How does a healthcare administrator with a passion for barbecue carve out a niche in the crowded barbecue industry? He identifies an opportunity and builds a brand around it.
It’s not as easy as that sounds, but that’s just what Ryan Fowler did with Spaceman Knives.
“I was seeing a lot of really expensive knives out there that weren’t as good of quality as they should be for the price that was being asked for them, and I had an opportunity to do something about that,” Fowler explained. “I knew some people in the knife business, so I was able to connect with some companies that manufacture them and start importing them and selling them to people that can use them.”
Fowler’s initial knowledge of knives came from using them on a daily basis in his own cooking, as well as leaning on the guidance of his friends who worked for knife brands such as Gerber and Kershaw. With an idea to sell high quality knives at a lower price point, he sought their guidance on the ins and outs of the market.
“I have learned more about knives in the last six months than I knew in the previous 40 years of my life,” Fowler said.
However, with a product to sell, Fowler first had to develop a brand. Around the beginning of 2020, he was gearing up to enter some barbecue competitions and needed both a name and a social media account. As he was entering various barbecue related names into Instagram, he found that they were all already taken, so he typed in Spaceman Barbecue as a space holder. He started to gain followers and the name stuck, so when he started the knife company, it became Spaceman Knives.
The first knife series he brought in was an off-the-shelf model from his supplier that he called the Constellation Series. With beautiful blue epoxy and burl wood handles, they fit right in with the Spaceman brand in both look and feel. They have a 67 layer VG-10 Damascus steel blade and the series currently offers a boning knife, 8-inch chef knife, 9-inch chef knife XL, santoku, nakiri, paring knife, and cleaver.
“We actually started out with another knife that I kind of helped design and really work toward, but when I got them, I didn’t like them that much,” Fowler admitted. “I only ordered about 10 of them and I just wasn’t really that impressed with the knife itself, so I also ordered these and people really like them.”
Fowler had more input on the Interstellar Series, which has a heavier, more substantial olive wood handle. In this series, Spaceman offers an 8-inch chef knife, a kiritsuki, and a nakiri, and he has some more variations launching in the coming months.
The third knife series in the Spaceman collection is another off-the-shelf product, which he offers as the Nebula Series. It’s a kiritsuki knife that has a variety of epoxy colors available in the handle. Unlike the Constellation and Interstellar knives, which are both full tangs, the Nebula blade is a partial tang, which means the blade only goes part of the way into the handle. That makes it lighter and not as strong, but with less steel involved the costs are generally lower and the edges of the blade aren’t exposed to corrosion around the edges of the handle.
In addition to knives, Fowler offers two styles of kitchen shears — a right-handed set and a straight set for right or left-hand — with detachable blades for easy clean-up.
To succeed as a new brand in an established industry requires a point of differentiation and Fowler hopes to strike a balance between price and quality.
“There are a lot of other great companies out there on the market, but as they’ve grown as companies and they’ve gotten big, their overhead has increased and they have to charge a little bit more for their product,” Fowler explained. “To do it more affordably, I have to stay a little bit smaller. I want to offer high quality knives that most people can still afford.”
That balance also carries into the quality of knives he has brought in, specifically targeting VG-10 and US-10 steel knives because they are known for good edge retention while still being able to take an edge when they need to be sharpened.
“Customers can expect a very sharp edge out of the box, but ease of maintenance as well at an affordable price point,” Fowler said.
As far as care goes, Fowler says his knives should never be put in the dishwasher — hand wash only — or just thrown in a drawer with other utensils because they can get dinged up. Keep them in a knife roll, knife block, or magnetic strip and they’ll last for years to come.
Looking ahead, Fowler is working on a brisket knife and a wax canvas knife roll in 2021, as well as some other knife storage products and adding additional knife types to the Interstellar series.
The quality and price are right, but Fowler is also doing the little things to earn brand affinity. Along with each knife purchase, he tosses in an astronaut shaped band-aid along with a handwritten note that reads, “Don’t cut yourself, but if you do, here’s a bandage.”
If you’re in the market for a new knife — or if you’re out of band-aids — he has offered a 10% discount until Jan. 12 for our readers. Visit his website and enter code FIRESTARTER10 at checkout.
