche is, finding innovation within that is highly important. And for us, back in 2002, we got into doing pellet fired smokers, which has become a major part of our business now. And we have expanded that to be the only kind of commercial pellet fired cooking equipment
for a variety of things, not just smokers, but we pizza ovens, we do char broilers. ⁓ And so we’ve kind of grown that and that’s really been a lot of our innovation is in that pellet world.
That’s really cool. So what are your most popular product lines then? I know you mentioned the pellet smokers or pellet in general, but who are your primary customers? And is it mostly commercial buyers that you’re looking for or competition barbecue teams? Or is it kind of a mix of everyone?
It’s a real mix of everyone. ⁓ About 70 % of our business is commercial products, which are sold to restaurants, grocery stores, various commercial applications like that, even some small meat processors. ⁓ We have a few of the big names in the barbecue industry that use us. Dicky’s Barbecue is one of our big customers, Famous Dave’s.
So, you know, we deal with some of the big chains, we deal with some of the smaller chains, which barbecue out of Tennessee, some of those. So that’s, you know, our true customer base is that commercial person. But we also, you know, we do a lot of business into the competition barbecue world. And then just into home use. We have about 30 % of our business is people who want something for their backyard.
And we make electric smokers for that and then pellet grills for that.
Awesome. What trends are you seeing in the food service industry and restaurant space when it comes to slow cooking or slow cooking equipment?
So I think the big trend right now is that it’s tough to be in the barbecue industry because of food costs. And so what we’re seeing is things like yield are really important, is what we really focus on is giving the customer a product that’s going to get them the most product out of it. So when you look at other styles of smokers, we give eight to 13 % better yield to the customer.
And so that means they have that much more soluble product. And yeah.
Make sense, make sense. With the rise of ghost kitchens or food trucks and fast casual dining, does Cook Shack adapt in its offerings to stay relevant in meeting these customers’ demands?
So the Ghost Kitchens has been really good for us in the fact that ⁓ barbecue is a great carry out item and holds up well and reheats well. So that world has been really good for us. ⁓ We have really done incredibly well in the food truck world, especially with our pizza oven. So we have a pellet fired pizza oven and in the food truck world, it’s really important that utilities aren’t high. And so that unit uses very, very little electricity.
and some pellets to create the heat. And you don’t have to have propane or gas for it. And so we’ve really done well in that ⁓ marketplace.
Awesome. Are there any common misconceptions people have when they are switching to electric or palliate smokers from traditional wood or gas?
I think the biggest misconception is that you don’t get the same ⁓ quality of food out of it. And it’s kind of interesting because in the commercial world, we really have a couple of competitors that make gas-fired smokers. And we stayed away from that, mostly because of those yield numbers. And so when you look at a true wood-fired pit, we’re going to give you kind of the same amount of yield.
the same flavors and the same bark on the outside of the meat without all the work, you know, you don’t have
Right. The maintenance. for sure. For sure. Makes sense. Makes sense. Let’s talk about how Cook Shack finds new customers. What’s been the most effective way for you? What has it been? Trades shows, distributor relationships, or digital marketing? How has that worked?
So that world has certainly changed over the years. I remember when I got here in 1991, we were sending out about a quarter million pieces of direct mail a year. And now we send out none. And we used to do 30 to 35 trade shows a year, and now we do a couple. So what we’ve seen is everything going digital. We do a lot of digital marketing.
But we also changed a few years ago, about eight years ago, we went to ⁓ using manufacturers reps to sell our products. And that has really ⁓ been a nice advantage for us and really helped us.
How has your team approached things like content creation, video demonstrations or customer testimonials? Do you see opportunities to do more in these areas?
Oh, we would love to have more of those. It’s always difficult to get customers to give you testimonials, but we love those. And we have a lot of customers that do. the advent of good cameras on cell phones has really helped that because we’ll have a lot of customers now who will just shoot a quick video on their cell phone and send it to us. And we can use that on our social media and advertisements to promote our products and to promote their restaurants.
sure. If you can improve one part of your sales and marketing ⁓ engine overnight, maybe just drive 200 to 300 percent to more qualified leads, what would it be?
