My partner Anton Hughes and Wes Griffiths bonded over authentic Texas style American Barbecue. This like-mindedness was strong enough to inspire them to go into business together. This is our story on how two die-hard barbecue fiends opened what we now are proud to call Bovine and Swine Barbecue Co.

Anton already had a first attempt at opening a restaurant, which did not go ahead; while Wes, the first Pit Master at Vic’s Meat Market, had moved on to cooking for events and festivals as well as building his own epic stick burner, a wood fired barbecue.

Enter stage right Mr Tim Chillingworth, the final player in the Bovine and Swine ownership show. Tim has had a passion bordering on obsession for all things Americana for as long as he can remember. He had owned and ran Faster Pussycat, Newtown’s one stop shop for 1950s rock ‘n’ roll-style gear with a bit of a 1970s DIY punk ethos, since 1996.

Tim met Wes and Anton a few years earlier through various gigs and generally hanging out in the bars and pubs of Sydney’s inner west. While Anton and Wes were immersing themselves in learning to cook everything Texas barbecue, Tim travelled regularly to the United States where he developed a taste for the food, and an interest in expanding beyond the increasingly challenging world of bricks and mortar retail.

Two years ago, Tim started meeting with people interested in starting an American barbecue business. In every case, though, something was not quite right in the details, in the business structure, in the commitment, in the dynamic. Having been in business for himself for nearly 20 years, Tim knew that he needed to hold out for the right team. Over a few beers with Wes, they discussed going in to business together.

Texas style barbecue needs to cook for at least 12 hours, and it’s not a ‘set and forget’ scenario. The fire needs to be stoked; temperatures need to be checked regularly. One cook cannot do it alone. Wes suggested they bring Anton on board, and the Bovine and Swine team came together.

This phase of the Bovine and Swine adventure involved a lot of pub dates (‘business meetings’), and barbecue dinners (‘research trips’). There are a number of really committed people doing excellent barbecue in Sydney. Tim, Anton and Wes agree that their favourite is the barbecue that The Oxford Tavern does on Friday nights and for lunches on the weekends. American barbecue comes across as simple, but the process is really difficult to get right, especially to scale. The guys at the Oxford do a great job, and the atmosphere is really close to the vibe at a real Texas smokehouse.

Anton, Wes and Tim were confident they could all work well together, and believed in each other’s commitment and abilities. They also had a really simple idea – everyone would bring the same amount of capital to the business, and everyone would take out an equal share. I know that sounds obvious, but many a business has foundered over a lack of clarity in its structure.

How to find a restaurant space

It was time to start looking seriously for a venue. It can be a really frustrating experience looking for a commercial property to rent. We would express an interest in a property only to never hear back and later find that it was leased to someone else. We found what we thought was the perfect venue in Marrickville, close to a live music venue and a train station. For us, a real challenge with finding the right venue was the amount of smoke this style of cooking generates. The Marrickville dream shop was a stand-alone building, it had plenty of space for storage, and we thought we might even be able to get bands in over the weekends in the outdoor space. Sadly the landlord didn’t share our enthusiasm for creating a little piece of Texas in Marrickville, and we missed out.

Eventually a venue popped up that ticked a whole heap of the team’s boxes. Enmore Road is fast becoming one of Sydney’s best eat streets. You can go higher end, at Hartsyard, Osteria de Russo & Russo and Stanbuli; or you can do cheap and cheerful at Faheem’s Fast Food, Banks Thai, Black Ginger and Sultan’s Table. The strip has you covered for desserts and small bars too, with Cow and Moon, Hakiki Turkish Gelato, The Gretz, and The Midnight Special. And of course, everyone’s favourite local brewers Young Henry’s are just around the corner. The Enmore Theatre brings the crowds every week, so there’s always plenty going on.

The guys heard that a Peruvian restaurant on Enmore Road was closing, which was great news because Peruvian cooking involves a lot of wood smoke. The venue at 92 Enmore Road is small, a bit smaller than the boys would have liked, but we had learnt throughout our Journey™ that nothing is going to be perfect, and that you need to compromise in order the get a foot on the hospitality business ladder. The property was in need of a serious makeover, which at first glance seemed largely cosmetic.

How wrong that first glance was.

In the next phase of the Journey™, everything that can go wrong does go wrong. Delays abound. Costs escalate. Tempers fray. All completely normal, all absolutely terrifying.