Greetings grilling brother's and sister's across the land!
Well now, don't you all love the Fall smell in the air as we head into yet another season, my favorite I might add, as we wait for all those leaves to change color yet again? Even though I am an avid skier and love winter, for me, there's nothing better than grilling in the Fall with friends and family gathered round the kamado as we share stories of a summer past and new aspirations for the cold winter ahead!
Fall for me is also a time to reflect on the year so far and look back and figure out what worked, what didn't and dream of new places to see, people to meet and parties to throw down, "griller" style! Since the inception of "The Grateful Griller" back in May 2008 I have felt really lucky for a number of reasons to be doing what I do as the "griller".
What started out as a simple idea just a few years ago has now morphed into many directions and initiatives for my business and one thing I believe I need to do is explain and perhaps clarify for many people that find out about me or even those who know exactly what I am doing, the view from my vantage point and my plans for the near future. As The Grateful Griller, there has been some confusion out there since I stopped retailing the kamado, particularly The Big Green Egg on how I make a living while inspiring the masses to invest in this great product, and now I intend to set the record straight so everyone gets it and knows exactly what to expect when they contact me for information as it relates to any or all the main players in this niche category that I believe you need to know about.
First off, I started selling the BGE product line back in 2006 and before I launched my company, because I literally fell in love with it, it being the BGE and knew it was a special product that needed to be marketed far better than it was at the time. Secondly, after committing exclusively and building a good relationship with the Canadian distributor of BGE in Canada and selling a pile of units in a very short time I realized through extensive research that I was conducting at the time that there were other products that resembled the BGE out in the world that might be as good if not better than the BGE and hence my home work began in earnest!
It also became very clear to me that the margins involved and the effort needed to make any real financial gain at retail with this particular device were bleak at best, at least with The Big Green Egg product range, so I had to come up with a solution that worked for me and hence "The Grateful Griller" was launched! After all, why work for next to nothing building equity in someone else's brand if you can start your own and that's exactly what I did and I have to admit, I have to thank the Canadian distributors not to mention The Big Green Egg for my passion for the kamado cooker! Not only did I do research but thanks to the internet I was able to connect with various kamado suppliers worldwide and strike up some great friendships along the way from Canada to the USA to the land down under in Australia to as far away as Bali Indonesia where the holy grail of kamado's comes from thanks to my friend Dennis at Komodo Kamado.
Thirdly, I am a sales and marketing guy first and I'm humble to the core but have a huge positive not to mention ambitious vision for the kamado, and the cooking experience to go with it and how it can positively impact your life on the deck with the people who matter most to you. I intend to spread this message around the world as fast as I can and the world wide web has become my best friend on my crusade! I also happen to be a passionate griller and am known for loving a cold pint or two with friends and family when ever humanly possible!
2010 has been the year going back to late January that I set forth with all my information and really started to educate and inspire those people out there that wanted to know and learn more about this device called "kamado" and what their options really were/are. I am fortunate in that I own practically every kamado styled cooker that exists today that I believe needs to be recognized as a product/manufacturer worth considering before you make a move and spend money, and yes, there's a lot to learn and be aware of before you make the plunge and purchase. I know for a fact today that if I had known that Primo existed at the time that I purchased my BGE I would have purchased the Primo for many reasons over the competitor because of their unique oval shape that is more versatile than a circular cooker, end of statement, no debate!
At the beginning of this year and just after the Ottawa Home Show I affiliated myself with less than a hand full of what I consider to be reputable and customer service oriented retailers in the greater Ottawa area and other parts of Ontario who have existing kamado type product on their floors. I made deals with them to be a conduit for this product category and drive sales to their stores in return for a percentage of the sale, cos after all, we all have to make a living and no one in my humble opinion knows as much about this product or category than yours truly, even the retailers! This gave me the chance to eliminate the hassles that come with inventory and other over head and focus on more important aspects to my growing business. So, virtually over night as this post title suggests I went from The Grateful Griller retailer of one particular product to The Grateful Griller consultant to the masses on everything to do with kamado and I have not looked back since!
2010 has also seen the launch of The Grateful Griller modular table that has sold extremely well right out of the gates. My production partner is local and the future is bright for our creation because its home grown, nice to look at, functional, and did I mention that the table fits practically all the major brands on the market today and comes in at a really attractive price, approx. $550-$600 depending where you get it from. Stay tuned for further developments on new designs and other stuff as we head into 2011!
