A couple years ago, my partner, Dwight Harrington and I were invited to a barbecue by our friend Steve Welton. While the food was delicious, Steve's equipment left something to be desired. Dwight owns his own metal fab and welding shop, West Alna Welding, and has been in that business for many years so we decided to design and build our own custom barbecue. A couple weeks later, we finished barbecue #1 which we named "Oake" after my Swedish grandfather. 
We cranked Oake up one weekend at Steve's house and served the best barbecue we ever tasted. Next, we decided that since we were barbecuing a couple times a month, we should see if we could pull off some catering gigs. Steve and I have been cooking for crowds for years, so it was a natural. We did a few trial runs to get feedback from friends and really dial in a recipe that we could keep consistent. Once we had a winner, we started offering our services. We bought a retired fire truck, had it lettered up, and started traveling. We have since cooked for hundreds at benefits, weddings, and private parties. We have catered the Christmas party for Lewiston-Auburn Harley Davidson. We have had nothing but rave reviews. We specialize in what we call "not-so-formal events."
Eventually, we decided we could have fun building these things and maybe make a little money. We have since made custom grilles and barbecues for local restaurants and homeowners. |
