Southern Pride's History
Excellence demands commitment . . . Commitment to the details and to doing a thing right. At Southern Pride, we know what it means to do things right. We've been doing it that way since we sold our first oven back in 1976. Our commitment is as simple now as it was then: to build the best wood burning barbecue pits and smokers available.
Mike Robertson began in the restaurant business in the early 70's and saw the need for a more consistent, less labor intensive way to prepare traditional smoked BBQ. Together with his father B.B. Robertson, they designed the first version of their rotisserie smoker. In 1976 they decided to try to build and sell an improved BBQ rotisserie smoker and formed B.B. Robertson Company. Mike started building the first commercial BBQ pits and B.B. hit the road to demonstrate and sell their early design. That first year, they built and sold 6 smokers. The family business was off and running with Bert Robertson handling sales, Mike doing the manufacturing, and Mrs. Robertson kept the books and both the boys in line. In the late 70's, Don Staley, Gene Pritchett and Tony Rodgers joined the company to assist with sales, engineering and equipment construction respectively. They are all still with the company today. That commitment to excellence by all the staff produces the most dependable food service equipment available in the marketplace today.
Through the years our steady growth has seen the manufacturing facility move and expand to meet production demands. Research and development at B.B. Robertson, through the 80's and 90's, has brought many innovations to the marketplace to serve all segments of the foodservice industry. Our commitment has always been to develop new equipment designs to meet the ever changing needs of the BBQ business. In the late 70's, the name Southern Pride was created to better identify the core business of wood burning BBQ pits and smokers. We use it today as a signature of the craftsmanship and pride that goes in to every Southern Pride Wood Burning BBQ Pit & Smoker that we build.
