Rockwood 10-year anniversary pics! Thank you Eggheadforum!

stlcharcoal

For those of you not on our mailing list and not following the Facebook or Instagram pages, Monday 5/8 was the 10th anniversary of Rockwood and we've been posting some old pictures, and having giveaways, sales, etc.  Figured those of your that are anti-social media like me, would still like to see these pics.......

Here are my initial notes, drawings, paper samples, color drawdowns, etc in 2012, and the first designs from our friends at Atomicdust in STL ..... https://www.atomicdust.com/work/rockwood-charcoal/





Here were the first bag samples I filled with Styrofoam


The first batch!!  May 8th, 2013



Picture day with the real product, May 9th 2013






The first deliveries on May 10th, 2013 to a half dozen stores in St. Louis.





A few days later, was Mother's Day 2013......had some fun with the boys.  (This kid is as tall as I am now and graduates 8th grade tomorrow)  




Not too long after, Rockwood is starting to getting popular!
 
Father's Day 2013 gift ideas featured on Show Me St. Louis


July 2013, now #1 on TNW




Filming at the plant for the first TV appearance!



Featured in Missouri Life magazine:



By the end of 2013, instead of the planned dozen stores in St. Louis, Rockwood was in 63 stores in 13 states.  By the end of 2014, Rockwood was hundreds of stores across the Midwest and Southeastern US, and I quit my career as an air ambulance captain and TV/news helicopter pilot to go all in on charcoal.

A few years later, front page of the St. Louis Business Journal!  Article here:  http://bizj.us/1p9dka



Seriously??!?!?!  Even Martha Stewart loves the Rockwood!




Fast forward to this year, Rockwood is available in 10,000 stores in all 50 states and online, mostly thanks to Ace Hardware.

And last month, on display at the Missouri State Capitol for BuyMissouri Day!  My 2nd oldest son made the front page of the newspaper:
https://www.newstribune.com/news/2023/apr/20/buy-missouri-day-showcases-missouri-businesses-at/







Back out in Jefferson City the following Monday to BBQ with the Governor of Missouri, Mike Parson (he worked in a charcoal plant as a teenager!)  Guess what kind of charcoal they use at the Governor's Mansion?




From our family, thank you for ten great years, and let's keep this fun going for many more!!  This career change was the best thing that ever happened as it allowed me to get out of a dangerous job, stay home with my boys when they were young, buy the warehouse across the street from their school, employee them during 2020 when I couldn't hire anyone else, and show them a lot more opportunities and education through this business they helped build.....a business that was supposed to be nothing more than a hobby and tax write-off when I started it.  Oops!

Thanks again for all of the support I have received from this forum.  Great times meeting some of you at Eggtoberfest, Butt Blast, Brisket Camp, other Eggfests--need to keep those events going!  I hope you enjoyed this walk down memory lane as much as I did.  -JH

TEXASBGE2018

Great product! I Wish you 10 more years of success 

lkapigian

Awesome Jonathan!  Congratulations!

Eggpharmer

Congratulations Jonathan! Awesome product and even better customer service. You deserve the success!

nolaegghead

Congrats, Jonathan!  Thanks for everything you’ve done for my fest and all the charcoal starved eggers out there…

lousubcap

Below is the link to enjoy the 10 year anniversary and savings-Code 10YEARS-

https://store.rockwoodcharcoal.com/?&utm_campaign=campaign:+2nd+email+10%+off+for+10+years+of+Rockwood+Charcoal+(645ae89ffe8b5e483560251e)&utm_medium=email&utm_source=omnisend&omnisendContactID=6451292be38056001651bf35

lousubcap

Great thread above-glad to be a long time customer.  You guys deliver a quality product, on-time or early every time.  Since finding Rockwood I have never looked elsewhere. 

Way to stay the course.  May you find ever expanding opportunities in the future. 

HeavyG

Congratulations for reaching such a milestone, may there be many more to follow!
You make a fine product and I always recommend it to folks looking for a great lump charcoal.

mehsrea

Great charcoal! I tell everyone here in northern Virginia to get it.

Ozzie_Isaac

Awesome post!  Congratulations too, great product, great customer service.

I do miss the days when you drop shipped pallets direct to us consumers!

loco_engr

Thank You for posting this interesting documentary

nolaegghead

You set a good example as a business owner interacting on a public forum….maybe a certain lawn dart salesman will be inspired.

