Got back from Chicago last week. The National Restaurant Show is one of those events where you walk about fourteen miles a day, eat too many samples that looked better from a distance, and still come home with pages of notes. I've been going for over twenty years now, and every year I tell myself I'll pace it better. Never happens.
This year felt different though. The trends I'm seeing aren't just chef gimmicks that'll disappear in eighteen months. Some of this stuff is going to change how commercial kitchens think about protein, prep time, and what customers are actually willing to pay for. And a lot of it plays directly into what we do with smokers.
Here's what caught my attention.
Smoked Everything — And I Mean Everything
This one's been building for a few years, but it's gone mainstream now. I'm not just talking brisket and ribs. I watched a demo where they were smoking butter. Another booth had smoked ice for cocktails. Dessert stations running smoked chocolate components. The smoke flavor profile has officially escaped the BBQ category and landed everywhere.
What this means for operators: if you're running a commercial smoker just for your protein program, you're leaving money on the table.
I talked to a hotel catering director from Nashville — runs an SP-1000 they bought from us maybe six years back — and he told me they're now smoking tomatoes for their brunch Bloody Mary bar. Takes about ninety minutes at 180°F with apple wood. He said the cocktail revenue alone justified the extra smoker time. That's the kind of creative thinking that separates operations making money from operations just getting by.
The rotisserie systems on the larger Southern Pride units make this practical in ways the cheap import smokers can't touch. You need consistent low temps held for hours without babysitting. Try doing that on one of those thin-steel cabinet units from overseas — you'll chase temps all day and still get inconsistent results. The SPK-1400 and SP-1500 both hold rock steady at those lower smoking temps. I've seen it hundreds of times in competition and commercial settings.
Labor-Saving Equipment Is No Longer Optional
Every third booth was pitching something about labor reduction. Which makes sense. Anyone running a commercial kitchen right now knows the staffing situation hasn't gotten easier. You're either short-handed, paying more than you budgeted, or both.
But here's where I saw operators making a mistake at the show. They were looking at automation gadgets — conveyor ovens, robotic fryers, that kind of thing — without thinking about the equipment they already have.
A good smoker should be reducing your labor, not adding to it.
That's one of the reasons I've pushed Southern Pride units for three decades. The rotisserie design means you load it, set it, and walk away. Your pit crew isn't standing there rotating racks every forty-five minutes. They're prepping sides, handling service, doing actual work. The MLR-850 we sold to a barbecue chain out of Louisiana last spring — that operator told me he cut one full shift per week just from the reduction in smoker monitoring time. One shift. Do the math on that over a year.
Some of the equipment I saw at the show was solving problems that shouldn't exist in the first place. If your smoker needs constant attention, you bought the wrong smoker.
Regional BBQ Styles Going National
This trend's been brewing since the food truck boom, but it's matured. Central Texas style showing up in Seattle. Carolina whole hog getting serious treatment in Denver. Kansas City burnt ends on menus in Phoenix. Regional distinctions are still respected, but operators aren't staying in their lane anymore.
I spent a good twenty minutes talking with a guy who runs three locations in Oregon. He's doing East Texas-style links alongside Memphis dry rub ribs. Asked him about his equipment situation. He said his first smoker was an Ole Hickory — and look, Ole Hickory makes decent units, I'll give them that — but when he expanded to location two, he couldn't get replacement igniter parts for eleven weeks. Eleven weeks. His second and third locations both run SP-700s now, and he said the difference in parts availability alone was worth the switch.
That's something I try to explain to operators considering their first commercial smoker purchase. It's not just about the unit. It's about what happens at 6 AM on a Saturday when something breaks and you've got a 400-person wedding to feed at 4 PM. Southern Pride parts ship from Alamo, Tennessee. Domestic inventory. When you order through Southern Pride of Texas, we're pulling from that same supply chain with relationships that go back decades. I've had customers get parts in two days that would've taken three weeks from other manufacturers.
Plant-Based Is Settling Into Its Lane
A few years back, plant-based protein was everywhere at the show. Wall-to-wall. This year felt more realistic. The category isn't going away, but it's found its place. Not replacing meat — supplementing menus for operators who want to capture that customer segment without rebuilding their whole kitchen.
Here's what surprised me: I saw multiple plant-based items being smoked. Jackfruit that had been in a smoker for four hours. Smoked mushroom preparations that honestly looked pretty good. One booth had a smoked carrot "brisket" that I tried. It wasn't brisket. Let's be clear about that. But the smoke penetration was solid, and I could see it working as a menu option for operators who need something for the non-meat crowd.
The point is this: if you've got a commercial smoker, you can play in this space without new equipment. An SC-300 that's smoking pork butts all morning can run a batch of portobello caps in the afternoon. Same temperature profiles. Same wood. Your existing equipment becomes more versatile, not less.
I'm not saying you need to go plant-based. Most of my customers don't care about that market. But for hotel caterers, hospital food service, university dining — those operations need options. And a good smoker gives you options.
Ghost Kitchens and Virtual Brands Want BBQ
This was probably the biggest surprise of the show for me. The ghost kitchen operators are actively hunting for BBQ programs. Turns out smoked meat travels better than a lot of other cuisines. Holds temp well. Doesn't fall apart in a delivery container. The flavor profile actually develops a bit during the short hold time before delivery.
I talked to an operator running a ghost kitchen facility in Houston — four virtual brands out of one location — and he's adding a smoked meat concept this fall. His concern was footprint. Ghost kitchens don't have endless floor space.
That's exactly where the compact units shine. The SPK-500 and SPK-700 were designed for exactly this kind of situation. Commercial-grade smoke production, proper airflow, real temperature control — but in a footprint that doesn't eat your entire kitchen. The SPK-500 is somewhere around 36 inches wide. You can run a legitimate BBQ program in the same space a lot of operators waste on equipment they barely use.
The ghost kitchen guy also asked me about maintenance intervals. Smart question. He's running those virtual brands seven days a week. Can't afford downtime. I told him the same thing I tell everyone: clean your grease traps weekly, inspect your igniter and thermocouple monthly, and actually follow the manual on the burner maintenance schedule. Southern Pride units are built heavy — the steel gauge on even the smaller models is substantially thicker than the import competition — but they still need attention. Any equipment does.
If you're in that situation and need guidance on parts or maintenance schedules, that's what we do at Southern Pride of Texas. Real answers from people who've actually run this equipment in production settings.
What I Didn't See
Worth mentioning: the gimmick equipment was quieter this year. Fewer sous vide setups being pitched as BBQ replacements. Less molecular gastronomy nonsense being marketed to commercial kitchens that don't have time for that. The industry seems to be getting more practical.
And the cheap import smokers were there — they're always there — but the booth traffic told a story. Operators are figuring out that the $4,000 unit with the 8-week lead time on replacement parts isn't actually cheaper than the domestic-built smoker that'll still be running strong in fifteen years. I've got customers running SP-1000 units from the mid-2000s. Still holding temps within five degrees of set point. Try finding a twenty-year-old import smoker that can say the same.
The show reminded me why I got into this business in the first place. Equipment that works. Food that matters to people. Operators who take the craft seriously. That's worth the fourteen miles of walking.
Resources: Southern Pride of Texas parts and support | Southern Pride | NFPA commercial kitchen standards
#FoodServiceEquipment #KitchenMaintenance #SouthernPride #SouthernPrideSmokers #SouthernPrideOfTexas #CommercialKitchen #BBQEquipment
Photo by Saba Foods on Pexels.
About the Author: Earl has been competing in sanctioned BBQ events since the early 1990s and operates a commercial catering operation in Southeast Texas.