⁓ I think for us, our biggest probably challenge in marketing is keeping our website relevant up to date, keeping our SEO going. ⁓ That’s what I find is the really crucial part that I think we struggle with.
Right. And you’ve been with Cook Shack for over 25 years, which is rare these days and amazing at the same time. What’s kept you motivated? ⁓ And what’s unique about the company and its culture that’s made it feel so much like home?
I think, you know, for me, staying motivated is really about growing and continuing to grow the business and not just numbers. mean, a lot of people think growth is only as numbers, but, you know, I believe that we grow our culture, we grow our knowledge. Those are the things that excite me and keep me, you know, coming in every day excited about what I’m going to do. ⁓ You know, over the years, we have changed our culture radically.
⁓ and have really gotten to a point where, you know, we have great employees that stay here and, you know, and enjoy the culture and thrive in it. And I think that’s, to me, that’s what keeps me coming back every day is to know that we have those people here.
amazing. What are you most proud of when you think about Cook Shack and the Cook Shack team? And what have they most accomplished over the years that you’re most proud of? Whether it be a customer success story or some sort of innovation within the company, what are you most proud of?
So I think what I am probably most proud of is the cultural change that we made here. ⁓ So for my first about 10 years of being here, we had high turnover rates. We were a traditional manufacturer, a lot of assembly line type things, a lot of batch processes. And we went down the lean path to do lean manufacturing and really
that really transformed us and started to change our culture. But then we even went on past that and really went to looking at, okay, what are our core values and how do we really bring those to the business and how do we show those not just to what we do here, but how does that impact our customer? And I think that that cultural change is probably the thing that
I’m probably the proudest of, know, we now have virtually zero turnover. We have people that come in engaged, you know, when we do engagement surveys every year, our engagements, you know, 90 some percent, ⁓ you know, those are the things that I’m proud of. And I think that really help our customer at end of the day, because they build quality into our product and, you know, give our customers what they need.
Sure, for sure. What’s next for Cook Shack? ⁓ Are there any exciting innovations or partnerships that you’re looking to or growth in a different market? What’s next?
So we have a couple of things going on right now that I’m excited about. One is to grow our pizza presence. So we’ve just had one pizza oven. We’re now getting ready to come out with ⁓ a larger one. And so we’re really excited about that. ⁓ And then also we started a new partnership with ⁓ a young man who out on YouTube is known as the mad scientist of barbecue. ⁓ cool.
Yeah, and we’re doing some barrel pits for him and looking at some innovation around that. And it’s been kind of exciting, something we have not done in the past, heavy gauge welding and some of those things. So it’s been a nice challenge and ⁓ we’re excited about it and see where that goes into the future.
Awesome. Stuart, thank you so much for joining us today. Your deep experience in manufacturing space, combined with your passion and quality for customer service, really come through. And thank you for sharing all your knowledge and expertise with our listeners. I’m sure that they’re very excited to hear this conversation as well. ⁓ We appreciate your time and your insights. And we’re cheering Cook Shack on. And we want to hear more about barbecue because everybody loves barbecue. Thanks again. ⁓
And to our listeners, thanks for listening. And then welcome to the next episode of ⁓ challenges and growth for manufacturers.
MacRAE’S host Katherine Seymour welcomed Stuart Powell, President of Cookshack, to “Growth Challenges for Manufacturers and How to Overcome Them” for a compelling discussion about transforming legacy manufacturing businesses. During their conversation, Powell shared insights from Cookshack’s evolution over more than 60 years in the barbecue equipment industry, detailing how the heritage company has navigated modern growth challenges while maintaining its industry leadership position. The episode explores the strategic approaches that have driven Cookshack’s continued expansion and adaptation in an evolving manufacturing landscape.
MacRAE’S, a trusted partner to North American businesses for over 100 years and a leader in B2B digital marketing, helps industrial and manufacturing companies overcome stagnant growth through advanced AI integration and automation in SEO and lead generation programs. Their expertise in helping companies appear prominently in search results and AI-powered platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and local searches drives qualified traffic that translates into stronger leads and increased revenue.
