The BBQ Block launched in May 2024 at £99. We’d priced it by working backwards from what the material and process cost — not by finding a number that felt comfortable and working backwards from there. The oak, the maker’s time, the oil finish, the quality checking, the signing: these cost what they cost. £99 is an honest price for what the product is.
The nervousness before launch was straightforward: is £99 too much for a serving board? Not everyone thinks of a serving board as a £99 purchase. We thought the quality and the story justified it. We didn’t know for certain until the first orders arrived.
The First Customer Email
The email that resolved the pricing question came in the week of launch. The customer had received their BBQ Block that morning. The message: “arrived this morning, it’s extraordinary, nothing like I expected — photographs don’t do it justice.”
That phrase — photographs don’t do it justice — is the thing we’d hoped to hear and couldn’t verify until someone held one. The live edge, the weight of the board, the smell of oiled English oak: these are things a product page can describe but cannot communicate. The photography was good. The reality was better. That gap, in the right direction, is what makes a product worth the price asked for it.
What the First Reviews Said
The early reviews from the first production run mentioned three things consistently:
- Weight — the board is substantial. It sits on a table without moving. It feels like something built to last rather than something built to a price. This was intentional; it’s a function of using properly dried English oak at the right thickness.
- The smell of the oiled oak — something no photograph captures. Several reviewers mentioned it specifically, unprompted. It’s the kind of sensory detail that stays with someone.
- The natural edge — each board is unique because each piece of timber is unique. Customers who’d ordered without fully understanding what live-edge meant discovered it when the board arrived. The response was unanimous.
The First Run Sold Out
The initial production run — a small batch by design — sold out within three weeks. We hadn’t planned for that timeline. Lead time communication went out to customers who were waiting; a second batch went into production. The sell-out confirmed that the £99 price point was not a barrier for the customer we’d built this for.
It also confirmed something about small-batch production: you can only make as many as the material and process allow. That scarcity is not manufactured. It’s a function of making something properly with the right materials. The second batch took the time it needed to take.
