Crowned China’s Strongest Man 2023, chef and owner of Hong Kong restaurant Smoke & Barrel Arron Rhodes is as hungry for further F&B expansion as he is to win more weightlifting competitions.
Creator of Hong Kong’s most authentic Texas barbecue restaurant, Smoke & Barrel, and victor of China’s Strongest Man 2023, chef-turned-entrepreneur Arron Rhodes cuts an inspirational figure.
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Having worked as a chef for almost 20 years, he set up F&B business Showmen Group in 2019, with Smoke and Barrel debuting a year later. Its beef short rib (smoked for 18 hours in a smoker imported from Missouri), all-American brisket and pulled pork became instant hits with diners, while its Meat Smoking 101 classes are ideal for those who want to cook up perfect pork ribs.
Like the best entrepreneurs, Rhodes found a niche. “I felt Hong Kong was missing some authentic Texan dishes. Everyone knows the food so it was an easy sell and it’s worked out to be very popular,” says Rhodes.
Before the restaurant opened its doors, the chef gave himself 40 days to hone and tweak his recipes, and the menu has evolved to include belly-busting special The Beast Platter, which features 1.5kg of spare ribs, 400g of brisket, 1.2kg of chicken, 400g of pulled pork plus sides.
Following the success of Smoke & Barrel, the Showmen Group opened Smoke & Deli, a retail grab & go outlet where you can stock up on cooked and raw meats, and the Smoke & Barrel Cafe, where you can pair your brisket with a strawberry shake. You can also catch them at Clockenflap and the AIA Carnival this December.
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Do you still like to get your hands dirty in the kitchen?
Yes, at least one day a week I’m in the kitchen with the chefs, checking out the produce and then we’ll sit down and come up with new ideas; maybe we’ll tweak the recipe for the sausages, for example. Once a month, I’ll jump in and do some smoking. Our pastry chef recently left, so I’ve been teaching two new staff how to make our home-made bread, cheesecakes, cornbread, cookies and brownies. I still enjoy doing it and it doesn’t feel like a job. The smell of barbecue, and eating barbecue, is still amazing to me.
It must have felt risky opening a restaurant in 2020 when covid had just hit. What was your plan?
It was always going to be tricky, but there wasn’t anyone else doing what we were doing, so I just hoped we’d find our market. The group’s approach is just about going back to basics and treating people as you’d like to be treated, and having conversations with guests when they arrive and leave – this goes a lot further than most people realise. I always tell staff that the real bosses of the restaurant are the ones sitting at the table.
Tell us how you became crowned China’s Strongest Man
I’d been lifting weights for 15 years, then about six years ago, a friend invited me to go to this gym in Hong Kong. I went along for fun, and it turns out it was a strong man class. I knew what ‘strong man’ was, as I used to watch it on TV as a child with my Dad. I did a few sessions, and then I found out the Arnold Classic Asia (a competition under the Arnold Schwarznegger brand) was coming to Hong Kong. The coach at the gym signed me up and I loved the adrenalin of lifting heavy weights. In the end, I won.
Then I qualified for the world championships in the US and ended up coming 14th in the world. From that moment on, I was hooked. My Dad flew to the US to support me, so it’s more than just the competition, it’s an opportunity to bond with him. You make a lot of friends during the competitions too; everyone enjoys swapping ideas and giving advice.
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I’d say I’ve got a year or two left to compete… I lost a couple of years during covid, when I was just at my peak.
What are some of the risks associated with competing at this level?
I entered a competition in Malaysia earlier this year, then half-way through, I detached my bicep and needed 24 stitches. I now have a pin in my arm. Five and a half months later, I was back competing again, and won China’s Strongest Man this September. I’m now preparing for the World Championships in the US next year.
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How do you find balance between managing the business, working in the kitchen and training for competitions?
I’ve realised if you want to do certain things, then you have to push yourself a little bit harder. So if my start time at work is at 10am, I’ll go in at 8.30am. I always try to get a head start on the day, then give myself a couple of hours in the afternoon to go to the gym.
Where do you like to eat besides your own restaurant?
I go to a lot of casual restaurants; I like Hong Kong food, there’s a couple of dim sum restaurants that I go to in Yuen Long, near where I live. I also like going across the border to Shenzhen to eat hotpot at Haidilao (it’s the largest hotpot chain in China).
Who has inspired you along the way?
In terms of chefs, Virgilio Martínez Véliz of Peru’s Centrale. The way he works, his food, his philosophy… I had the pleasure of working with him in Peru for a few months, so that was really nice. Then there’s Andre Chiang, who used to run Singapore’s Restaurant Andre (it closed in 2018). He’s now based in Taiwan, and I’m going to meet him there as I have a competition there soon. I had the pleasure to work with him also, and take inspiration from him in how I treat my customers and staff, and always make time for them.
How ambitious are you for your brand – do you want to build an empire?
Yeah, I think I’d like to. I have a couple of ideas about putting some concepts into the Kowloon side and twisting the design and the menu so it’s more suited to locals and mainlanders. I think the days of relying on expats has gone away for a little while, so I’d like to do a little restaurant or some small outlets in Kowloon and I’m in talks with some people in China, so we could do a franchise there.
What are your long-term plans for the business?
I’d like to have at least five or six outlets in Hong Kong, potentially a couple overseas. Then I’d like to offer some of my long-standing staff a percentage of the business, as eventually I’ll be receiving enough dividends so I can step down as operating manager and hand that over to someone else. Hopefully, we’d open up a new restaurant every couple of years or so and they could be part of that journey, too.
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