Photos: ©2015 Stephanie Pierce Photography. www.spiercephotography.com

Gary Bertassi is what some might consider a throwback. The soft-spoken, pony-tailed retailer calls himself an old hippie.

His specialty barbecue and fireplace shop, Grillers Hall of Flame in Indian Orchard, Massachusetts, is a shrine to the past and home to his “Vintage Barbecue Museum,” a vast collection of barbecue memorabilia that includes an estimated 150 antique grills, innumerable old-fashioned accessories, and a wide assortment of retro kitsch.

Even new merchandise on the sales floor reflects Bertassi’s old-school philosophy that simple is best, quality trumps trendy, and lengthy warranties beat flashy bells-and-whistles any day.

Yet, while his mantra might be “Retro Rules,” Bertassi understands that, for his business to grow and thrive, he must be progressive, open to change and constantly learning. He’s willing to try new opportunities, categories and products. He acknowledges the importance of technology, and tries to embrace it, and, he’s not afraid to buck industry trends that don’t sit well with him.  

“Gary has an unparalleled knowledge of and passion for the business,” says Brian Eskew of Twin Eagles, one of Bertassi’s vendors. “Grillers Hall of Flame is part grill store and part museum. The retro grills and accessories are so much fun to look at and create a sense of nostalgia for customers that reinforces the love of barbecuing, entertaining outdoors and making memories with family and friends.”

Memory Lane has clearly been the road to success for Bertassi. With over 40 years’ experience, he knows the business from every angle and perspective. In addition to his retail operation, Bertassi also offers masonry chimney repair, chimney sweeping, and grill repair services. He serves as a manufacturers’ rep for a handful of barbecue products, and manufactures or partners in manufacturing several niche hearth and barbecue products. He was editor and publisher, with his brother, of a regional barbecue newsletter, and has served on the board of the National BBQ Association for a decade.

Hearth & Home caught up with this unconventional retailer to discuss how he manages to stay current by being rooted in the past.

Gary Bertassi, owner, Grillers Hall of Flame.

Hearth & Home: Tell us about your background. How did you get into the hearth and barbecue business?

Gary Bertassi: “At age 16, I started helping my father, who was a chimney mason. This was just a few years before the Jimmy Carter oil embargo. In 1977, my brother Rich and I expanded the masonry business to include chimney sweeping and then we started selling solid-fuel appliances. Some years later we got into the barbecue business.”

How are your sales divided today? 

Bertassi: “Our business is about 60-70 percent barbecue, 30-40 percent hearth.” 

How would you describe your store and your approach to retailing?

Bertassi: “We’re not a big operation with a flashy, state-of-the-art showroom – in fact, just the opposite. The store has a rustic, old-fashioned, general-store type of look, like a Cracker Barrel restaurant. Our approach to retailing? I guess we were moderately aggressive in the early years, but very passive now. We’re not trying to blaze a path to the barbecue unknown.

“I’m still actively involved in marketing our products and promoting viable new grill lines, especially those substantially made in the USA, but there are too many uncertainties, changes, and product choices in the marketplace today. So we observe before making decisions, and live by the motto that simpler is better than flashy-and-complicated when grills are involved.”

Besides your retail store, you have several other related businesses. Tell us about them.

Bertassi: “In the 1990s I sold Grillfitti grill covers in my store – the original chili-pepper fabric grill covers created by Maureen Sheppard. I wanted to try some independent repping and Maureen was gracious enough to take a chance with a newbie like me and gave me a territory to service. When she sold the business, I continued as a rep for the new owner in parts of New England.

“When that owner decided to sell Grillfitti, I partnered with a fellow barbecue retailer from Canton, Ohio, named Ralph Taylor and we purchased the rights to manufacture the line. Ralph passed away almost nine years ago and I just continued on with the manufacturing, even though we’re no longer actively seeking dealers.   

“I’ve just partnered into a new corporation called Kamado Koncepts, based out of Concord, New Hampshire. It will offer unique gadgets made expressly for kamados. We have already applied for patent protection on several items, including the Kamado Mate (a rotisserie that fits all major brands of kamado cookers with the hood closed); The Spin Mate (a multifaceted, multi-positional, spinning-wheel heat deflector); and the Basket Mate (a vertical, universal heat source attachment). There will be other new inventions coming in late 2014 and early 2015. I’m very excited about this new venture.”

How do you juggle it all?

Bertassi: “Finding time is always an issue with a small mom-and-pop operation like ours. I don’t sleep much.”

You have quite a collection of barbecue memorabilia. What inspired it?

