About
About Us
Biggy Smallz Spitmasters started in 2017 with a spit, a fire, and no culinary school between them — just food, people, and the belief that the two belong together.
Before a single flame was lit commercially, Martin “Biggy” Mhlongo had already spent years in agriculture, in animal feed — learning how meat is graded, what good looks like, where the best of it comes from. The operation has known meat properly since before the fire was ever lit.
What began as spit-braais for family and friends grew into something else entirely: four-course plated dinners, weddings, and events for hundreds, without ever losing the fire at the centre of it.
The operation has consulted in restaurants across Johannesburg, holds part-ownership of Megálo on 5th, has appeared on Rate My Plate, Come Dine With Me (SA), Ultimate Braai Master and Afternoon Express, fed five thousand people in Soweto over a Mandela Day week, and stood at the coals as the confirmed South African pitmaster at the Mozambique Barbecue Festival. The food borrows from South Africa, Spain and Asia, and answers to none of them.
Professional chefs lead the fine-dining dinners and weddings. The wider team — trained in Biggy’s own methods, not all professional chefs, family among them — handles every other event. One standard, cooked by many hands.
The team
Many hands, one standard.
The founder
Martin “Biggy” Mhlongo
He cooks, in his own words, as an act of love — a way of sharing with others the little secrets simmering on the burners. He wants the people he cooks for to have peace of mind: to know their guests’ expectations won’t just be met, they’ll be exceeded. He lives by the idea that nothing is too big a challenge if your heart is vested in the right place.
Beyond the kitchen, it’s about celebrating South African heritage through food — creating space for people to connect, laugh and feast together. That’s the part that turns a booking into an event people still talk about.