Valley Marine/Valley Grill owner Ryan Smith in his showroom  (file photo/Vernon Matters Staff)

By Kevin Rothwell

Valley Marine & valley Grill

Pandemic cooks up opportunity for legacy company

Jan 25, 2023 | 2:03 PM

The COVID-19 pandemic was extremely hard on a lot of businesses with various restrictions and supply chain issues, and for some those issues turned into opportunity.

Legacy boat service and storage business, Valley Marine, started in 1997 at the corner of Pleasant Valley and Meadowlark roads, near Vernon.

Valley Marine boat storage. (file photo/Vernon Matters Staff)

Current owner Ryan Smith joined the business in 2000, but it wasn’t until the pandemic hit that a new adventure began.

“When the pandemic came in, we couldn’t get all our watersports inventory, like wake boards, surf boards and stuff. It was taking forever to get, so I thought we need to have something in here, so I brought in some smokers and barbecues, so that is how that got started,” Smith told Vernon Matters.

Council grants

Vernon to distribute over $50k in Council Discretionary Grants, $20K to the food bank

Dec 14, 2025

Possible firearm involved

One person apprehended in connection with suspicious activity in Coldstream

Dec 13, 2025

Fatal Collision, Highway Closed

One person dead in crash near Revelstoke

Dec 13, 2025

Smith brought in two high quality lines with Green Mountain Grills and smokers and Saber barbecues. Intrigued by the art of grilling and smoking, Smith jumped on an opportunity to learn more and took up an offer from Green Mountain Grills to attend a training session in Kansas City.

“I was able to meet a lot of cool people and try the fun stuff they had. That is kind of how I got hooked on some of these rubs and sauces,” Smith explained. “It was quite the adventure and I was glad to be able bring some of that to the Okanagan.”

Valley Grill carries unique hard to find brands like Blues Hog, House of Q, Meat Church BBQ and Meat Mitch BBQ.

The addition of Valley Grill has given another element to the business which has taken off even in the middle of winter.

“Weirdly enough, things have been going pretty good through the winter with the barbecue stuff. We sold three smokers this week and it’s January. You just never know, and everyone loves to cook outside so we are taking advantage of that,” Smith said.

For more information on Valley Grills click here. For information on Valley Marine click here.