Our History

A story of old world flavor, with modern convenience.

After the time spent serving his country during in the Korean War, Harold spent his spare time making sausage with his homemade smoker (made up from an old chest freezer) teaching his 5 sons the family tradition. One cold Wisconsin winter day in 1976 the chest freezer/smoker Harold built had caught fire and nearly burnt the house down, this was when Harold realized there had to be a better way. After several drafts in designing his first smoker, he finally knew what he wanted and designed his first ever smoker oven, the Model 100. Made by sausage makers, for the sausage maker.

At the start of his career in 1977, Harold and his sons built smokers for small meat markets and grocery stores. Ken Hanni (Second Generation) took the company over in 1992 and in 1996 Joe Hanni, Ken’s son (Third Generation) joined the team. Pro Smoker ‘N Roaster® takes pride in their rooted history of sausage smoking and today offers a full range of smoker ovens from 50 lb. – 12,000 lb. capacity including BBQ roasters, truck smokers, hand loaders, generators and more. Pro Smoker does business in 9 different countries with over 8,000 units in the field working today.

The Hanni family invites you to taste and experience the difference.