As specialist barbecue retailers across Australia face a changing retail landscape, one Adelaide business is betting that the future of BBQ shopping is anything but online.
Located at 152-154 Pimpala Road Morphett Vale, The Smoking Log Co. has built its reputation around something increasingly difficult to find: a dedicated bricks-and-mortar shop where customers can see the equipment, taste the products, and speak to people who actually use them.
The family-run business was established in 2019 by Mike Yelland, his son Tom and Mike’s partner Ainsley Coggins, combining Mike’s sales experience with Ainsley’s background in accounting and systems to build the business from the ground up.
Today, The Smoking Log Co. stocks more than 300 rubs and sauces, more than 20 varieties of smoking wood, plus smokers, charcoal, pellet fuel, grills, accessories and spare parts.
It describes itself as South Australia’s only dedicated low-and-slow BBQ specialist, and its approach is deliberately hands-on.
“Unlike shopping online or other chain stores, we’ve actually cooked on most of the things we sell,” Mike says. “Our recipes are on the wall.”
Rather than simply pointing customers towards the most expensive smoker or the latest model, staff take the time to work out what someone actually wants to cook and how they want to use their barbecue.
“When people come in, they’re getting the right advice,” Mike says.
“We make sure we spend a bit of time with them, having a chat about what they want to achieve and how they want to achieve it, whether the barbecue we’re about to sell them is going to fit their lifestyle, and how they want to make it work.”
“I think that’s what sets us apart from a lot of the other places.”
That focus on service comes at a particularly interesting time for the Australian barbecue retail sector.
Barbeques Galore entered administration earlier this year, with a proposed rescue deal subsequently falling over and 62 company-owned stores earmarked for closure. While the brand continues through its franchise network and wholesale business, the upheaval has significantly reduced the footprint of one of Australia’s best-known specialist BBQ retailers.
The Smoking Log’s range of over 300 rubs and sauces.
For The Smoking Log Co., it has reinforced the value of being somewhere customers can physically walk through the door.
“If you buy something online and you have a problem with it down the track, what are you supposed to do?” Mike says.
“These people are based in Sydney, the Gold Coast or wherever. You can’t walk in there and say, ‘I’m having a problem.’”
“It’s very hard to get the backup service that you need. Whereas, if you buy it from us, you’ve just got to walk through our front door.”
The store also keeps spare parts for the equipment it sells, another point of difference from interstate online retailers.
Mike regularly hosts cook ups at the store, testing out the store’s massive range of low-and-slow products.
And while the shop is serious about its equipment, it is equally serious about getting people excited about actually cooking with it.
On dedicated weekends, The Smoking Log Co. cooks in-store, giving customers the chance to taste different rubs and sauces while chatting with staff about smoking techniques and figuring out which flavours and methods might work for them.
“A few other places do lots of cookers. A few places do lots of sauces and rubs. But the depth you have in your product range and how you’ve picked the eyes out of the best stuff to have — they’ve said it’s quite unique.”
“We’ve even had representatives come from other states, from our suppliers, who have said there’s almost nothing like this in Australia,” he says.
“It’s a one-of-a-kind kind of shop.”
For anyone who has ever stood in front of a wall of smokers wondering whether they need a pellet smoker, an offset, a kamado or something else entirely, the expertise provided by The Smoking Log Co. could be worth more than an online bargain.
The Smoking Log Co.
When: Monday and Wednesday to Friday from 9am to 5pm, Saturday from 9am to 4pm and Sunday from 9am to 3pm, and is closed on Tuesdays.
Where: 152-154 Pimpala Road, Morphett Vale
To find out more, click here.
