Bankrupt Barbeques Galore has been purchased by Taiwanese
Gas Grill manufacturer Grand Hall. The newly formed Grand Home Holdings division of Grand Hall will continue operation of at least 42 of the Barbeques Galore stores in Texas, California and Arizona. Barbeques Galore which declared bankruptcy on August 15th was forced to sell off all assets to cover the nearly $40 million dollars in debt the company had acquired in recent months. Grand Hall has spent $15 million dollars to purchase most of the remaining assets of the company. While Barbeques Galore has blamed the housing crises for its faltering business, Grand Hall has expressed optimizing that it can turn the company around and make the remaining stores into an outlet for its Gas Grills. Grand Hall has been a supplier of many of the Barbeques Galore brand grills including the large Grand Turbo Grills. Grand Hall is also the maker of grills available in Sears, Sam's Club and Fortunoff stores with brand names like Kenmore, Perfect Flame, The Source, and Strathwood.
Australian Barbeque's Galore originally came to the United States on a franchising business model but began buying back many independently owned franchises several years ago. The remaining independent franchises that are still in business have been asked to change their names so if your local store suddenly has a new name you know that it is an independent store.
The future product lines of Barbeques Galore stores are still unknown but with Grand Hall being their primary supplier of store brand products I doubt much will change in that direction. The new company promises to be leaner after many of the money loosing stores have already been shut down.
If you have questions about service or support for the grill you bought from a Barbeques Galore store I suggest you contact them at: 1-800-752-3085
Comments
Maybe they went out of business because they didn’t understand the principle of volume. Instead of selling a lot of grills for middle class people in the $200 to $400 price range, they priced their grills in the $400 to $1200 range. Sure, some people bought the $1200 models, but evidently not enough. Since their
Grills were made primarily in Taiwan, most of the price was profit. The same goes for their competitors Home Depot and Lowes. You can buy a stove for less than the price of most of their grills.
My local store said they ordered 2 parts for me the first of Sept. Now On Oct 6 they tell me they are out of business. The company says they have all parts packed up to move several miles away. Parts may be available by mid Nov. The new company has no idea how to provide customer service and should be written up in all news services so no one else is put in the position of not being able to use a grill. Look at the products they supply DO NOT BUY ANY NEW ONES.
I have been a customer of barbecues galore for a number of years now, and they have become an institution in our community. I bought an expensive barbecue from them, and until their bankruptcy, have never had a problem getting replacement parts or grilling supplies from them. Frustrating? hell yes. However, when I decided to take my business elsewhere, I was surprised to find that noone carried parts for my $3,000+ barbecue; nor did I find one as nice as mine at home depot, lowes, or Osh. ( I did find literally 2 grills at pools, patio & more, but they were priced astronomically more than what I paid).
So after a few phone calls and a heartfelt appeal to the management staff, They shipped the parts I needed directly to me at no cost. They also explained that operations would improve after their funding from their buyout trickled down to the store level. While that is yet to be seen, I haven’t been able to find someone, locally, that knows as much about barbecues as they do, rather than what isle I can find lumber on. While their business plan was OBVIUOSLY flawed, noone else knows as much about JUST barbecues.
Barbeques Galore was driven under due to the fact that its head never grasped the idea that BBQs Galore offered a product that was better in almost every way….The grills that were brought in afterwards were cheap, the remakes of the standards esp the Capt n Cook were CHEAP…they never took into consideration that people needed to be able to get parts for the BBQS they used to be able to have for years refusing to get SS burners for people who bought BBQs with SS burners but who were forced to get CI burners instead even though they paid for SS.
They all but ignored the Contractors as emphasis was placed on the cheapening stand alone grills and less on the superb built ins that go into islands….
The management essentially gave us sub standard product to push then berated us saying we didnt know how to sell…the customers know crap when they see it they come to BBQS Galore for the great BBQs they remember getting in the past not the crap that was forced on its stores in its waning months…they blamed the salespeople and went and raided Select Comforts work source…and the people they brought in hadnt the slightest idea how to sell BBQ and BBQ stuff!
No, it was not the economys fault…it was the radical change in philosophy and approach, ignorance, and a leader that was so full of himself that he would not listen to his employees but rather forced out all the managers who drafted letters and contacted the main company to warn them something bad was happening.
The people from Select Comfort were being put into management positions and they didnt even know how to do the books correctly they had to be taught by salespeople who managed to stay on…
Yes the economy is partly to blame but the majority of the blame lays with the CEO and his henchmen….barbeques Galore thrived when it built a better BBQ….it started going downhill when Parts were ignored and they started replacing quality with cheap stuff… the customers knew and the employess knew…The CEO just never seemed to get it.
We bought a STS 4 burner model in May 2008. We paid for stainless burners and grates, but received cast iron with the promise of replacement parts soon. The parts have never arrived and are NOT going to arrive according to the store management.
A complaint filed with BBB didn’t do any good.
If that isn’t stealing, I don’t know what is..
The poster Doug is 100% correct. BG went under because they pushed cheep products made overseas, they fired or drove off most of the good staff and from what I can tell they built one to many stores.
