`MADE IN CAPE' HOT LABEL IN BABECUE WORLD

When Texan Bill Collins opened his Texas Pit Bar-B-Que in the Virgin Islands a half dozen years ago, a touch of Cape Girardeau was quite evident.

During a formal dinner for more than 1,000 guests at New York's Rockefeller Center, a 2,800-pound barbecue pit turned out tender, tempting spareribs for the main course. The barbecue pit was "Made in Cape Girardeau."

And, when Ray Alan Gill received a $10,000 check for the Richmond World Barbeque Championship, he paid a visit to Cape Girardeau to meet with his friend, David Knight, manufacturer of the barbecue pit that was used to produce his championship barbecue.

David B. Knight & Associates produces a variety of commercial barbecue cookers called Ole Hickory Pits.

"Our business is kind of a spinoff of a previous business," said Knight. "A solution to a smoky problem in a downtown Cape Girardeau restaurant became the beginning for a new business for the Knight family."

He explained: "We opened Port Cape Girardeau Restaurant in 1975. We had an old brick barbecue facility at the restaurant. After firemen had to be called three times, we decided it was time to come up with a better way to barbecue."

"We" included Knight and other members of the corporation, among them his brother and sister, who put their heads together to come up with ideas for a barbecue smoker or cooker.

"It worked," said Knight. "And, if it worked for us, we felt it could work for other businesses. It was also about this time that a new cooking craze was sweeping the U.S. that of professional barbecuing. We went into production."

The company sold the restaurant in 1988 to its present owner, Dennis "Doc" and Karen Pobst Cain, to devote more time to the manufacture of Ole Hickory Pits and the operation of the company's Downtown Investment Corp., a commercial real-estate development company.

Today, Ole Hickory cookers can be found throughout the United States, in the Virgin Islands, Japan, Netherlands, Germany, England and other countries.

Knight's cookers are "made to order."

"We have models ranging from 3-by-4-by-6 to 11-by-10-by-5 feet," said Knight. "We put out six different sizes of cookers, all designed for the barbecue restaurant or the professional barbecuer."

The six standard models range from 200-pound capacity to 1,400 pounds.

Knight employs a dozen people full time. It takes about four days to complete one of the larger units, but "we can be working on several cookers at one time, he said.

In 1989, Knight expanded the product line.

"We added a customized concession stand," said Knight. "The first mobile (trailer) stand was designed for a Cape Girardeau business, and included a special-designed barbecue pit.

"We will custom build concessions stands by special order," said Knight.

Knight travels throughout much of the Midwest and East coast to display his cookers at trade shows.

He recently returned from the nation's second-largest restaurant association show in Dallas.

"The largest show is the National Restaurant Association held at Chicago," said Knight. "We attended that show earlier this year."

The cookers are state-of-the-art pieces, say clients who have purchased them.

"They're the IBM of barbecue cookers," said Collins, who used three of the cookers in operations in the Virgin Islands. One of Collins' Ole Hickory Pits was destroyed by Hurricane Hugo last year. It since has been replaced.

"We used one of the cookers to help prepare food for children following Hugo," said Collins. "It was the only cooker of any size left on the islands."

The Collins brothers are looking to expand their operations to Hawaii and Monaco, and will be looking to Knight & Associates for additional Ole Hickory Pits.

"We use two of the Ole Hickory Pit barbecue pits," said champion griller Gill. "We have two of them: a large one and a smaller unit. We wouldn't be in the professional barbecue business without them."

Gill, a native of Arkansas, recently won the Milwaukee International Barbecue Championships held in Olympic Stadium, again using an Ole Hickory Pit.

"The pits utilize a gas starter," said Knight. "What you do is put the logs in the chamber and use gas to start the logs and get the temperature where you want it. The gas then automatically shuts off, and wood does the rest, keeping the oven at an even temperature."

The pits also utilize a convection fan, said Knight. "The fan constantly moves the air in the cooker to allow cooking at lower temperatures.

What's next in the cookery field for Knight?

"A chicken rotisserie," said Knight. "We're in the development stage of the new rotisserie. We have some prototypes that have been successful, and hope to start production in the near future."

"The rotisserie will provide a broader market," said Knight. "They can be used by grocery stores, restaurants and caterers."

The business started at 231 N. Main, but for the past couple of years it has been a block to the north, at 333 N. Main, in a larger building.

"We increased our space by about 50 percent," said Knight. "We have 9,000 square feet here, and more important, we have much higher ceilings."