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81: The Fuel Behind the Flavor What Cattle Producers Can Learn From Thaan Charcoal · CattleUSA Daily

• 0:00
  Welcome back to another episode of the Cattle USA Daily podcast.
• 0:03
  Today we are switching it up a little bit and we are actually
• 0:06
  bringing on Toby Roberts from Taun Charcoal today and we're
• 0:10
  going to be talking about the food industry.
• 0:12
  This is so important for us as cattle producers because so
• 0:16
  often we are removed from the actual end product that is beef
• 0:21
  production and what that means from the restaurant industry,
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  consumer industry and everything like that.
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  Toby and his team have built an amazing charcoal product,
• 0:30
  product that is so innovative and just really cool to talk
• 0:33
  about. And I'm not going to go into too
• 0:35
  much detail on what exactly it is because y'all are going to
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  get that directly from Toby here in a couple minutes.
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  But without further ado, let's go ahead and hop into this
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  podcast with Toby and talk all things grilling charcoal, the
• 0:47
  charcoal industry, the restaurant industry, and what
• 0:49
  that means for us as beef producers.
• 0:55
  Welcome to the Cattle USA Daily podcast, your go to source for
• 0:58
  the latest livestock markets, industry insights and the
• 1:01
  updates shaping agriculture today.
• 1:03
  I'm your host, Lauren Moylan, a passionate advocate for
• 1:06
  agriculture here to keep you informed and connected.
• 1:09
  Now let's dive into today's episode.
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  Toby, welcome to the podcast. I would love it if you could
• 1:18
  just take it away and share more about you guys, your company.
• 1:22
  And I'll just let you take it away from there and I'll just.
• 1:23
  Ask questions based off of that and we'll just have a fun combo.
• 1:26
  Sounds good. OK, perfect.
• 1:28
  If you are ready, then I'm ready and we can just jump right in.
• 1:31
  Let's do it. All right, perfect, Toby,
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  welcome to the podcast. I am so excited for today's
• 1:37
  conversation and just a little bit of a change up for us over
• 1:41
  here at the podcast and what we're talking about and we're
• 1:44
  talking about the food industry today and specifically your
• 1:48
  guys's amazing business that you started out in Portland, OR.
• 1:51
  And I'm not going to talk too much about it.
• 1:52
  I would love it if you could just take it away, share a
• 1:54
  little bit about you, your guys's business, your story, all
• 1:57
  of the. Things awesome.
• 1:59
  Thank you, Lauren. It's good to be here.
• 2:00
  Thanks for having me. Yeah, I started Tom Charcoal
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  back way back in 2014 as a part of a restaurant group.
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  It was Pok Pok Restaurants, a group of Thai restaurants that
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  was based in Portland, but we had locations in New York and LA
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  and Las Vegas, and we used a lot of charcoal.
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  And the charcoal at the time was either really terrible and messy
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  or it was really expensive, but environmentally, you know,
• 2:32
  damaging made from mangrove, which is really detrimental to
• 2:37
  riparian areas. And so I was on the hunt for a
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  better charcoal for, for restaurants and worked with a
• 2:46
  really awesome second generation family in Thailand, in the
• 2:50
  Rayong region of Thailand to manufacture a really high
• 2:55
  quality charcoal made from plantation by product basically.
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  So trimmings from Rambutan plantation.
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  And yeah, ever since then I've I've been supporting the
• 3:06
  restaurant industry with really high quality sustainable
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  charcoal that makes for a better grilling experience for
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  restaurants and home users as well.
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  More consistent, better flavor in particular and more
• 3:22
  sustainable. Can you dive into, can you dive
• 3:26
  into go ahead with that? And then I want to hear more
• 3:28
  about the process of building your own charcoal and what that
• 3:33
  was like as a business owner and stuff too.
• 3:35
  But go ahead. Sorry, I didn't mean to
• 3:36
  interrupt. You no worries.
• 3:37
  I was just going to mention that, you know, I've always been
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  in restaurants. I've owned and operated and
• 3:42
  managed restaurants. In the last few years I've been
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  developing a charcoal grill that really was designed for use in
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  restaurants, but is also incredible, you know,
• 3:54
  centerpiece of a patio kitchen at home.
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  But the grill is it's a fully insulated tabletop charcoal
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  grill. It's built for really rigorous
• 4:07
  use, but like intense direct heat, quick cooks, really,
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  really beautiful flavors and perfect sears.
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  So that that's our entree into the equipment market with that
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  Taan grill. Really excited about it.
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  But yeah, the, the process of making our own charcoal is, you
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  know #1 finding the right partners to to help.
