YouSaid · the spoken record

Mike McGowan

lines on the record: 80
first: 2026-06-29
most recent: 2026-06-29
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“So I forced myself to stay in there. And that's my personal love. You know, my finance guys are smart. I don't need to spend time with them. Operations, they'll clean up everything and get it tidy and get it rocking and rolling. I don't need to spend as much time there. I like the product. I love delighting my end user customers coming out with innovative, cool ideas and expanding beyond outdoor cooking. I have way too many ideas in my brain.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“How much time do you spend with the RD people inventing new griddles? Because that was a thing. You drew the first one, I think, on a legal pad, right? How much time do you spend in the product weeds?”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“A really interesting question, and a lot of times from what I've seen, not very many entrepreneurs who start a business and are entrepreneurial-minded like I am like to operate in that type of a corporate environment, if you will. I don't know if I'm different, unique. I don't know. I'm not really trying to compare myself anywhere, but I just love what I'm doing. How many people get an opportunity to ride the wave of a disruptive technology like Blackstone was into an old category that had been around forever. And then on top of it, you get to manage and take over the best, biggest brand in that industry. So the way I look at it like, man, this is a once-in-a-lotime deal. So I'm loving it. This is great fun and I'm sticking around for a while to keep doing this.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It is definitely difficult on the Amazon platform. The other challenging thing with Amazon is just their algorithm in particular. Because if I get back ordered or if they sell more than they thought and then they don't have inventory, then the algorithm thinks no one wants to buy it because they're out of stock. So that's probably the biggest challenge with Amazon. And it really is difficult to get that overridden by a human. That's the algorithm and that's what it says. That's what kind of what they stick to”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Your cost isn't going to be as good as mine. You don't have the economies of scales that I do. So we have a big competitive advantage over knockoffs, if you will. And I'm talking non-branded importers. But believe me, they're very innovative. They're very creative. Their speed-to-market sometimes astounds me. I have a bigger problem on my accessories with that than I do on the grills and griddles.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“definitely a worry my big advantage is we have two unbelievably strong brands so you can knock me off but it's not a black stone or it's not a weber so that's a big advantage that we have in my opinion the key to that I can't just rest on my laurels and say well I have the coolest brand who cares what I have to continue to do is innovate my product and stay one two three steps ahead of my competition because they're knocking off in my opinion two to three year old technology. It's how long it takes them. They can't knock me off overnight. This is a long lead time production product. And by the time you want to knock me off and you find a source to have it built and you pay for tooling, which is not cheap, it's a big capital expense. And then you start buying inventory in minimum quantities from, they're not going to build you 10. You know, you got to buy hundreds or thousands of units to get going.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I'm just curious about that because that is the competitive dynamic, right? Of having the Weber and the ecosystem at the higher price point. That might be the competitive dynamic that has been removed, right? Because you now operate Weber. Do you have other griddle competitors that you wake up and think about every day?”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Complaints we get about rusting, it's a really, really small percentage. And we have so many cleaning kits and restoration kits and hundreds and thousands of YouTube and TikTok videos on how to deal with it and how to fix it. And in 30 minutes, you can clean up your Gretel. It's really not that hard.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Not just part of our marketing, it's part of our product development. Interestingly enough, when Weber got into the griddle business as a competitor, I was at least impressed by the fact they tried to improve on something that was a consumer complaint, Rust. And so they came out with a slate, which is just basically a preseason griddle at the factory. And they came out with a new process on how to do that. It drives the cost higher. It's more expensive to do. But at least they went after a concern from the consumer. They just didn't knock me off and say, here's ours, it's Weber. They came out with the feature on it. So that makes the industry better. That's great. And as a result, you know, we focus on that a lot because of our customer, while it may be, it definitely is a concern and customers identify that, but on the total number of units we sell in the”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It is crazy. I mean, I would say, you know, people have seen me use mine. I've watched my friends use theirs. And the number one thing they talk about is, boy, that seems hard to maintain on the griddle side anyway, right? You got to care for it. You got to scrape it. If you leave it over the winter, you got to clean the rust off of it. That feels like a technology problem that you have not yet overcome, right? The thing will just get rusty. And maybe like I love going on the Reddit and everyone just like cook another pack of bacon and it'll all be fine. Like there's some aspect of this thing is harder to use than a regular gas griddle that you can just let deteriorate until you buy a new one do you think about that? Is that part of your marketing?”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Weekly, monthly, daily almost, that strategy. So the marketing team spends hours analyzing results and what worked and what didn't work and how can we improve and where should we spend money, where should wen't spend money. That is just an ongoing process on a daily basis.