JohnInCarolina

This thread gives me major wood... Rockwood!

Langner91

Great post!  Congratulations!

ColtsFan

 Congratulations. We appreciate you being a part of our egg family. 

Wolfpack

Great story and thank you for sharing. Sounds like it’s been a fun and crazy journey. 

Glad to hear things continue to go well. 

lkapigian

JohnInCarolina said:

This thread gives me major wood... Rockwood!

LoL

kl8ton

Congratulations! Thanks for sharing a little bit of insider info and a great number of photos depicting your history.


Did you ever think you would be proud to be number one on a website called The Naked Whiz?

lousubcap

There is marketing value in Rockwood independent of your lump. 

And @stlcharcoal figured it out.

 Rockwood and Naked Whiz sounds like a movie script waiting to be written.

ksmyrl

Wow. I bought my first egg in 2012 once i found rockwood i never looked elsewhere. Does that make me an early adopter? 

This story literally nearly brought tears to my eyes. (Full disclosure i cry in Disney movies). But a family man with an idea that worked. Stands behind his product. Employs others and (i assume) is good to those employees. Chalk one up for capitalism and 'Murica. Congrats from a devoted customer. 

Even more so now. 

RRP

Terrific thread!!! And CONGRATS for 10 years and BEST wishes for MANY MANY MORE!!! I doubt you would remember this at all...but early on in your biz @Ozzie_Isaac , his father and I teamed up to purchase a pallet of your lump and had it dropped off at a business in Washington. IL.

JohnnyTarheel

Congratulations!!! Best there is!!

QDude

Love your product!  Thanks for the background story.

stlcharcoal

ksmyrl said:

Wow. I bought my first egg in 2012 once i found rockwood i never looked elsewhere. Does that make me an early adopter? 

This story literally nearly brought tears to my eyes. (Full disclosure i cry in Disney movies). But a family man with an idea that worked. Stands behind his product. Employs others and (i assume) is good to those employees. Chalk one up for capitalism and 'Murica. Congrats from a devoted customer. 

Even more so now. 

HA!  My four boys tried to unionize in 2020, after what I put them through.  They were off school at the end of March that year and with all of our dealers' stores shut down, the online business exploded.  Panic buy combined with normal April/May/June online sales were too much to handle for the normal crew (me), so those four boys saved my butt.  We would home school from 0800-1100, eat some deer burger or brats for lunch, then head to the warehouse from noon to 3 to box up all the online order from our site and Amazon.  UPS was sending a box truck everyday since we were overflowing the regular truck. 

A lot of people gave my crap about taking PPP money, but that's the only thing that kept us going those couple months until I got the money back from Amazon.  That money then went into my kids' accounts since they did all the work.  Had I not set up a Nike style sweat shop in my warehouse, not sure we would have made it through that time since all of our dealers were shut down.  I would pull my SUV into the warehouse, shut the door, and it would only open back up when UPS showed up at the dock.  I probably could have gotten away with it because we could have claimed "food service" providers, but it was completely BS that we were ordered to shut down when across the street Wal-Mart, Dollar Store, etc were packed with lines out the doors.  

After that UPS truck left, we were out in the boat, swimming in the river the rest of the afternoon and evening.  It was a great of a summer for us.

MaskedMarvel

Fantastic company and family. 

Congratulations my friend!

JohnInCarolina

He won’t mention this so I will, but @stlcharcoal has consistently donated lots of lump and other goodies to events like Butt Blast and Brisket Camp, etc.  I’m pretty sure he did that without anyone asking him, too.  The man just shows up with bags and bags of lump, wood chunks, and Rockwood hats, just to name a few things.  It has been greatly appreciated.  

I only smoke with Rockwood.  

Buckwoody Egger

Great story and product— thanks for sharing!  Always great to see people take initiative and grow something that creates a business. Happy to support with every bag! 

bluebird66

Congratulations and thanks for making such a great product!

alaskanassasin

Nice. Thanks for sharing. Also I’m a vote for the end cut logo if it’s not too late.

northGAcock

Thank you for sharing your story in pictures. Love the story and product. May you have many more years of success!

ksmyrl

Makes the story even better! Congratulations again. I'll raise a few glasses for your many many more years of business.