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  And this family that we work with in Thailand, they have
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  built a whole ecosystem around their charcoal manufacturing in
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  that they support land owners by giving them trees to start with.
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  They, they help them, they give them fruit trees, rambutan
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  trees, and then they teach them how to, you know, manage those,
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  the harvests and manage pruning to maximize harvest.
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  And then they take all those prunings from the plantation to
• 5:00
  make charcoal. And the process is, you know,
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  it's an age-old process, but they have it really dialed.
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  We, we carbonize the wood trimmings, we grind them to a
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  really fine powder and mix it with just tapioca starch as a
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  binder, so 100% natural product, and then extrude it under very
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  high pressure through a mold to make the briquettes themselves.
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  So it's really, really dense. And because it's really dense,
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  it burns without smoke and it burns for a very long time.
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  And that makes it great for food service, but really any grilling
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  activity at all. Yeah, absolutely.
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  And it's so cool that you guys saw such a need in the industry
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  and you're like, I'm going to figure this out myself.
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  Like we, we can fix this. We can be better.
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  And especially in a environment where now we have a consumer
• 5:48
  population that Evermore is wanting to have a healthier,
• 5:52
  more sustainable product and they care about how their food
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  is prepared and everything that goes into that.
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  And a big concern in some charcoal instances using
• 6:02
  traditional charcoal is what is being left on the meat.
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  What am I consuming as a consumer?
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  And you guys have created a product that not only is
• 6:11
  extremely sustainable, but also provides amazing flavor and is
• 6:16
  healthy for you and great in everything like that.
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  Can you talk about a little bit more about the experience of the
• 6:23
  charcoal and how that really impacts the final product that
• 6:27
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• 6:32
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• 6:35
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• 6:56
  to learn more today. Yeah, absolutely.
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  You know, what we preach is that charcoal is an ingredient.
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  Just like anything else that you use, it affects the flavor of
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  what you're cooking. Different charcoals are good for
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  different uses, different equipment, different dishes.
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  We in the last few years, we launched 100% oak charcoal from
• 7:19
  the high deserts of Chihuahua. It's really beautiful stuff that
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  if you do want more of that smoky flavor, you know, if
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  you're barbecuing, if you're doing anything where you want
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  that smoke flavor, it's a, it's a really good alternative to our
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  extruded charcoal, which, which doesn't provide any smoke
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  flavor. But in the end, it's a choice,
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  what you're using. It's not just a fuel, it's an
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  ingredient. One of our favorite things to do
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  is to grill the same thing, like a skewer or a steak, anything.
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  We cook one on our oak charcoal and you get that smooth
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  smokiness and you cook another on the Thai style and it's just
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  like pure sort of ingredient. Like it tastes like what you're
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  cooking and the fat strip down and that's really what like
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  flavors it. So we all have this nostalgic,
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  you know, memory or not all of us, but many of us have this
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  systolic memory of like the Kingsford smell, right?
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  Which is like it's chemical, but it reminds you of cooking hot
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  dogs in the backyard. And it's not unpleasant, but
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  it's like Borax and coal and like weird stuff.
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  And it affects the flavor of what you're cooking for sure.
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  So, you know, you want to choose good quality ingredients along
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  the whole chain, like, you know, you're spending 100 bucks on a
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  beautiful steak. You don't want to like coat it
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  with Borax or like weird, you know, weird chemicals.
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  You want the like best possible steak you can possibly get.
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  And you know, choosing the right fuel, choosing the right
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  charcoal will definitely get you there.
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  And certainly cooking it over charcoal or live fire is going
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  to get you a better flavor than, you know, like a gas or some
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  other form of cooking. There's just something about
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  cooking over fire that that takes it to another level.
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  I do not disagree in the slightest and as someone who has
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  steak or different types of beef very frequently and has a
• 9:15
  husband that really cares about cooking it and cooking it well,
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  it is so cool to see just a different form of cooking
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  amazing beef and how you guys are providing for that for the
• 9:27
  industry. As far as consumerism goes with
• 9:30
  your guys's product and what that looks like, how are you
• 9:33
  guys seeing consumer trends? Learn more towards product that
• 9:37
  is yours or like yours throughout the restaurant
• 9:39
  industries or just consumer direct to consumer as well.
• 9:43
  Yeah, I certainly in the restaurant industry it's growing
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  a lot and the there's something intangible, you know, like we
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  know about cooking over fire and it really elevates the guest
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  experience. So more and more restaurants are
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  including some form of live fire cooking program in their
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  restaurant. And you know, our grill and our
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  charcoal they are they're really great ways of adding a live fire
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  cooking program without crazy investment.
