Name
Huw Griffiths
Age
50
Job title
CEO & Founder
Company and location
Besmoke Ltd, Arundel, West Sussex
Education
BSc Environmental Science
Favourite food/drink
Low n Slow BBQ and a cold beer. I’ve also started ageing Negroni in a charred oak barrel which is sublime! Favourite soft drink is milk.
What inspired you to enter F&B?
My childhood dream was to work with food; ‘sensible’ career guidance led me down a different path until my passion got the better of me.
I built a small smoker from an old tin ballot box and eventually started selling my smoked garlic at farmer’s markets. I then developed my business in response to opportunities beyond my control.
Tell us about your role
Besmoke has grown to become the biggest little smoke company in the world.
I’m involved in certain parts of the business where I can add value, but I leave most of it to an exceptional team of people who do a much better job than I could.
I love innovation so I’m heavily involved with ideation, development, evaluation and launch. I also love brand and marketing, so I support the marketing team with day-to-day content, branding and communications. Strategy is a constant at Besmoke and so I research and react to the ever-evolving market in smoke and grill globally.
Most importantly, I nurture the Besmoke culture; equip the teams with the tools they need, build confidence, and create an environment to encourage growth.
What does a typical day look like?
There are very few typical days at Besmoke. I could be at my desk working on marketing or innovation projects; meeting the leadership teams to strategise sales, operations, technical or NPD, or spending time with any team member who wants to develop a new idea. Or I may be hosting a day at our new Smokeademy, where our customers come to immerse themselves in all things smoke and grill, cook in our fire kitchen, develop products in our labs, followed by a drink or two in our onsite pub – the Smoking Monkey.
I also travel a lot visiting distributors and customers globally, I really enjoy getting out there, developing leads, showcasing our technologies and products and engaging with new teams to create the very best in smoke and grill.
How did you get to where you are today?
Ultimately, very very hard work! Luck plays a significant role but luck accounts for little without the hard yards. Building a flavour company from a tin box to global supplier to the most demanding F&B companies worldwide is a rare occurrence these days, and none of this would have happened without meeting with a few key people.
I met my mentor and investor Rogers Beetlestone very early on – I was still trading at markets, but we struck up a friendship and he had the most significant impact on my life of anyone I know. He very sadly died a few years ago but we still celebrate his life at Besmoke annually.
Next to Rogers, it’s a meeting with Professor Dave Baines that changed the course of my life and that of Besmoke. Dave, Rogers and I embarked on an innovation project that ultimately created PureTech, a filtration system that removes over 95% of the carcinogens from smoke.
None of this could have happened without the support of my wife, Lou. She let me carry on regardless of how many sheds and factories I burned down!
When you’re having a bad day, what cheers you up?
Lou can make me laugh like a drain and being a northern lass, she keeps me well and truly grounded! We also have two boys who are the lights of our life – together, nothing can touch us.
My happy place is in my kitchen cooking all day, and if all that fails to cheer me up, perhaps I’ll pop to the pub with a couple of mates to talk nonsense.
What’s your favourite part about the food sector?
The people. Everywhere I go, everyone I meet, food people just seem genuine, decent, passionate, knowledgeable people who love their work – it’s energising, inspiring and often overwhelming.
If you could change one thing about the F&B sector what would it be?
I would ban smoke flavourings, oh wait…
What’s next for you/what’s the dream?
Besmoke is in rapid growth phase, so I need to ensure we don’t trip up whilst optimising every opportunity; I’m surrounded by very clever people, so I just hope they know what they’re doing.
The dream is to cement our place in the global market and be a world leader in natural smoke and grill for the long-term future. We also need a new factory asap and, if they continue to be interested, then my boys will join me at Besmoke and become the future of smoke and grill. I dream big.