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's crazy for us the next new customer still comes at a very high percentage by word of mouth. And all this money we spend on marketing and advertising and influencing and everything else when we do surveys annually, which I've done now for about seven years, still the number one way people hear about our brand on the Blackstone site haven't got caught up yet on Weber, but on the Blackstone site, it's still by word of mouth. So somebody cooks on the weekend, they invite the neighborhood over. flipping pancakes in the morning or they're doing smash burgers or whatever they're doing people now the difference is they've heard of Blackstone they've definitely seen one but now they're experiencing it and it's still a big influence on them making that purchase so we'll continue to try to drive that in different ways and creative ways and it changes”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We have conversations with a lot of them and some of them, you know, some of them came to us and they negotiated and they like I won't pay that money and they can be hurt all they want quite frankly. But I do that for the brand and for the product itself, not to hurt anybody's feelings or be offensive or anything to influence her, because I wish them all the best. And some of them do really well and do a great job. I think it's great. It's a great business model for an independent person. I just have to protect my brand and the integrity and the authenticity of my brand. That's what I focus on.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That happens all the time to us because we have these people who start cooking on a black stone, they start getting a great following because people want to follow the brand. They think it's them. And my competitors think it's them. And then they go buy them and have them come and hawk their products. And to me, it's fake. It's not authentic. And I don't like it. So I'll never do that.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I will never get that far because I don't believe in it. I think when you buy and pay for influencers, the consumer picks it out in seconds. The consumer is so savvy and so smart. So our content creation, we still have influencers. We've expanded it. We have what we call the griddle crew. And these are creators and content creators that we've seen online. We've followed them for a long time. They're authentic. If somebody calls me up and says, hey, I have 5 million followers pay me $3 million a year and I'll pitch your brand. We respectfully decline and hang up as fast as we can, quite frankly. We don't do it that way. And I don't see a lot of people doing it that way. And I tell people all the time, that's the best way to do it, but no one believes me. Nobody, they think they have to go buy their content creators. And typically what happens is what you mentioned earlier in the call where coincidentally some of the Blackstone influencers got quote unquote swiped by Weber.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The spend that we have has definitely changed. Traditional television advertising. Off the top of my head, it's probably closer of 50-50 spend now on social medias, advertising and promotion versus just traditional TV. But I'm still on TV. And we're now taking the Weber brand and putting them back on traditional TV advertising, driving the brand awareness. I still don't have an 800 number.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I don't really worry about it because people are always going to eat, and we cook great devices to cook your food on. And we will innovate to lifestyle changes, demographical changes, economic changes. That's what I have to do. I can't control those things. I just have to merchandise around those things and react to them. I don't like to react. We like to be a little bit more proactive than that. So we try to spot trends to where we have time to react to that and make sure that we're spot on with what the customer wants to pay and buy.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The Weber Gas Grills, some of them have a 15-year warranty. The biggest difference there is Rust. And Weber grills traditionally have been made, we call it the burn box, the part that holds the burners. That's cast aluminum. That doesn't rust, and that lasts forever. And our hoods on Weber Grills are also cast aluminum on the sides with enamel-coated paint on the top, which doesn't chip as easy. It lasts a lot longer. So the Weber gas grill is more expensive than a lot of the cheap imports, but the quality difference, go pick up one of my gas grills compared to one for $300. And you can immediately feel the difference as a consumer.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Mentioned the longevity of the kettle several times, 10 year warranty. The COVID green egg was on the show a couple years ago, and he said specifically about the kettle, they cost $200, $300. I can buy them at the grocery store within two or three years you're buying another one because they fall apart. The last time you were on the show, you were like, it's outdoor cooking equipment two, three, five years. It's time to buy a new one. You're talking about very price sensitive customers now, even maybe at the high end. People are very sensitive to the amount that prices are going. People do want things to last longer. How do you think about that? I mean, this stuff is outside. It is going to wear at a different rate. Can you make these products to last for more than three years? Can you actually guarantee that the 10 years across the product line, or is it the kettle?”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think we can. I think there's some innovation that we can put into some of these as simple as they are. They're a sheet of steel that's molded to half dome on each side and put some legs. And it's a pretty simple product, but there's innovation left in there that we can come up with. And I think we can help the retail price points.