BBQ in a Box: How furloughed festival dreams turned to sizzling success

It's a vibe: Alexander Mair cooking at the grill

By mid February, 2020 was looking to be Alexander Mair’s year. An account director at communications agency The Fitting Room, his team had just sent a London wine bar viral, landing a spot on Jimmy Fallon with a Prosecco vending machine. A week later, they pulled off the Brits’ biggest afterparty for Sony’s Since ‘93 label. A month after that, lockdown hit.

“The hospitality industry – everything just halted, very quickly. Events were postponed, as well as any launch plans. So it was a pretty tricky situation that everyone had to go through,” Mair says diplomatically.

TFR have kept delivering campaigns – with Mair still working his usual hours – but with the office temporarily closed, he retreated to his family home in Buckinghamshire and found himself missing not just the restaurants he worked with, but the delivery he was used to: “The food choice here, whilst it’s nice… well, there isn’t really a diverse choice. And Deliveroo isn’t available for everyone.”

Having long been the go-to cook for friends’ parties, and with shifts at a food festival under his belt, Mair got to thinking.

"Since the start of the year, I'd thought about doing things. I'm still looking to do live events," he says now, "but of course, those plans got put on hold."

Still, it took just a weekend to come with up his contactless home delivery service, BBQ in a Box. Family inspired the food.

“Each dish has some sort of reference to my upbringing or friends and family,” he says, “the jerk chicken marinade – it’s my mother's, we’ve had it for years – I've had to take a few scotch bonnets out because we like it extra spicy in our household. I didn’t want to blow everyone’s head off.”

Family was also instrumental in getting things off the ground. "I was thinking about food for a while, and then it just was a sort of a 'f*** it moment' – let's just try it. And my sister, she encouraged me to pursue it and has been the most supportive person you could imagine.

"She pushes me into areas that I don't necessarily feel comfortable in sometimes. Sometimes you need that, especially now, with all this stuff going on. You need people to push you."

BBQ in a Box, in pictures

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The pushing worked. Doing what it says on the tin – make that box – Mair's customers can build their own meal from a menu of fish, meat and vegetables, all brightly spiced. “It’s not about bland food getting burnt,” laughs Mair.

Packages come with cooking tips and, putting the “chill” in their “chill and grill” slogan, there are Spotify playlists to party to. “It’s about giving people a vibe.”

Since then, repeat customers have asked Mair back – not just to drop off the food, but to cook it, too. "I've done birthdays, did a father's day thing. Usually I just deliver it and go, and don't get to see people eat. It's actually been really nice to see them enjoy it."

Not one to miss an opportunity, private catering is now part of the menu and, with the great British summer reliably patchy, the barbecue offering has been expanded; Mair now offers Oven In A Box: "Sure, it's about the rain. But a lot of people want the dishes but don't fancy doing a barbecue, or maybe don't have the outdoors space to do it."

Keeping it local was never on the table, says Mair, who now drops off 75 meals weekly across London and the home counties. There’s a sense he has a soft spot; “I had one lady who emailed saying she wanted to do a birthday dinner with her twins. One was in Clapham. The other was with her... in Northampton.” Mair drove the 90 miles each way to make it happen.

An Instagram video shows him dancing during another delivery; “It was a bop. The order came in from Australia for family here. So…” He’s also donated more than 50 boxes to key workers.

But what of those summer plans that were forced to pause? "Oh, I'm going to make them happen. When it's safe, when it's appropriate, I'm really looking forward to those opportunities. I'm buzzing for it. Something's coming though."

For now though, he's staying focussed on BBQ in a Box. And business is good; Mair’s recently taken on a driver and a kitchen helper and hopes to grow soon. “I want to take this as far as I can,” he says, “because it’s about sitting down, having a laugh together and for a moment, forgetting what’s been going on.”

For more information, visit bbqinabox.co.uk

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