There’s a new business coming to Red Bay, and it’s cooking up something good.

No, it’s not a restaurant. It’s a cast iron skillet-making company.

A new facility going in at Red Bay will house Legacy Cast Iron, a business creating custom, pre-seasoned, machined surface skillets. The enterprise is the brainchild of owner Joseph Robertson.

Robertson was in the metal-casting industry for more than 20 years making all kinds of different cast iron pieces when he created a line of cookware for a private company ten years ago. It was through that success, and after five years of research and development, that he decided to branch off and dive fully into custom cookware, beginning with a 10-inch cast iron skillet, featuring a smooth, machined cooking surface. “They will be smooth as glass,” Robertson said.

Friends in Red Bay, including business partner April Tucker persuaded him to locate in the city, and additional urging by Mayor Charlene Fancher, Robertson said, sealed the deal. He had been looking to operate in a small city with big-name recognition. “Red Bay fit the need.”

Legacy Cast Iron is setting up shop on Hospital Road in an existing facility temporarily until they build a new building. The facility will house equipment and raw materials for Robertson’s booming business – he already has company contracts and Christmas orders. “We’re actually busier now than I’ve ever been in my whole life, and we haven’t even opened,” said Robertson, who hopes to begin production in May.

Robertson’s skillets will be pre-seasoned in house, “ready to cook with right out of the box.” Skillets will also be etched using unique software to feature a company name or even a family name or other phrase – think “Grandma’s Kitchen” or “World’s Best Dad.” Robertson said restaurant and other corporate contracts are anticipated to lower product costs, despite the high cost of software and equipment, and he expects to move from large contracts into retails sales quickly. It’s the “only customizable cookware in the world, to my knowledge.”

Robertson said Legacy Cast Iron will be a “food and family-oriented company.” “I want people to come see us. I want people to get recipes, cook with our product and let us know how they like it,” he said. To facilitate the spread of recipes and cooking discussions, Legacy Cast Iron will feature an offshoot, Legacy Circle, a website centered on the food industry, to post and review recipes and find restaurants. “It’s going to be really interactive,” he said. “We have a lot of good people who have come on board with us and really liked the idea.”

Robertson will have 10-15 employees for sales and manufacturing and boast USA-based materials and supplies as one of only two cast iron manufacturers in the U.S.

“We’re very much USA-loving people,” Robertson said. “We need more American jobs and more American businesses … I want to buy, build and manufacture everything in the USA.”

Robertson said he has fallen in love with Red Bay and is eager to begin operations in the city.

“Every time I go down there I meet new people, super-nice people,” he said. “I had people to call me and thank me for coming there. I had about 40 phone calls, ‘I know you’re busy, but I just want to thank you for coming here.’ It’s just a friendly town.”

And Robertson is already planning for the future, envisioning a larger facility that will boast an indoor/outdoor kitchen where he can host celebrity chefs to coe down and tryout his cookware and bring even more acclaim to the City of Red Bay.

For more information and pre-orders, visit legacycastiron.com or email info@legacycastiron.com.