How We Started: The Garage Days of BBQ Spit Rotisseries

If you’ve ever fired up a spit in your backyard, you’re part of a tradition that started in a humble shed on a family farm 20 years ago. Back then, there were no spit rotisseries commercially available in Australia, let alone ready to ship from overseas. That’s where our journey began.

From The Shed To Your Backyard

In 2006, Tony and Rhiannon started selling spits out of Tony’s parents’ shed on their farm property. It wasn’t glamorous, containers arrived without forklifts, sometimes getting bogged on the paddock driveway, and parcels were dropped off at Australia Post on the way to their day jobs. Sundays meant waking up at 5am, driving two hours to Laverton Market, and setting up a stand just to show people that spit roasting was even possible at home.

But there was passion behind every long day. Tony was hand-designing products from scratch, working with multiple suppliers to make them a reality, and educating people on how to use them. Rhiannon was building relationships with customers, making sure each person felt confident enough to fire up their first cook.

The Struggles That Shaped Us

Looking back, there were plenty of challenges:

• No spits were being made commercially in 2006.
• None were coming out of major country developers either, meaning every design had to be built from scratch.
• Suppliers needed training on how to make each part work together.
• Containers were hand-unloaded, rain, hail, or shine.

It was hard yakka. But it built resilience and gave us a strong connection to what mattered most: helping everyday Aussies connect with others over cooking with fire.

The Wins Worth Celebrating

Through grit and persistence, a few milestones stand out:

• Expanding from the shed into our first proper warehouse.
• Opening our own overseas manufacturing plant to bring spit rotisseries to more backyards.
• Building the largest library of spit roasting how-to videos, because selling gear was never enough. We wanted to give our community the confidence and know-how to create legendary cook-ups.

Our Mission Hasn’t Changed

Even though we’re no longer in that farm shed, our roots still guide us. Cooking over fire brings people together, and that’s what we’ve always loved. Our mission remains the same: To connect people and communities by creating great memories over cooking with fire.

From showing you how to nail pork crackling to helping you choose the right rotisserie, we’re here as your BBQ mate. Not just selling products, but giving you the knowledge to master them.

So next time you load up a lamb, carve a chook, or flip that first steak over the coals, know that you’re part of the same story that started in a dusty shed two decades ago. And it’s a story that’s only just heating up.

Ready To Create Your Own Backyard Legends?

Explore our range of spit rotisseries, smokers, and BBQ gear built tough for Aussie backyards at BBQSpitRotisseries.com.au.

by: Sasha Halabi