Actually, I use to be a vendor for BG and I got to know many managers really well at the various stores. The hardest part for me was seeing 15-20 year sales staff with family get fired like it was nothing! Other sales people with less years also quit due to the fact that the CEO and others at corp leval placed unreasonable demands for sales quotas; as I was told. But what most people don’t know is that the sales force could have left the company a long time ago because the corporate MISS-leaders got the bright idea to do away with a commission altogether in the late 90s I believe for the sales team. This is crazy? What job has a sales position but you get no commission off the sale?
we are still waiting on warranty parts (burner and grates)! Anybody know where else to purchase CI grates that will fit the turbo 3-burner grill?
doug is 100 percent correct
i used to run a store and everything was great until jeffery sears/ rob aarnes took over
the grills were redesigned(aka cheapened) yet they cost more than the original high quality model, whenever we sold one of the new grills we would pray it wasnt broken in the box or the customer didnt realize it was a piece of crap and return it. we had almost no inventory and spare parts were a joke, they would have us sell grills with s/s parts but give them cheap parts promising their rightful parts in the future.
it got so bad there i was yelled at by customers on a daily basis and had my employees screen phone calls
BBQ Galore took a dive because Sid sold the business. Shaun is 100% correct in saying that the problem was jeff sears. The line up of manufacturers that were taken to the cleaners by this guy is very long. As far as cheap grills, you could still go in today and drop 5K on a Lynx if you wanted to waste that much money. Sad to see, as they had a bunch of very dedicated mgrs and staff…..
I worked here 05-06. In 05 things ran pretty seamlessly, I was making money, and I had faith in what I sold. In 06 there was very noticeable drop in inventory and the availibity of parts. We were very busy and the demand was very high in during that summer, but we literally had only 85% of the grill available to sell. Everyones pockets suffered that year, and the companies earnings suffered tremendously. They couldn’t recover and had to sell, restrucuture, and now they sell an overall subpar product. Not sure what the hell happened in 06 but it lead to the company’s demise and I’m sure anyone working for the company around that time can attest.
I had an incredible experience with BG back in 02.
Subsequently purchased a Capt Cook, been a great grill, however the CI burners and grates were problematic. The 1st time I took them into the store I was told that I had gotten the grill too hot and that caused the failure of the grates. I tried then to order replacements in SS, but was told they would not be in stock for two months.
Had a similar experience two months later and for the following year.
The grill finally would no longer function.
I contacted the CEO, who then put me in touch with the Operations VP, who recently sent me SS grates and burners at no charge.
This most recent experience mirrors the reason I began patronizing this establishment.
I hope they are able to regain their original stature.
We have an old BBQ galore grill and need a new one. The ones at Lowes, Sams, etc do not have the briquettes for even heating.
Any one know of a different brand with these options?
Danny Morris–Do you have contact info for VP of Ops? I’m in the same boat. Gone as far as I can with the store, they keep pushing me off. Can’t find contact info anywhere. Thanks!
I know I worked for there a while, everything was completely upside down. I don’t have enough time to tell you how bad things where in the corporate office. Very, very, Political. If you were one of J. Sears favorites you made a lot of money got great perks and could do or say anything you wanted to anyone else in the office there. That’s also the way things got done. They even hired or brought in some of these temps who where really weird or semi-retarded at the corporate office.
Everything these people say here is true. It was a total mess and the leaders at the time where all playing games just to try to keep things afloat.
Big boys playing with big toys. BBQ’s Galore was just a toy of the Private Equity Group that owned them at the time. The real question is: would the all those jobs have been lost anyway?
Unless your one of Jeffery Sears cronies (that would suck all by its self) this does not apply. To all the officers at that time during the end of BBG: How bad is your career to have to or want to work there and play all those games?
You will get what you deserve!
I understand all this – but now its my turn to play games I’ll punch all you out!
Over 20 grills were purcahsed for THE COMMERCIAL PROPERTY & thousands upon thousands of dollars were spent. Now only 18 months later, no parts can be found anywhere!
The following e-mail summs up my frustration after months of leaving messages, conversations with management, e-mails, etc:
To our enemies at BBQ Galore,
I have been trying to get these gas valves for 4 months, what is wrong with your company???????
No one returns calls, no one tries, no one seems to care.
IF I COULD ONLY GET MY HANDS ON ONE OF YOU!!!!!!!
I bought a grill from BG a couple years back. I have taken it apart because the burners will not come on. I cleaned it all up and they it still will not work. When I turn the handle to light nothing happens I can’t even hear any gas coming out. Which makes me believe no gas is getting into the burners. Has anyone had this problem and if so what is the problem. Noelle
I bought a Capt’n Cook 5 burner barbeque from Barbeques Galore ($900.00) several years ago at the Westlake Village store. The rock grate has completely burned through and I want to purchase a new one. Have tried several times to contact the company re: this, but get no response. I am now waiting for a response from “Appliance Factory Parts” in Denver who have the part listed on their web site. I haven’t receive anything from then yet either.
I would never buy anything from them again. Their customer service si horrible and I have been waiting for parts that were paid for by CC. Nobody calls you back and they tell you stories taht are not true about shipping…..What happened to honorable businesses?