BBQGuys facts for kids
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| Private | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Predecessor | ShoppersChoice.com |
| Founded | 1998 |
| Founder | Mike Hackley and Ladina Hackley |
| Headquarters | , |
| Owner | Brand Velocity Partners |
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Number of employees
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294 (2021) |
BBQGuys is a company that sells barbecue grills. Its main office is in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in the United States.
The company was started in 1998 by Michael Hackley, an Air Force veteran, and his wife, Ladina Hackley. It was first called The Grill Store & More. Later, it changed its name to BBQGuys. This happened when the company started selling more online during a time called the dot-com bubble. In 2019, the United States Senate Committee gave BBQGuys an award for being the Small Business of the Week. In late 2020, a company called Brand Velocity Partners bought BBQGuys.
How BBQGuys Started and Grew
In 1998, Michael and Ladina Hackley opened their first store in Baton Rouge. They got the idea to start a barbecue grill business after seeing a similar store in Des Moines, Iowa. They began their business without any big loans or investors.
During the "dot-com bubble," many online businesses faced problems. The Grill Store & More also had money troubles. So, Michael Hackley decided to focus on selling products online through the bbqguys.com website. This online business became very successful. Because of this success, their three physical stores closed within a year.
In 2003, the Hackleys started selling products from their homes. In 2004, they launched a new website called Shopperschoice.com. Between 2003 and 2016, the number of employees at Shopperschoice.com grew a lot. It went from five people to 140 people.
Mike Hackley also helped start another company called Blaze Outdoor Products. This company makes grills, smokers, and other outdoor cooking items. In 2019, the United States Senate Committee named BBQGuys the Small Business of the Week. By then, the company had been on the Inc. 5000 list for 11 years in a row. This list features some of the fastest-growing companies. In the same year, Shopperschoice.com changed its name back to BBQGuys.com.
In September 2019, BBQGuys made its main office bigger. This was to make room for 50 new jobs in customer support. This expansion also helped create 22 other jobs in the area. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, BBQGuys was still able to hire new people. About 90 percent of their team started working from home. For warehouse workers who could not work from home, the company put in new safety rules and cleaning steps to keep them safe.
New Owners in 2020
In August 2020, Michael Hackley sold BBQGuys to a company called Brand Velocity Partners (BVP). This company also bought Blaze Outdoor, which was BBQGuys' sister company.
As part of this sale, several famous American football players became investors in BBQGuys. These players include Archie Manning and his sons Cooper Manning, Peyton Manning, and Eli Manning. Other players like LaDainian Tomlinson and Steve Hutchinson also invested.
In March 2021, BBQGuys announced that Eli Manning and his father Archie Manning would appear in TV commercials to promote the brand.
