Ready to open a restaurant or give Famous Dave a run for his money? Here are some major manufacturers who will be glad to sell you what you need. Ready to start a catering biz and drag a smoker to picnics, ball games, and horse shows? Many of these manufacturers will mount them on a trailer. In addition, I have listed trailer mounted units on another page. Because I have never owned a commercial unit, I have listed them below with little or no comment, and no "Meathead's Hot Stuff Awards."
If you are curious as to how they work, here's a really cool Flash movie from the website of Super Smokers in Eureka, MO, just outside of St. Louis. They are among my favorite rib joints. To view their illustration of how their smoker works, click here.
About links on this site. The links within the tan areas at the top and right of these pages are paid ads. Within the white, editorial content areas on this site, links and recommendations are absolutely positively not advertisements or paid endorsements. They are products, services, and websites I admire. Your suggestions are always welcome. Click here to send them to me. If you would like me to link to your website, click here to read my links policy first. Most product photographs are provided by the manufacturer, all the rest a made by Meathead.
Backwoods Smokers. This company has a full line of charcoal fueled smokers (above) that are very popular with top competition teams. They are described in more detail on the page devoted to charcoal and wood fueled cookers.
Cookshack. Famous for high end, high quality, medium capacity, electric smokers that use wood chunks, chips, or pellets for precise temperature and smoke control. Perfect for small to medium operations. Highly regarded.
Fast Eddy's Smokers by Cookshack. Cookshack's Fast Eddy (FEC) models, designed by Ed "Fast Eddy" Maurin, winner of scores of BBQ competitions, are the best commercial pellet burners. The FEC100 is a refrigerator sized cabinet that is suitable for small operations. The others are much larger rotisserie commercial units. They are so good that, in 2004, a team from England used one to defeat the best American teams at the Jack Daniel's World Championship International Barbecue. England!
Friedrich Metal Products. This North Carolina company is one of the oldest and most experienced at making smokehouses, roaster/smokers, smoke generators, and emission control systems. They make a wide range of units for small restaurants and caterers to custom systems that will smoke warehouses full of meat. Their Max Flavor 400 is their most popular restaurant unit. It is noteworthy because it has several innovations among them a novel self-cleaning system. This is a major asset if it works as advertised. Max Flavor 400 uses woodchips. That means no stacks of wood and the bugs they bring, and no running outdoors to bring in logs. This also means that regulating and repeating wood flavor should be easier by measuring the amount of wood you feed. There is also a blower to keep the air moving and prevent hot spots.
Holstein Manufacturing. They have two commercial models.
Jedmaster. Charcoal fueled rotisserie commercial units. They also make a number of trailer mounted units.
J.R. Manufacturing. Makes four wood fueled ovens used in some of the best restaurants.
Ole Hickory Pits. Pioneers in the high quality BBQ world, this manufacturer started as a restaurant in Missouri. "To make a long story short, the third time the fire trucks came to put out the fire at the restaurant, it dawned on us that there should be a better way," he said. Their solution was to develop a line of large cookers for restaurants that is highly regarded. Some are also available mounted on trailers.
Southern Pride. A large range of units - small, medium, and large - for any size restaurant. Some are wood burning, some are electric, and some are gas fueled. You'll find them in such famous restaurants as Famous Dave's, Smoky Bones, Sonny's, and County Line. Some are also available mounted on trailers.