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Before I learned this, I mean, we saw that. We saw that as a trend developing this year. You mentioned our kettle earlier and you mentioned that it's part of our logo. It is. It's actually a trademarked logo with the shape of our kettle in there. It's iconic to the Weber brand. I want to see what we can do to get sharper price points on the kettle because they've crept up over time. They can retail for $200 and traditionally that was $100 retail item and now it's all the way up to $150, $200. So what can we do innovatively to help the customer have a better experience at a better price point is really kind of what I'm focused on.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The bottom almost, let's see, 50% of our consumers are spending 15 to 20 percent on power. That includes electricity at home, gasoline, propane, and those customers are squeezed. If they're spending 50% of their income on housing and 20, 25% on power, they have no money left. It's a really difficult economy for them right now. So, yeah, they're trading down to charcoal grills because of price point.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“They're buying charcoal grills because of the retail price point. They're not trading from a 36 inch grill to a 28 inch griddle because of money. They're going all the way down to a charcoal grill. So, yeah, we're seeing some big trade down right now.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“More of that same type philosophy on the Weber brand as well to help our customers. Because when you fire up a really good rib-eye on a Genesis or a spirit or a summit gas grill, and you know how to cook it right, it's pretty darn good steak, I have to admit.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's funny. Those are some words I had to eat. I said many times we will never sell a gas grill. And now I'm the leading seller of gas grills. But it was funny. So in the Chicago area. There are four restaurants with the Weber banner on them. And inside those restaurants, they actually have a section where they have all the gas grills set up and you can take a cooking class there. And so we went there and ate ate dinner and then we went back into the area and we got trained. And I was told how to cook a steak on a gas grill. And I loved it. It was amazing. It was really delicious. But I didn't know how to use it. gaining a little bit of knowledge. We're going to be putting more content out on how to use a charcoal grill, how to start it, how to deal with the coals, how to move them around, how to create a hot zone and an indirect and direct zone, all those different kind of things that people need to learn and may or may not know. So we're going to have all of that set up. And you know how Blackstone, we've been huge on social media. It's still a big part of our philosophy.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And we are. And I think one of the greatest technologies to help you with gas grill cooking is having a really good thermometer, instant read thermometer. And we have those now that connect to the app that we have on Weber. Phenomenal app. You can use it to cook on pellet grills, which we also make under that brand. But we're going to have connected devices that will connect into the app and help you with the meat temperature. It's funny you mention that because I haven't cooked on a gas grill for 25, 30 years, right?”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It has an impact on SS because we haven't expanded into that category deep enough to where it would impact us. But we did buy another technology called June Ovens. Weber did. And it has some phenomenal technology for cooking. It's just really super expensive. And so we're still trying to figure that puzzle out. But as a result of that technology, we've greatly expanded our connected devices and our thermometers. And then you're going to start seeing some electronics on some of our high-end summit grills that are just unbelievable. And really, I think the biggest application for technology and outdoor cooking is with pellet grills. Because on a griddle, it takes you two minutes to cook a hamburger, right? I don't need, I don't even have time to hook up and my meat's done. But if you're smoking something, you're going to take four, eight, fourteen hours to cook something.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I am trying to push more for manufacturing in the United States just to have more control of my supply chain. That would be my biggest motive there. But I have to be profitable. Tariffs have certainly started to even the playing field and make it more attractive to build in the U.S. And we're actively reviewing opportunities. Like I say, to continue to build more product here in the US.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But demand goes up for it, so still markets are reacting to the demand. So it just continues to kind of chase itself on profitability in where you can and can't build a product. But we work every day still trying to build in the US and continue to figure that puzzle out. I'd love to build more in the US if I could, but this is not a particular product. But if something retails for $600 or $300, the customer votes with their credit card and they vote for $300 because the quality's the same.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Not lobbying, dealing with, and it affected the whole industry because everybody bills overseas except, interestingly enough, Weber, because we have a factory just west of Chicago in a suburb called Huntley, and we still build most of our kettles for the U.S. market in Huntley, Illinois. And we've maintained that, and it's really challenging. It's very difficult to maintain a retail price point that my customers want to pay for a kettle.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Those accessories are made overseas. You've mentioned overseas manufacturing and tariffs and Liberation Day now several times. It's interesting. You have competitors are public. Traeger is a public company. They've had to just loudly say that tariff policy and trade policy has hurt their business. It sounds like that's the same for you. Is that something you're actively lobbying against? Is it something you're just dealing with?”