COMPETITOR

Roker Q

HEAD COOK: Nick Palsenbarg

COMPETITION: World Barbecue Championship - EAT Division

I am Nick Palsenbarg from Leduc, Alberta. I am the owner of Edmonton Smokers and BBQ Supply and the fabricator of Roker Grills. My passion for food started in high school and carried on into Post-Secondary where I received my Red Seal Chef Certification in 2000 in BC. I loved to cook for others but I knew this wasn't my forever career. In 2004 I got a job at a small facility doing some minor welding. I started to really enjoy this line of work also. In 2005 I got married and moved to Kelowna, BC where I had the opportunity to work in some welding and fabrication shops. In 2011 I was offered a welding apprenticeship in Alberta and I knew I couldn't pass it up. So we packed up and did the move to a bit of a colder climate. In Alberta I had a chance to work in many different shops. Things with the oilfield were booming, keeping us welders very busy. In 2016 I decided to open up my own welding shop. I worked on many custom jobs and kept myself pretty busy. Then in 2019 when Covid started things slowed down dramatically. Less and less jobs were coming my way. I still had a passion for cooking and loved using my pellet grill. I had been on the search for a brand of Pellets called Pitmasters Choice. I couldn't find these pellets anywhere local and that was when I had the idea to get a couple pallets of pellets in and sell them out of my welding shop. I approached my wife with the idea and she thought I was a little crazy but supported me like usual. With restaurants being shut down due to covid a lot of people started to expand their in home cooking and BBQing. The couple pallets of pellets turned into sauces and seasonings, smokers, accessories, cookwood and more. Now we carry over 200 products, we try to carry a great variety of local and Canadian products as well as the more popular products. Included in our product line is our own Smoker Brand, Roker Grills. We will be towing them down to The World Foods Competition and be using them to do our cooks for the competition. These grills are welded right beside our BBQ Store in our welding shop. They are of high quality with attention to detail. I guess you could say I took my 2 passions and put them together and here I am ! I am very excited to take part in the World Foods Championships 2022!!