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  You know, they don't, you don't have to install a hearth or you
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  know, you don't have to invest 10s of thousands of dollars, but
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  you can still achieve that like really beautiful live fire
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  cooked flavor and experience. So definitely growing in
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  restaurants a lot, which is really fun for consumers.
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  It's also really growing and like the awareness of, of
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  quality products along the whole thing and the whole experience
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  is growing. You know, flavor is king and
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  like experience is king. And our products are, are
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  designed for great flavor and the best possible experience.
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  And people are like investing more in, you know, cooking at
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  home is like growing a lot. People are doing a lot more
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  cooking at home. And so investing in that
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  experience and making it as rewarding as possible.
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  And so I would like to see a more like a faster and bigger
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  shift away from this idea of convenience towards like
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  enjoying experiences, you know, like I feel like we've been
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  force fed for a long time the idea that convenience is the
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  most important thing. So the gas grills are really
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  convenient, but like, why don't you just cook inside if it's not
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  really going to be a live fire cooking experience?
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  So I do see people committing to taking more time with, with some
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  of these experiences slowing down a little bit and letting
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  the charcoal get going and you know, enjoying company and
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  building community around live fire cooking experiences.
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  I think that's really fun to see.
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  Absolutely. I my friend group and as a young
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  adult couple, that's something that I've definitely seen a
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  trend towards recently as well. We really.
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  Value. What we're doing together and
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  being able to have an opportunity to get together with
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  our friends and go grill outside and just enjoy each other's
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  company and not rush a evening get together on a Wednesday
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  night. We're doing we're making it a
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  whole thing, right? And so I think that we are
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  seeing consumer trends definitely lean more towards
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  that, especially like you said, after living so long in a rush,
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  rush, rush society and a let's have it right now, people are
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  valuing that more and they're putting bigger emphasis on the
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  experience that's within that. So the ingredients that they're
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  choosing, the type of food that they're doing all of that stuff.
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  And people have said for so long that food is an experience and
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  food brings community. And this is an amazing example
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  and an opportunity for people to understand that too, that food
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  is community. And I love that you said flavor
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  is king because we're big on that in the beef industry.
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  That flavor is always going to be king.
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  And the flavor of beef is there and that you guys are helping
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  support that is just, it's so cool to see that the actual
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  facts of it of like, hey, this is better for you.
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  But then also like, hey, you can also like have a better life
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  because of this because you're slowing down and you're enjoying
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  life again and everything that goes with that.
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  Yeah, the the grill that we designed, the Tom Grill, it's a
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  tabletop grill. And really it's about a more
• 13:26
  engaging interactive experience of grilling over charcoals.
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  You know, very often people have the stand alone grills, you
• 13:33
  know, the big Green Eggs or the Weber's and they're like off in
• 13:35
  the corner and there's like the grill master, you know, they got
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  their tongs and their Budweiser or something.
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  And you know, it's beautiful and fun.
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  But this grill, the Tom Grill, it operates at safe
• 13:47
  temperatures, so you can literally bring the grilling to
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  the table and have everybody kind of participating and like
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  you said, like, you know, enjoying company and building
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  community around around literally the fire.
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  So yeah, that's amazing. That's what it's all about,
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  right? Yes, it absolutely is.
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  I had so much fun learning more about your guys's company today
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  and everything that it stands for and represents and
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  everything that goes along with it.
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  I was just talking to my husband actually last night.
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  I was like, hey, I'm itching for a trip to Thailand in the next
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  few, like in the next year. So this is like perfect timing
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  for this conversation. He's gonna listen to me like,
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  hey, it was a God moment. I'm just saying that we had a
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  really great conversation about Thailand.
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  Absolutely. All of your guys's yeah stuff
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  so. Absolutely.
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  I was there in January. It's beautiful place.
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  I love it. Absolutely.
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  Well, as always, thank you so much, Toby, for coming on and
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  sharing a little bit more about your company and your expertise
• 14:47
  and just everything that you guys are doing for the industry
• 14:51
  and food industry out there. We really appreciate your time
• 14:53
  and to all of our listeners out there, we'll have all of Toby's
• 14:56
  links link down below for the company if you guys want to
• 15:00
  check them out and just see what their company's all about.
• 15:03
  A little bit more about their story and everything that they
• 15:05
  have to offer down in the show notes for you guys.
• 15:08
  And if you enjoyed today's episode, share it with a friend.
• 15:10
  Maybe you guys need to have a little bit of a live fire
• 15:12
  experience, couples, date night, whatever that may be for you
• 15:15
  guys. So Toby, thank you for your time
• 15:18
  today and to all of you listeners, we will see you all
• 15:20
  next time on another episode of the Cattle USA Daily Podcast.
• 15:23
  Have a good one y'all. Thanks, Lauren.