The Ruben Wood Smokers have opened a shop in Gladstone

“We have had this idea for a couple of years... we just thought stuff it!”

The Ruben Wood Smokers owners Carl Purdon and Lacey Marsh sporting their businesses merchandise with their son.

A new one-stop shop for all of your wood-fired cooking essentials has recently opened in Gladstone, with the owners over the moon with the business’ start to life.

Lacey Marsh and Carl Purdon recently took the leap after spotting a gap in the market right across Central Queensland.

“We first opened in early February, we’ve had this idea for a while, but we have only just really hit the ground running,” Ms Marsh said.

“We have had this idea for a couple of years but we never thought we would be capable of it, but we just thought ‘stuff it’ and we just did it.”

Ms Marsh said they were running their business from home currently, however, had plans to expand in the future.

“We have plans on opening a shop in CQ in the near future, so we are asking our followers to stay tuned,” she said.

Mr Purdon said their aim was to supply Central Queensland with the fuel they needed to create barbecue masterpieces.

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“Including dusts, woodchips and chunks, charcoal and everything like that,” he said.

‘We are branching out into rubs, marinades and cures for meat as well, so you can pick your own stuff.”

Mr Purdon said there had been heaps of community engagement since the business had opened.

“I am really excited, there are people coming out of the woodwork who I didn’t even know were into this kind of thing,” he said.

“We are super excited to start taking this somewhere.”

Ms Marsh said she and Carl needed to make sure the business was viable before expanding.

“If there is not a lot of interest here, then we don’t want to dig ourselves into a hole that we can’t get out of,” she said.

Mr Purdon said the inspiration behind opening the shop was the love of barbecuing.

“Smoking is literally in all of our DNAs, we love smoke, we love fire and it is a primitive delight,” he said.

“It brings out that want to spend time around friends and family and be together around the barbecue.”

You can contact the Ruben Wood Smokers via their Facebook page, email ([e-mail]) or via Lacey’s mobile on 0403 473 538.

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