Most ideas, good, bad or mad, are fuelled by food and drink and for engineer Gavin Moss meat and beer have led to the creation of his brand new business: Barbecue Shack.
It does exactly what it says on the tin, or rather the oil drum. “A friend asked me to make a smoker out of an oil drum and I ended up building mini-barbecues and fire pits for people. Further conversations – usually down the pub or while flipping a burger – followed,” says Moss.
“What about making classic, full-size barbecues said another mate. Then an outdoor sink was suggested. So you can cook your meats and wash your vegetables, but what about a beer to go with the food? And so I built a beer chiller and a beer barrel holder.”
Moss, 50, talks of making things with the ease of a teenager handling a smart phone or Federer firing a forehand. This is his element; this is his trade - both passion and profession,
Moss is an old-fashioned craftsman, an artisan engineer who served his apprenticeship learning how to use his hands, not a computer programme.
“The true skills of an engineer are in the hands not the machine. I can turn my hand to most things as the range of Barbecue Shack products hopefully shows.”
Barbecues are hot right now - very hot. A sweltering British summer helped last year but al fresco cooking and outdoor dining was already on the rise.
However the vagaries of the UK weather can still rain on any outside party. Moss has thought of that too with the central feature, the shack itself, framing the barbecue area and providing shelter from the rain or shade from the sun. The shack has a bamboo roof, a steel frame and timber decking, so suitable for all weathers.
“You can play around with the designs of all the barbecue units; brand them or personalise them, or create a theme for a landmark birthday or anniversary,” said Moss, fashioning them all by hand and to order.
“We can do rustic and under-stated that can sit in your garden without making a fuss or a statement, or we can do bling – loud and proud.”
Moss set up his light engineering business 20 years ago, after the company he had completed his apprenticeship with closed the site he was working at.
He will do anything from sub-contracting work for big manufacturers to ‘a job for farmer Giles down the road.’
In his case down the road is Lincolnshire with Moss’s company Exmol Manufacturing based at Bourne.
From his ‘chaotic’ workshop in a farm building in an old haulage yard, Moss will make ABS Reluctor rings for the motor trade, or salvage a vintage tractor from a field, once the ears of corn have been removed from the engine.
“Give me an old rusty piece of broken machinery and I see a challenge to make it work again,” says Moss, conjuring up images of Caractacus Pott of Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang fame, crashing and tinkering about in pursuit of an ingenious invention or miraculous reclamation.
“I get a real buzz from making a piece of machinery come back to life, in creating something out of bits of discarded metal or redundant materials.”
Now Moss has seized on the British passion for barbecues, proving that you don’t have to be an Australian or South African to understand the art of cooking a dirty steak in the open air.
Even the cliché of warm English beer has been put to bed when it comes to barbecues and with Moss’s ice-packed outdoor chillers you don’t have to keep heading inside to the fridge.
“Blokes drinking beer around the barbecue, prodding burnt sausages and fighting for the tongs still goes on, but BBQ chefs, male and female, are far more adventurous these days and when it comes to drinks I also want to design some gin trolleys and champagne chillers too,” said Moss, adding that he is looking to partner with butchers, grocers and brewers, giving buyers of his shacks the opportunity to buy food and drink at discounted prices.
His basic raw material is the oil drum – oil as in essential oils, such as eucalyptus, lavender and tea tree. Thoroughly cleansed, the drums are then powder coated and painted in any colour, with the option to add a brand, logo, design or wording.
“My prototypes heavily featured beer and rugby, which did not surprise family and friends!’ said Moss, who for many years patrolled the flank for Stamford College Old Boys rugby club, including a spell as chairman, although not quite managing to play past his 50th birthday.
“Never say never!” said Moss, although he will need all his engineering skills to restore rugby-ravaged hips that squeak like the Tin Man. Essential oil indeed.
Not only is Barbecue Shack (www.barbecueshack.co.uk) a triumph of bespoke British manufacturing and manual ingenuity it is environmentally friendly too, recycling oil drums that would otherwise end up as expensive landfill.
“I love to cook in a very amateur, earthy but enthusiastic way and have had my share of burnt on the outside, raw on the inside disasters. The humble British barbecue has been revolutionised in recent years, both in the quality and range of cooking and in the culinary kit and utensils we use,” said Moss.
“But nothing beats the simple preparing of food over open flames – grilling dirty and getting smoky. Yes add all the fancy trimmings, layers of new flavours and techniques and have fun with it all, but never lose sight of the fact that a barbecue is still fantastic in its most naked, primal form.”
With that Moss prodded the steak. “Not long now. Grab yourself a beer from the chiller.”
RUPERT BATES
ENDS
59
By Rupert Bates
Barbecue Shack