Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike Riddle.
Hi Mike, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I never set out to become a grill builder or a content creator. My career started in professional kitchens, where I spent more than twenty years working my way from dishwasher to Executive Chef. That’s where I learned to respect fire, ingredients, and the discipline great cooking demands.
Eventually I moved into the corporate world and spent the next two decades leading marketing and business development for Fortune 500 companies. A completely different career, but it taught me how brands get built, how to connect with people, and how to turn an idea into something real.
After a major turning point in my life, I decided to stop choosing between those two worlds and combine them instead. That’s how Own The Fire was born.
Today I hand-build custom live-fire grills in my shop, create cooking content for YouTube and social, and teach people that cooking over wood and charcoal is about far more than recipes. It’s about understanding fire. That content has reached millions across Reddit, YouTube, and Instagram, which told me there was an audience looking for something deeper than viral food videos.
Own The Fire is where craftsmanship, education, and great food come together. Whether I’m welding a grill, filming a recipe, or writing about technique, the goal is the same: help people feel more confident around fire and create something worth remembering with the people they care about.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, it hasn’t been smooth. I don’t think it is for anyone trying to build something real.
I’d spent decades building a career, first in professional kitchens, then in the corporate world, and at a certain point the ground shifted under me. Some of it was professional, some of it was personal, and it forced me to rethink everything I thought my life was going to look like. That’s a hard place to be at any age. It’s even harder when you’ve already built a career and have to start over.
What I learned is that starting over isn’t the same as starting from nothing. I still had every skill I’d earned. I understood fire. I knew how to build a brand. I knew how to work with my hands, and I knew how to outwork most people. I just had to stop waiting for permission and put those skills into something that was mine.
The early days of Own The Fire were a lot of long nights. Learning to fabricate at the level I expected of myself. Learning to tell stories on camera. Building an audience one person at a time. None of it happened overnight, and plenty of it didn’t work the first time. But every setback made the next attempt better.
Looking back, I think the struggle was the point. It forced me to build something that reflects who I am instead of simply continuing the career I already had. That’s what Own The Fire means to me.
As you know, we’re big fans of Own the fire culinary group, llc. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Own The Fire is a live-fire company. I design and hand-build custom grills in my shop, and I teach people how to cook on them. The steel and the education are the whole business, and they feed each other.
What I specialize in is fire itself. Not gadgets, not shortcuts. Understanding how heat actually works and how to control it. That comes from more than twenty years in professional kitchens before I ever built a grill for someone else. The grills are made the way I believe they should be made. Heavy quarter-inch American plate, fabricated by hand, built to last decades and get better the more you use them. On the other side, I create cooking content and technique guides for people who want to understand fire, not just follow a recipe.
If I’m known for anything, it’s that. Teaching heat and technique at a level people usually only get inside a professional kitchen. That content has reached millions across Reddit, YouTube, and Instagram, and it’s how most people find me. But the reach was never the goal. It’s the front door to a community of people who genuinely love cooking over wood and charcoal.
What sets us apart is that everything comes from someone who actually does the work. I’ve spent decades cooking over fire and years building in steel. When I tell you how a grill should be made or how a cut should be cooked, it’s tested, not theoretical. That’s rare in this space, and it’s the whole foundation of the brand.
What I’m proudest of isn’t a product or a number. It’s that Own The Fire stands for craftsmanship and doing things honestly. A grill built to outlive its owner. Content that makes someone genuinely better instead of just chasing views. If a reader takes one thing from this, I’d want it to be that Own The Fire is about slowing down, building things that last, and gathering people around a fire worth remembering.
How do you define success?
Success has changed a lot for me over the years.
Early in my career, I measured it by titles, promotions, and the next rung on the ladder. Then life reminded me that none of those things are guaranteed. That changed how I think about success.
Today it’s much simpler. It’s building something that’s mine, reflects what I believe in, and will outlast me. A grill I build today should still be cooking great food for someone’s family thirty years from now. That’s the kind of success I can hold in my hands.
The other half is the people. When someone sends me a photo of a meal they cooked with their family, or tells me they finally feel confident cooking over live fire, that means more to me than any metric ever could. I spent a career being measured by numbers. Today I measure success by whether I’ve helped someone learn a skill, create a memory, or bring people together around a fire.
If the work is honest, the craftsmanship is real, and people walk away knowing more than they did before, I’ll consider that a life well spent. Everything else is just a byproduct.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ownthefire.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weownthefire/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WeOwnTheFIre
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@weownthefire