I also launched the Grateful Griller Demo in 2010! This has been great because it has allowed me the opportunity to do what I do best, get on the decks and inspire people everywhere to get their "K" on and invest in this great lifestyle! FYI, I charge $100 per hour for this service and there is a three hour minimum charge, ( food and all beverage is extra) and when I'm done teaching and grilling for my clients they are that much more educated and everyone has had a great time and eats well! The other cool aspect to the demo is that it takes place at your house on your deck where you are in your most comfortable element and the vibe/dynamic is really cool to say the least!
The demo's were so popular this year that it inspired me to create yet another branch of my business called The Grateful Griller tapas test drive party! This is basically my condensed mobile party that I will throw down for up to 12 people in order to give potential clients a chance to test and taste the results that these fine cookers produce before they take the plunge and purchase! The price is $500, with a five hour minimum on site and food/beverage is extra and no need to worry my friends, I bring all my own equipment in for the experience!
On the topic of parties the biggest growth for my concept this year came as a bit of a surprise to me considering that I didn't advertise it at all but evidently word of mouth has spread like wild fire about this guy who calls himself "griller" who shows up at your place with a party experience on wheels for up to 120 people and rocks the deck with a loaded menu consisting of appetizer's, entree's, sides, and desserts that take over your taste buds and introduce your guest's to a magical world of smoke, fire and food that will take anyone's grilling games higher! For pricing simply fire me an email or give me a call!
As I have always said, The Grateful Griller is part sales/marketing and part food entertainment but most importantly it gives people the chance to witness and experience the magic behind grilling/cooking with ceramics and an opportunity to celebrate your best friends, family, food and music to go with it all! 2011 is already being planned so if you have a party in mind and want a totally different, out of the box experience, you just might want to give The Grateful Griller a call to make it happen for you!
The Grateful Griller will be ramping up the blog efforts going forward and the web site and look and feel is being re-branded currently as I write this post. I now have a number of product endorsements with some great companies ranging from Ivo Cutlery Canada, Thule, Epicurean, to name a few! For the record, I am not currently endorsed by any kamado specific brand, therefore, any cooker that I speak or write about at this point in time is inspired from the heart and personal experience and not the pocket book if you all know what I mean, so yes, I am coming at you with unbiased information and knowledge based on my own grilling experiences!
Grateful Griller Productions will officially launch in 2011 and thanks to Kamado Joe in the USA we were able to produce our first video project which you can all see by going to their site www.kamadojoe.com or hitting my blog. It was a great experience with great people and there will be many more projects like it to come in the near future related to the kamado and outdoor grilling!
As always my friends you can follow my activities on Face Book and Twitter and stay tuned for new developments and announcements for 2011 in short delay! As always feed the fire and the desire to take your grilling games higher!
As you all know by now, my passion for music of all genres really inspires me to pen some notes at the end of these posts as a kind of explanation or statement of sorts on what has been a long strange trip with the kamado not to mention an exciting one, which, in a lot ways has only just begun. Now it seems that as every day ends and a new one starts for me, there's no shortage of tunes and artists out there, thank god for that, that don't inspire me in one way or another to keep on keeping on with my journey with you guessed it, "K"!
These next few lines are inspired by the king of punk rock himself, Iggy Pop! I can only hope that I stay as rebellious, raw and forth right in my message about the "grilled to obsession" life and that the inner fires keep dancing with the tunes. As always and with enormous respect the next few lines come from "Cry For Love" and have been altered by yours truly! Feed it folks, just keep feeding it!!!!!!!!
G Love and special sauce!
Griller's Crying for Kamado Love!
Status seekers, I never cared for,
once I found out, they dared not go forth.
To seize the grilling world and shake it upside down.
If I had it my way every homeless man would wear a crown.
Say, I'm cryin tears of joy,
over this new found knowledge I'll deploy.
They must know now that you're not some token,
I'll keep blazin this trail till all the plates are broken and my eyes,
drenched, dusty and soakin!
Every copy cats morning, we know imitation's boring,
but we'll keep cryin for some kamado love!
Bad marketing insults us freely but I'm poppin my own wheelie in a new direction!
I'm always searching for that meaningful embrace.
At times my self respect has taken second place, but still I keep cryin for some kamado love.
Surfers ride for that love and wipe out when it hits'em.
Musicians play for that love and keep going till it almost kills'em.
The Grateful Griller inspires for that love and ignores it when it resists him,
but still I keep cry'in for some kamado love.
smoke and fire always takin me higher!
GG