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, the spatulas themselves, right? And so sometimes they're thick and not flexible. Those are great for hamburgers, but sometimes they're softer and more flexible. Those are great for pancakes flipping in, especially if you're doing eggs, scrambled or fried eggs. You just mentioned a dome, a melting dome. People were using cake pans when we first saw that on YouTube and were like, they were drilling a hole in it and putting a handle that they got from someplace. So they could lift it on and off the griddle. And then over time as products develop, especially on our accessories line, we learn from one year to the next working with our retail customers. You had 50 accessories. Here's the top 10 sellers. Here's the bottom 10 sellers. Let's go through item by item. Talk about what worked and what didn't work and what do we need to learn from our customers to modify, get rid of, improve on, and change for next year.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's interesting. We don't try to invent new things just so you'll buy something else from us. Everything we build in accessories, especially, and we learn this the hard way, because at first we're like, oh, let's do this. Let's do that. We would put those products in the market. They wouldn't sell. So when we put a product in the market that's a new accessory, it is coming from a lot of consumer feedback. We get great ideas from YouTube and TikTok and we watch what our customers are doing and how they're modifying things and how they're making it easier and simpler. It's all consumer driven on the accessories.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Translating that over and sharing that concept with the Weber teams and helping them understand, you know, McDonald's wouldn't make it if they couldn't sell French fries. You got to sell the fries with the hamburger. So accessories are a really critical part of our total overall business for both brands.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Is still a lot the same. Accessories are a very important part of our business, and especially on a griddle, because there's so many things you can do on a griddle that you need those accessories. They're a pretty important part of it. And then the other interesting thing is that with the retail marketplace the way it is right now, the way it is today, tariffs have been heavily impacted us last year and we're still filling the results of that from Liberation Day. And then on top of it, we had to move manufacturing facilities to Southeast Asia. That was not flawless, I should say. We had plenty of headaches there. And then just this summer with gas prices going up the way that they have, that really affects our customers. And so they may not be able to afford a new griddle right now for Father's Day, but they certainly can go by two or three accessories that dad's always wanted. So the accessory business is a huge part of our business.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's a great question, and it's really part of our go-to-market strategy. We really believe both brands serve different purposes. And that's what I want the team to focus on is what purpose does Blackstone serve and what purpose does Weber serve to the customer? And what does my end user customer expect from both of those brands to deliver? Because there's some nuances, there's some differences there.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It was so different depending on each function. There wasn't one set of this is the variables you'll use to make a decision for everybody. So again, the variables were so unique depending on the job function. One hat didn't fit all. One of the easier ones, although it was very difficult from a personal standpoint, but Chicago is my center of excellence for the finance department. And we had duplication in Logan. So, you know, accounts payables, accounts receivables, those kinds of teams needed to be consolidated and the folks in Logan got more impacted from losing their jobs than the folks did in Chicago. So that's one example of where we, you know, that one was maybe a little bit easier to make a decision because the finance department's staying out there”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So we went through quite an elaborate process with the executive leadership team and they each took responsibility for their areas and they went through working with our consulting company line item by line item, job function by job function. And one of the variables that was taken out is where people lived. I don't care where they live. I don't care if they're in Poland or Chicago or Logan or New Zealand, Australia. We really went through and looked at job function and where it could be best performed. And then the harder decisions are where you're just looking at where we're duplicated in staff and how do we make those decisions. But that's the process that we went through.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Make decisions by Counseling with my executive leadership team. I love to bring everybody together when there's a tough decision because I want to, and let's say it's a marketing decision, I expect my finance guy to chip in and make a contribution as to the comment. If it's a finance decision, I expect the sales guys to chip in or my commercial leaders to chip in and talk about it. So I try to get everybody together and really go more through a counseling process. I think we make better decisions when we get all of our brains working together. And then on the final vote decider, if I don't like what they all think together, then I'll decide what I think is best. But I have found over time and over a lot of experience and making good decisions and making bad decisions, better decisions are made when I get everybody working on it together.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Weber brand serves the customer more on a premium level and it is for like when you want to cook serious and you want to take your time and you want to craft, crafting is kind of the word I use to describe Weber. Blackstone is fast and fun and easy and variety. Weber more of the crafting style of food.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, I mean The reality is everybody can improve and everybody can get better. And one of the things that I've really fought hard to maintain was making sure that at Blackstone we didn't get complacent because we've had a lot of success for a long time. We've had a great run. That can breed complacency. You better wake up every day and feel like you're starting at the zero yard line and you got 100 yards to go. Nobody gets to start at the 10-yard line. So that was some of the, oh, we're Blackstone. We know what we're doing. And Weber's been old and slow. And now I won't put up with that kind of attitude. So that's a little bit about what I was referring to.