Evans entrepreneur Mark Vaughn is proud of his daughter Brinkley and of the grilling pellets his company manufactures. So, he linked the two with a name – his daughter’s.
Brinkley Vaughn, a rising high school senior, said, “It feels surreal. It’s an honor to have a reputable product with my name on it, and I hope to one day be able to show my children.”
Brinkley Vaughn was named for her maternal great-grandfather, who was a physician and one of the founders of Aiken Regional Hospital. A section of South Carolina Hwy. 278 between Aiken and Barnwell is named for him.
Her father owns Brinkley’s Best Premium Hardwood BBQ Pellets, and he said he couldn’t think of a better name for the pellet product than that of his daughter.
Her dad has even come up with an invention to help the pellets themselves. It also has a tentative name tied to Brinkley Vaughn – the Brinkley Bucket Buddy.
Brinkley’s Best Premium Hardwood BBQ Pellets took some time to develop, but they were launched in February, Mark Vaughn said.
“It took me a while to get the right combination of wood species to get the approval of my barbecue from our daughter Brinkley and my wife, Shanda,” said Vaughn. “Neither were big fans of the heavy smoke flavor, and it just simply took some time to get the blend correct, and when I did, they loved it and have ever since.”
Each member of the family takes part in promoting the brand.
“I also represent and promote Brinkley’s Best … pellets as president of the Augusta Rotary Club, which meets at Fat Man’s Café in town,” said Shonda Vaughn, who is not part of the company but helps with public relations.
The other product with a Brinkley moniker is Brinkley Bucket Buddy, which Mark Vaughn has worked on for about 18 months.
The device is a bucket with a spring-loaded mechanism a little from the bottom. The mechanism contains filtering holes. Whatever the new invention’s final name will be, it is tentatively scheduled for release in a little over a month when the buckets and labels are ready.
Mark Vaughn said filtering is necessary for pellets, which come in bags. That’s because dust can cause the pellets’ firing system to perform poorly because it causes temperature spikes. He added that the Brinkley Bucket Buddy has several elements help wood pellets and lump charcoal perform well.
“The bucket has a neoprene gasket in the lid to keep it tight and water out. The bottom has a perforated disk plate that is designed to allow dust to move through but will trap the dust there until removed from a plugged hole in the bottom of the bucket,” he said.
The perforated disk in the Brinkley Bucket Buddy sits on four equally spaced springs that are two inches high and oscillate several times when the bucket is tapped lightly on a surface.
Mark Vaughn said, “The screen imitates the industrial screen at the pellet production plant to remove the dust. There is a three-inch cap that can be removed to pour the pellets from the lid into the pellet hopper or the lid can be removed completely to pour and refill and store the pellets.”
Mark Vaughn has plans to do some bundling with the product.
“We plan to sell the Premier Blend pellets with the 3.5 gallon bucket as it holds 20 pounds with room to spare and without the pellets in stores and online,” Mark Vaughn said.
One of the best attributes of Brinkley’s Best is that it doesn’t produce a heavy smoky flavor.
“Regardless of whether it’s a dry rub, wet mop bastings or combinations with the secret sauce at the end, (our) pellet will not overpower the meat with a heavy smoke flavor but will provide a nice smoke ring and sufficient bark on longer cooks,” Mark Vaughn said. “That is why we provide a satisfaction guarantee and money back guarantee for every bag we sell.”
The company hopes to add other flavor profiles eventually.
Mark Vaughn said, “We are currently working with our supplier for hickory now to get the schedules for their large hickory runs so that we can produce our version of a hickory pellet for those that feel that is what they would like to use. Our pellet will be the same pellet but with a higher and probably 50/50 blend of oak and hickory. Whatever the market demands we will supply but for now we are concentrating on the one pellet that is in high demand, the Premier Blend.”
Brinkley’s Best brand of pellets has become well-known in the region and is growing, he said.
Fat Man’s Café and Catering and Randall Denard’s BBQ (aka Washington Food Market) use the product, as do several state barbecue championship winners.
Brinkley’s Best pellets are in several regional Ace Hardware stores as well as a few independent and locally owned hardware and feed and seed stores. The product just became available to order online via eBay, and Vaughn is working on having it available via Amazon.com soon.
For more information on the company, go to https://www.gatorrtech.com/.
Ron Baxley Jr. is a correspondent for The Augusta Press.
