Barbeques Galore

Barbeques Galore is an Australian and U.S. chain of retail stores specializing in barbecue grills, accessories and consumables. There are 20 company-owned stores, one franchise store and several authorized dealers in the United States of America. The US business was purchased by Grand Home Holdings Inc in late-2008.

Barbeques Galore represents Lynx, Twin Eagles, Weber, FireMagic, Big Green Egg as well as produces in its own factories the Barbeques Galore brand of proprietary products known as Turbo, Turbo Elite, and Grand Turbo. In addition, the company carries the patented infrared cooking system "Crossray" on its Turbo Crossray grill. New for 2014, the company released a new Turbo Charcoal grill that comes in a built-in and cart model.

Outside of grills, Barbeques Galore carries the Totum outdoor patio heater. The Totum HLS is a unique free-standing gas heater with built-in wireless audio system and LED lights that light up to the beat of the music.

History

Barbeques Galore was started in a garage in Sydney's outer western suburbs in 1972. The first company store opened in 1977. The company expanded to the United States in 1980, opening a store in Santa Fe Springs, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. The firm concentrated initially on warm-weather US states such as California, Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii, Texas, Georgia and Florida. Later they ventured into more seasonal markets such as North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC. After ten years as a listed company on the Australian Stock Exchange, Barbeques Galore delisted in 1996, and soon after listed on the US NASDAQ. In late 2005, the firm was delisted from the NASDAQ after a leveraged buy-out by Australian venture capital firm, Ironbridge Capital.[1] Ironbridge Capital split the Australian and US arms of the business into two separate entities (but retained ownership of both).

Following a severe downturn in business in the US, partly attributed to the fall in new housing on the back of the sub-prime mortgage crisis, Barbeques Galore USA filed for protection under Chapter 11 on August 15, 2008. Barbeques Galore US assets were purchased by Grand Home Holdings Inc. on September 12, 2008. The US company liquidated all of its retail outlets east of Texas, including Maryland, Virginia, Florida and Georgia.

According to documents filed in US Bankruptcy court, the company continues to exist as Barbeques Galore as owned by Grand Home Holdings Inc. operating 20 stores in California, Arizona and Texas.

In 2012 Barbeques Galore opened up several Cooking Experience schools within its retail stores. Cooking classes were held in San Diego, California, Austin, Texas and Irvine, California. The cooking school is a unique hands-off class that operates four nights each week. Currently, only the Irvine Cooking Experience remains in operation. The classes are led by the Barbeques Galore professional chef and feature different nightly menus with every course prepared on the barbecue. Attendees learn valuable tips and tricks to become grilling experts at home while enjoying the three- or four-course meal.

Online

The domain bbqgalore.com was recently updated in 2014. The online home of Barbeques Galore in the United States features an online store where customers can purchase grills, parts, seasonings, accessories and more. It also has informational content such as instructional videos, recipes, tips and tricks.

References

  1. ↑ André Sammartino (2007), 'Retail’, in Dick, H. & Merrett, D. (eds.), The Internationalisation Strategies of Small-Country Firms: The Australian Experience of Globalisation, Edward Elgar: Cheltenham, UK, pp.175-194.

Disambiguation

Barbecues Galore is a Canadian barbecue retailer launched in 1979 headquartered in Calgary Alberta. As of May 2012 Barbecues Galore operates four retail stores, two in Calgary Alberta, one in Burlington Ontario and one in Oakville Ontario. These stores have no relationship with the American or Australian enterprises with a similar name.