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We have one R&D group. We have consolidated that. It was one of the first departments I wanted consolidated, even though it wasn't the easiest, because we have great talent in both offices now. So the VP over R&D, and then it staffs out from there. And we assign development groups based on grill type, basically. So we'll have product management and industrial design and engineering for gas grills, for griddle. But if we have a group working on griddle, they can work on either brand and vice versa with gas grills. If Blackstone decided to ever get into gas grills, that team would develop that for Blackstone.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Let me ask you about that just the development of that product as you combine the companies and you combine these cultures. Blackstone every year Just like look at the product catalog, I'm like, everything is brand new, right? It's almost like the company is starting from scratch over and over again. Weber is very classic. That kettle has really not changed. And the summit girl that my father-in-law bought me 10 years ago and the summit girl today, they're virtually identical. In fact, the big difference is I think the new one can accept griddle plates in my being. Like fundamentally the difference. That's a different approach to product development. Are you going to have one product development team that drives a roadmap for both brands or does Weber get to have its own griddle development team because a price point is different”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“There's no reason for example for Weber and Blackstone Brand to both have a $150 griddle. That's really kind of more of a Blackstone type price point. But if there's a retail customer who wants an upgraded griddle and they want the Weber brand and a longer warranty experience, then a 799 slate is probably the answer for them.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, because they're still consumers who love the Weber brand, but will merchandise it. By feature benefit and value proposition based on retail price point and retail placement. So, you know, if you look at our industry, we're small as far as numbers of doors that sell our product. I shouldn't say it that way because there's a lot of doors, but there's Home Depot, Lowe's, Ace, Walmart, Amazon, Costco. And then it goes way down from there as far as potential volumes with retail customers. So it's a relatively small customer base. And so we have to do business with everybody, number one. And I want to please my customer. Again, I really try to focus on the end user. And we have extremely dedicated Weber customers. And we want to offer them products.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, and kind of by centers of excellence, if you will, and we have a beautiful office in Chicago out in the suburbs. We have a new office here in Utah for our headquarters that we just built. I was doing that anyway, just coincided with the merger. We have R&D facilities here in Logan and in Chicago. And then we have teams around the world. Weber has a big organization in EMEA, and we have a manufacturing facility in Poland. Have operations in China still, and we've moved to Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand for manufacturing. And so we have staff and people there as well. So we're keeping it based on centers of excellence and where expertise lie because nobody in Logan had ever built a gas grill before. So I'm not going to really take those engineers and try to expect them to get up to speed and vice versa with griddles in Chicago”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I said, well, I don't know if that's what I want. What if the best and the best are just mediocre and not the best? I want world class. So I want benchmarks of the best finance department, the best operational team in the world, at whatever company. So I've really tried to approach it from that viewpoint. And then the culture, I think culture comes from everybody unifying and having a common goal of what they want to do and what we want this company to become and having enthusiasm and excitement and pride. So when you come to work, whether it's Monday or Friday or any day in between, you're really excited to get in the office and get going because you're going to make a change and you're going to impact the business and it's going to be exciting and it's going to be rewarding for the employee. That's really kind of where I'm keying my focus.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Let me answer that this way. So a lot of people advise me and they're like, you know, when you start doing this integration, you want to take the best practices from Blackstone and the best practices from Weber and merge those together.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Just like you would hiring somebody. And then I also included two of my board members who have had a lot of experience with integration. And they stepped in and together it was a pretty easy decision for us which way we went. And it's turned out to be a really good decision. They've been really, really helpful.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“When I had my previous financial partner, a week after we closed the deal with them, this is going clear back to 22, they parked their consultant in my office in Utah because they wanted to see how they could help improve. And he worked for that company, but he had spent his career with one of the really big consulting companies in the U.S. You could probably guess which one. So he was really, really sharp and learned a lot from him. When I went to hire a consulting company, I called him up and asked for recommendations because he still hires them to this day when they invest in a company, they bring a consultant in to kind of help. If they're integrating or just trying to improve process. So I called him. He gave me four names and gave me the contacts for those four names. I called each company and then I just took him through an interview process.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT