Re: Reds True BBQ Leeds - My thoughts
Posted: 15 Dec 2012, 23:02
Hi All,
It’s the boys from Red's here to throw in a viewpoint...
Thought we'd stand back and watch how this topic unfolded. Firstly, thanks for the support in your comments guys. John, we also lack significant amounts of kip! ;o)
Developing a new restaurant venture in this economic climate and in a relatively unknown food style does take cojonas. Giant, hairy ones, thankfully we have 6 between us. Going from backyard BBQ for your family with your favourite bullet to serving over 45,000 customers in 3 months and 15 tonnes of meat every month is quite the leap. We do smoke our meat, using Cookshack FEC 300 smokers and hickory/apple wood pellets which we import from the US. The pellets we use are cleaned of the usual black, creosote characteristics you've probably become accustomed to. We just returned from another US trip (one of many we did before, during and after setting up reds, who wouldn't right?) where we spent some time in the Carolina's, Memphis and Austin. Their BBQ isn't as smoky as you think either. The UK palate simply isn't used to the heavy smoke profile you keep referring to, so we built our proposition around our customers here, locally, you might call it bland, we call is fit for market and as you can tell, that market is responding well. The council isn't too hot on black smoke plooming out of chimneys any more either, so it's a good fit. I should also add that the one thing we walked away from this recent BBQ pilgrimage, was that our grub stands up really well against even the oldest and ingrained BBQ joints throughout our trip. Don't get me wrong, we still have some work to do though, but we're 3 months old and making huge steps forward every day.
We knew the UK BBQ "Experts" would have something to say about what and how we were doing things but in the main they seem to be overwhelmingly behind us. Again, we still have a lot to learn and a lot to offer, at some point we might try with something smokier and stronger but as it stands at the moment we have to concentrate on serving the hungry punters queuing for what we have to offer.
We appreciate that it's hard to please everyone, and I'm sorry we didn't please you. Toby, John, Tiny, you are most welcome any time at Red's!
Cheers
Scott, James and Clint
Red's
It’s the boys from Red's here to throw in a viewpoint...
Thought we'd stand back and watch how this topic unfolded. Firstly, thanks for the support in your comments guys. John, we also lack significant amounts of kip! ;o)
Developing a new restaurant venture in this economic climate and in a relatively unknown food style does take cojonas. Giant, hairy ones, thankfully we have 6 between us. Going from backyard BBQ for your family with your favourite bullet to serving over 45,000 customers in 3 months and 15 tonnes of meat every month is quite the leap. We do smoke our meat, using Cookshack FEC 300 smokers and hickory/apple wood pellets which we import from the US. The pellets we use are cleaned of the usual black, creosote characteristics you've probably become accustomed to. We just returned from another US trip (one of many we did before, during and after setting up reds, who wouldn't right?) where we spent some time in the Carolina's, Memphis and Austin. Their BBQ isn't as smoky as you think either. The UK palate simply isn't used to the heavy smoke profile you keep referring to, so we built our proposition around our customers here, locally, you might call it bland, we call is fit for market and as you can tell, that market is responding well. The council isn't too hot on black smoke plooming out of chimneys any more either, so it's a good fit. I should also add that the one thing we walked away from this recent BBQ pilgrimage, was that our grub stands up really well against even the oldest and ingrained BBQ joints throughout our trip. Don't get me wrong, we still have some work to do though, but we're 3 months old and making huge steps forward every day.
We knew the UK BBQ "Experts" would have something to say about what and how we were doing things but in the main they seem to be overwhelmingly behind us. Again, we still have a lot to learn and a lot to offer, at some point we might try with something smokier and stronger but as it stands at the moment we have to concentrate on serving the hungry punters queuing for what we have to offer.
We appreciate that it's hard to please everyone, and I'm sorry we didn't please you. Toby, John, Tiny, you are most welcome any time at Red's!
Cheers
Scott, James and Clint
Red's