Modern marketing methods never fail to amaze and amuse me, but a little bit of background first.
I have a gas grill that is, I think a Methuselah brand or something similar. I refuse to part with it because, unlike the newer pieces of trash, it is configured to use lava rock, which is the secret of being able to actually cook anything on a gas grill. Gas burns at far to low a temperature for satisfactory grilling but lava rock, after suitable preheating, reaches a temperature approaching that of napalm and grills very nicely. Some of the new ones use little square briquettes, but don’t be fooled; those things are about as useful as teats on a boar hog.
My trusty gas grill needs to be refurbished from time to time, and parts for that endeavor are becoming increasingly difficult to find. The cooking grate is enameled and lasts just fine, but the burner needs to be replaced, as does the grate that holds the lava rock and once in a rare while the lava rock itself needs to be replaced. Lowe’s has everything except the grate to hold the lava rock, so I went to Barbecues Galore to see if they had it.
Boy, is that place ever misnamed. Turns out they only carry their own brand, which must not be terribly popular since the store was empty on Saturday afternoon. The store had three sales persons, one of whom approached me eagerly as I entered. I may well have been the first customer of the day. I inquired about the grate and he asked me what brand my grill was. I told him, “Old,” and he replied, “Oh, we only carry parts for our own brand.”
I could not help but laugh and said, admittedly somewhat unkindly, “It must be nice to carry only the things you want to. That may explain why there’s nobody in your store.”
I think they are trying to be elite, which is one form of modern marketing.
Yeah the lava rock kind works well, I always thought because the rock distributes the heat better and more evenly. And no, the brick briquettes do not work as well. My old one bew up and caught fire (courtesy of Arthur, thank you very much), so I had to replace it. It gets dirty and flares up easily if the only real problem.
ReplyDeleteI would think that "Barbeques Galore" would have more than one brand - so I gues the name is an oxymoron? and a oddly named brand it is, if it only has its own brand.
Hey, Jayhawk, it looks like I fell off your blogroll. I've been away for a while, recuperating from knee replacement surgery, but I'm back now. It's nice to see you're still blogging.
ReplyDeleteOurs is old too; Mom and I bought it at a garage sale for (not yet) Hubband 25 years ago. It has been across the country and back and across again, one of its trips was strapped to teh outside of the moving van. It uses little square bicks, but we have to keep buying new bags of them on a regular basis. We have had to replace a couple of parts over the years, need a new handle for the lid, and I suppose Barbeques Galore wouldn't have parts for it either. Not sure we would ever own a different brand, but with the way it seems to be holding up, I am guessing we may not ever need to find out. It is a very well known standard brand.
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