Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet News and Press

Patio & Hearth Products Report
March/April 2008

Passion Drives Innovation at Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet

Passion Drives Innovation at Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet

Passion is what makes a company great. Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet is all about passion: a passion for cooking, product performance and outdoor entertaining. When Pete Georgiadis bought the Kalamazoo, Mich.-based company in 2005 that there was a real opportunity to take the 99-year-old outdoor-cooking business to the next level, positioning it as an industry-leading innovator in both outdoor cooking and entertaining.

“Kalamazoo already had a platform of innovative products, including have invented the only hybrid charcoal/wood/gas grill and the only weather tight stainless-steel outdoor cabinetry in the market,” he says. “All we needed to do was expand the line to meet Americans’ growing desire to relax and enjoy an outdoor lifestyle.”

An Innovator to the Core
Kalamazoo’s history is rooted in innovation since the company’s founder, Lewis Bullard, created a simple grill in Kalamazoo in 1906. Over a century later, Bullard’s innovative spirit lives on in the modern day Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet. The foundation of the company’s reputation is its constant stream of innovations, advancing the art and science of outdoor cooking.

In the 1990s, Geoffrey Bullard, Lewis’ great-grandson, joined the company and developed a unique line of stainless-steel grills with a number of innovations that have built Kalamazoo’s reputation for cooking performance. At the heart of each grill is Kalamazoo’s signature cast-stainless bow-tie-shaped burner, the Dragon burner, which delivers 50,000 Btu in two cooking zones and is designed to replicate the experience of cooking on an open fire. Larger grills have two Dragon burners.

Other cooking innovations include grilling surfaces with laser cut patterns optimized for meat, fish and vegetables and a deep hopper with a design engineered to improve heat dynamics and eliminate the hassles of cleanup. The combination of these innovations makes it easy for every chef, from professional to novice, to cook food perfectly every time. Kalamazoo was also the first to integrate a southern-style smoker box into a high-performance gas grill.

Undoubtedly, though, Kalamazoo is best known for pioneering its hybrid grill. The grill is designed to cook simultaneously with gas, wood and charcoal, eliminating the debate of choosing between charcoal and gas. This breakthrough was an industry and is yet to be duplicated.

“There is no doubt that our grills are for food lovers,” says Georgiadis. “They are hailed by barbeque aficionados for their unrivalled firepower, unequalled control and incredible versatility – and they simply make food taste the way that good food should taste.”

Innovation in Entertaining
As consumer interest in outdoor entertaining began to grow over the years, so did Kalamazoo’s product line. “We have always prided ourselves on being in the forefront of trends,” says Georgiadis. In early 2000, Kalamazoo began creating outdoor kitchens, and in addition to its innovative weather tight stainless-steel outdoor cabinetry, over the next few years, it steadily began building up its outdoor-kitchen offerings.

When Georgiadis bought Kalamazoo in 2005, one of the first things he did was to change the company’s name from The Kalamazoo Grill to Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet. “We wanted our name to reflect who we really are,” says Georgiadis. His research and development team, lead by Bullard, went on to develop a full range of products that have redefined the face of outdoor entertaining.

Kalamazoo now offers everything that one needs to entertain family and friends in style. The company's Custom Outdoor Kitchen Collection features unique cooking equipment including crab/lobster boil pits and wok burners, the next generation of weather tight stainless-steel cabinetry and outdoor appliances (from refrigerators, freezers, ice makers and wine cellars to keg tapers that dispense up to three types of beer.)

One of Kalamazoo’s most popular new innovations is its Italian-style Outdoor Artisan Pizza Oven, which bakes everything from deep-dish pizzas to ultra thin, crisp Neapolitan-style pizzas. The oven reaches temperatures of up to 800 degrees, which is the secret to perfect crust. “We saw that people were building pizza ovens in their homes and backyards for upwards of $15,000, installed,” says Georgiadis. Kalamazoo’s countertop stainless-steel version delivers the same performance, is easier to use, cooks more rapidly and retails for $4,000.

In 2007, the company introduced the Japanese-inspired Edo, a sculptural grill modeled after the Japanese cooking method, in which food is cooked on a hot, flat-top grill. The Edo features contemporary design, with sleek and simple lines.

“Outdoor entertaining is all about fun and relaxation,” Georgiadis says. “We want people to be smiling and having a good time when they are using our products.”  The company’s small (but powerful) research-and-development team looks to customers, dealers and professional chefs to get ideas and feedback on its products.

Kalamazoo is a mainstay at cooking events across the country, as the company is constantly looking for ways to put its products to the test in real-life situations (and into the hands of professional chefs.) Staff members also spend time talking to customers about what they like to do outdoors and what they feel their limitations are when it comes to cooking and entertaining. “Geoffrey and our team come up with ideas on how to meet those limitations, test the products with consumers and then bring them to market,” Georgiadis says.

Marketing Innovation
Kalamazoo is the only manufacturer right now to offer a full kitchen design service to help guide customers as they create the custom outdoor entertaining area of their dreams. In 2005, the company introduced Hot Off the Grill, a full-color online newsletter that is quickly becoming a favorite of retailers, customers and even people who don’t own Kalamazoo products.

The concept behind the newsletter is the intent to give people ideas on how to enjoy their outdoor lifestyles by sharing recipes, cooking tips and entertaining ideas. Dealers are using the newsletter as a marketing tool by offering subscriptions to customers. Georgiadis explains that Kalamazoo supports all its dealers’ local marketing efforts, and that it handpicks its dealers based on their passion for outdoor cooking and entertaining. “We only partner with dealers who share our passion and vision,” he says. “Selling is much more than just the displays.”

Georgiadis is confident in the direction the company is headed, and is encouraged by the fact that its outdoor-kitchen business alone grew close to 400 percent last year, even with a soft economy. “We want everyone who is dreaming of an outdoor kitchen to want a Kalamazoo. Not everyone can afford to buy our products, but for those who can, we provide performance and a lifetime of fun,” he explains.

In the end, Georgiadis says, what sets Kalamazoo apart as an innovator is the simple fact that it has a complete and total focus on outdoor cooking and entertaining. “All of our energy, all of our time and all of our money goes into creating the best products on the market,” he says.