Meat the team
The Inferno History
Many have asked us how Inferno came to be… I have finally been able to sit down and tell our story.
José Gomez saw his first charcoal oven back in 2015 whilst traveling in Spain, and immediately knew he somehow wanted to be involved with this product. He found an international brand and brought it to South Africa, selling many units. After having been approached by numerous other brands to represent them in the South African market, José took on a second brand from Spain, selling a different portfolio of charcoal ovens. José then began to study the ovens… traveling as far as Europe and Australia to see them functioning in different kitchens and speaking to their owners to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the ovens.
José began to feel that he had a calling to create his own local brand of charcoal ovens that worldwide would be more robust, maintenance free and highly productive. He would thus be competing with some of the oldest and most established brands of charcoal ovens in the market. José, having fallen in love with South Africa, recognized the potential that this most diverse and talented country held. He felt that he wanted to showcase to the world that South Africa was truly capable of producing a remarkable oven that would compete within the international market.
After selling international brands in South Africa and creating his own clientele, José put together his own design. He had now established all the problems and manufacturing errors in the ovens along with their strengths. He also appreciated that language barriers made it difficult for the South African customer to communicate directly with international manufacturers. In addition, he observed that due to logistical problems, it took a great deal of time to repair these ovens as oven parts had to be brought from overseas, often halting production, making it extremely costly…. both of which hampered the hospitality industry, often during peak season, whilst running at full capacity.
Fast forward to 2019. José now contacted a steel fabricator in Gauteng to begin his lifelong dream of creating his own proudly South African, charcoal oven. The process was a lengthy one taking many emails and phone calls to create the structure/body of the oven, and after almost a year of back and forth communication, the fabricator failed to complete the task at hand due to the high demand of his other clients.
For the next few months José sat with the design foundation that he had created, deciding his next move. He was desperately trying to complete the final part of his excellent oven design, and in addition find an expert to manufacture it. The other element required that they add his look and unique identity for his now trademarked name INFERNO!
In February 2020, José was contacted by a small metal fabricator in Cape Town, who asked if José had any upcoming projects that he could assist with. As José had been designing and selling grills locally, he saw this as the perfect opportunity to complete his oven. We came to a decision to share our latest design with him, and so began the second life of INFERNO.
Unfortunately, with the lockdown, progress was put on hold. Nevertheless, José continued to work tirelessly throughout lockdown growing his brand, researching and perfecting the components and finishes he wanted to have. At that point José began the tiresome journey of back and forth communication with the metal fabricator and as lockdown lifted, visits to the fabricator.
Unless you have been dealing with the ovens for as long as we have, you cannot imagine how the elements work together…. It is through years of knowledge, while working hands-on and interacting with the products, fixing previous faults, adjusting and learning, that gives you the expertise to create a new era charcoal oven. Therefore, during the commissioned job there needed to be a lot of communication and hands-on guidance from José, because the unique design was unlike anything ever made before by a fabricator, or by anyone else in South Africa. The process took time and required total patience, guidance and finance to create OUR first generation INFERNO CHARCOAL OVEN.
There were still many changes and improvements that needed to be made, giving it that local touch, while maintaining international quality standards, in order to be amongst the leaders of the industry. In July 2020 our first prototype unit was sold and so began the second generation INFERNO CHARCOAL OVEN.
José opened a cooking studio in Cape Town, and showed the INFERNO to major players in the restaurant/hotel/entertainment industries from celebrity chef Jason Whitehead to master chef judge Pete Goffe-Wood. Restaurateurs travelled from as far as Namibia, Gauteng, Free State and George to see the INFERNO functioning, and testing it. INFERNO surpassed everyone’s expectations, guests/public that saw it, bought it. The INFERNO bug had bitten the industry, and we sold 8 units in a matter of few weeks. We were a truly proud South African brand, being supported by the best of the best in South Africa!
Unfortunately, with the pressure of production increasing, our fabricator was unable to maintain the demand and meet the mandatory, consistent quality requirements of our grills and INFERNO CHARCOAL OVENS. This was partly due to his cramped, uneven workspaces and limited machines available to him, forcing him to mostly outsource the parts. We needed to put our INFERNO brand on our ovens with complete confidence. However, our fabricator then messaged us saying that he was unable to assist with issues with the products he had made, due to bankruptcy. The relationship ended at this point. Shocked and stranded with manufacturing problems we then had to fix, and now without a manufacturer, we needed to dig deep to continue our dream!
We knew that to progress our brand, and protect our past and future clients, we needed to register our INFERNO design, which we did, thus protecting ourselves. Our clients could now be assured of true INFERNO quality.
Next we hired a highly qualified engineer, who worked for months on our Inferno oven, making professional changes and additions to the original designs. These original designs stemmed all the way back from Johannesburg, and all José’s additions made over the past year, while investing in and progressing the design in Cape Town. We improved the look, design, quality, functionality and the performance, whilst maintaining our unique register look, and fixed the previous issues which had arisen from the first and second generation INFERNO. Whilst improving them, we were also repairing them as issues arose from the previous generations. We then created the INFERNO which would be our smaller option, and the INFERNO XL during this time, now offering a unique range of not only colours, but also sizes.
From here, we began the lengthy process of finding the ultimate manufacturer within South Africa. After having been contacted by numerous international manufacturers, we knew wholeheartedly we wanted a local company to create our Trademarked INFERNO brand using our registered design. After a month of searching many amazing South African companies, we found our perfect match. We knew this company would consistently create premium quality charcoal ovens. We knew there could never be a company more skilled and well equipped who are absolute perfectionists, like José, and who are professional and completely dedicated to our brand. The match was made. Documents were signed and production was underway.
We started exporting the third and final generation of INFERNO charcoal ovens to our distributor in Australia. We have also sold many to local restaurants and households, whilst receiving countless enquiries from the hospitality industry, and distributors both locally and abroad, now asked for by name.. INFERNO!
Our brand has come so far from its early beginnings in Johannesburg, to finally finishing off in our very own city, Cape Town. From the small garage to the huge manufacturing plant which creates stock of our trademarked ovens – PROUDLY MADE IN SOUTH AFRICA! We are supported by the industry, as with the South African Chefs Association, who we are registered and work with, to uplift and support them in the grilling industry. Having gained many years of extensive knowledge working solely with Charcoal ovens, to finally planning and designing the perfect oven, we have emerged from lockdown with a fully completed, perfect product. We now offer one of the best charcoal ovens in the world, and to top it all we are all very Proudly South African!
