My Buzz

Named the North West Winner for Self Employed/Sole Trader of the Year 2022 at the FSB Awards (Federation of Small Business). It's great to be part of the #SBS winner's family.

My Bio

Cheshire based The Smokey Carter are awarding winning artisan food producers of barbeque spice rubs, sauces, chilli jams and chutneys. Husband & wife team Howard & Samantha Carter started out in 2013 making chutneys and sauces for family and friends to give as gifts for Christmas. Proving to be an instant hit, their business idea was born. They first met while working on board cruise ships, and were inspired by their travels from around the globe. The whole range is now based around world cuisine with Howard’s love of barbeque being centre stage.

All their BBQ Rubs & Sauces are handmade in small batches, ensuring the best quality every time. The Smokey Carter has won some prestigious awards for their products including 12 Great Taste Awards and 3 National Chilli Awards. They have also gained recognition from ex Dragon’s Den star, Theo Paphitis, for their business. The couple were selected from thousands of businesses and were awarded ‘The Expert Award’ at the eBay for Business Awards in 2018. If that’s not enough they have also had a recipe published in The Manchester Cookbook Second Helpings, which celebrates the Manchester food scene including recipes from Masterchef champion, Simon Wood. Howard was shortlisted for Small Business Entrepreneur of the Year 2019. Three of their gift sets were also shortlisted for ‘Gift of The Year 2020’. In 2020 they were chosen as one of the SmallBiz100 for Small Business Saturday. 2022 saw us crowned as the winner in the North West Finals, for the FSB Small Business Awards. Self Employed/Sole Trader of the Year 2022.

Their extensive gift range includes eight unique themed gift tubes. This includes one for chilli addicts, cheese lovers, a bacon making kit, gin botanicals and two themed barbecue rub tubes, one containing world inspired seasonings and the other American style barbecue rubs. They have also brought out two new gift sets, Voyage of Discovery and King of the Grill.

My Business Tips

We are big believers that all aspects of communication is key in business as well as providing the best quality product and service. Social media is also a powerful tool and should be used to create brand awareness, presence and to help communicate and break down barriers with your customers.