Our Story
Everything tastes better when cooked with wood.
Our wood ovens are ethically and locally made using quality materials, technical expertise, and a whole lotta heart. Our ground-breaking design is equipped to survive all weathers - even the harsh, frosty Canadian winters - while our sustainable, home-grown approach helps us reduce our carbon footprint and support our local economies.
Our epic story begins in the early summer of 2017. Close friends and passionate foodies JP Normand and Gord Jones decided they wanted a pizza oven in their backyards. After countless store visits and online searches, all they found were clunky, low-quality ovens that would take an army to move and wouldn’t survive cold, Canadian winters.
Disappointed by the bulky ovens made of cheap materials hardly designed to last and the dying manufacturing industries in Canada and the USA, Gord and JP decided to take matters into their own hands. Using their knowledge of different metals, production planning, and SOLIDWORKS, they set out to design their own outdoor wood fired oven from scratch.
Huddled over the kitchen table with a few pieces of scrap paper, they began to sketch what they imagined to be the oven that would revolutionize the world of wood fired ovens: one that could be shipped flat packed in a crate, resist the Canadian freeze-thaw cycles, and grill, bake, roast or cook anything they threw at it.
By late 2017, they had already cycled through 4 prototypes. By early 2018, the team had fine tuned the design and features. After thoroughly testing the oven through the Canadian winter months in temperatures as low as -20C, they knew they had a winner. Gord and JP felt like the mad scientists of the wood fired outdoor oven industry.
That feeling soared after a few backyard pizza parties. Friends and family alike were mind-blown by their creation, raving about its features and asking the pair to whip up a few more for their own backyards. The ground-breaking design would eventually lead to an international patent application for 19 novel and innovative design features. Upon review of their application in 2019, all 19 features were accepted.
'More Than Just A ‘Damn Good Pizza’
We are more than just passionate foodies - we’re patriots. Remember the days when we took pride in manufacturing quality goods? Since the 80’s, manufacturing in Canada and the USA has shifted to Asia where labour and certain materials are dramatically cheaper. While this ends up being cheaper for companies, it’s often the customers that pay the ultimate price of having a poorly-made, lower quality product.
We wanted to solve that colossal problem by first, using higher-grade materials, and second, by bringing manufacturing jobs back to Canada and the USA. We took the “Farm to Fork” model and applied it to manufacturing: all our products are made in the country where they are sold, using local labour and locally-sourced materials, and we take pride in that.
Unlike some of the factories overseas that treat their workers poorly, we value our people - we’re one big, food-loving family. At the end of the day, we sleep easy knowing that we’re supporting our economy by creating more local jobs and delivering high-quality products, every time.
We’re also strongly committed to the environment and to reducing our carbon footprint. When products are made overseas and shipped to the West, the large cargo ships carrying them over end up polluting our oceans and air, harming us and our planet. By manufacturing in the country where the products are sold, we cut out the need for those cargo ships. On top of that, our products are all designed to be flat-packed in wooden crates to take up less space in shipping trucks.
Ultimately, one of the best ways to reduce your own carbon footprint is to consume less. Cheaper, imported products will sooner or later end up in our landfill. We create high-quality, long-lasting products that are made to be passed along over generations. We will continue to innovate and stay ahead of the game when it comes to wood burning ovens and your backyard, while keeping our strong values at the forefront of everything we do.
Our dream is for you to share many happy moments with friends and family, gathered around one of our wood fired ovens, enjoying a warm, delicious meal. And just in case you’re too busy making memories and run out of recipes to try, our tight-knit community has you covered. We’re always cooking up new ways to bring your home-chef game to the next level!
Because everything tastes better when cooked with wood.
From our family’s backyard to yours,
The Oven Brothers