Grill and memorabilia intermingle throughout the store.

Bertassi: “When I was a young man I fell in love with all things old. Now I’m old like the retro things I collect! Once you start, it becomes a ‘gotta have it’ situation. That’s why I have upwards of 50 barbecue shirts to wear.”

How did this obsession start?

Bertassi: “It started when I couldn’t bring myself to dismantle an old grill I’d taken for recycling after delivering a new grill to a customer. Heck, I still can’t. Barbecue stuff from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s was real innovative, not only for the time, but even today. Everyone thinks infrared grills started in the early 1980s, but in my collection I have a 1971 Benzomatic infrared portable grill. The most sophisticated grill ever made was the simple hibachi.”

What is your favorite piece?

Bertassi: “How about favorite pieces? The Royal Chef Locomotive, Wiggly Pig, and Stage Coach charcoal grills. Henry Ford’s original Model T portable grills, and even his original boxes of charcoal. I love the sexist retro aprons, too, and all the hibachis made in Japan. Did I mention my barbecue comic book collection? For full-size grills, I have a passion for old Charmglow/MHP, Broilmaster, Ducane, Weber, Amberlight, Arkla, Structo, Jacuzzi, Big Boy, Hasty Bake. Even old kamados from Japan.”

How do you find this stuff?

Bertassi: “Like the homeless cats I’ve been feeding for years, the grills seem to find me. My customers know about my collection. When they have no need for their old grill, they call and offer me their old clunker for free. I have the most generous customers in the world.”

How do you display it?

Over 20 brands of grills are stocked at Grillers Hall of Flame.

Bertassi: “Due to our limited showroom space, we can’t display all the large antique barbecues at once, so the pieces rotate in and out of storage. Small barbecue memorabilia like aprons, comic books, hibachis, tool sets and restaurant menus hang on the walls year-round. Would I love to just have a barbecue museum? You bet.”

What impact has this collection had on your business?

Bertassi: “It’s part of the aura of our store and helps create a signature look our customers love. The collectibles are conversation starters because everyone can remember using a hibachi or a Weber kettle growing up – or their grandfather or dad did. Even youngsters 30 to 40 years younger than the grills get a kick out of it. The vintage barbecues help us bridge the past and the present with our customers when they are in search of a new high-quality grill.”

Why would you give up floor space for products you can’t sell or make money on?

Bertassi: “On the contrary, our retro collection actually helps generate sales of new merchandise.”

Ok, let’s shift gears from past to present. Retailers are saying they’re finally emerging from the “Great Recession.” Were you impacted by it? 

Bertassi: “Absolutely. But even more so by grill manufacturers lowering the quality of their grills and producing grills or components overseas to try and stay competitive. Worse yet was manufacturers raising minimum orders for free-freight allowances, and lowering dealers’ margins (and substantially, too). Combine that with diminished consumer spending, and we lost the great sales levels experienced in years past.”

Are you seeing improvement?

Bertassi: “We’re having a good barbecue sales year in 2014. Not spectacular or great. One thing for certain is the replacement parts business has been altered forever because of the complexity of components and the cost of parts versus purchasing a new El-cheapo grill.”

A display of gas logs under a large vent, and backed by ornate tiles.

What products or categories are doing well?

Bertassi: “Gas-fueled appliances have always ruled here. Charcoal, pellet and other barbecues account for a very small percentage of sales no matter how much we advertise them. Right now we’re running kamado-related television ads and still the foot traffic is 90-percent gas.”

What are the biggest challenges you face as a specialty retailer today?

Bertassi: “I personally don’t have issues with Internet re-sellers. I actually believe they help us little guys get the excitement and word out to consumers – something we just can’t afford to do in advertising. The big Internet guys are grappling with problems of their own, like continuing to offer free freight while minimizing product damage and consumer complaints about malfunctioning appliances in the field.

“As far as Big Box and Price Warehouse competition, we can live with that, too. Discount pricing is a desperate strategy to me and I always wonder why specialty retailers want to work so hard on such small margins. I jokingly tell customers, ‘Look at me. I’m an old hippie and I’m behind on my retirement investments, so have mercy on me and don’t ask me to discount.’ They usually get a kick out of that.

“My philosophy is, something for nothing, like a free grill cover or free delivery, has no value to the purchaser. We only offer things of value, therefore they have to pay for them. When you’re firm, the consumer gets the hint real quick to stop asking for freebies. 

“Another great challenge is manufacturers ‘asking us’ to sell more of their products at historic low margins. Retailers should never sell a product that they cannot capture a 30-percent margin on. Most of the big grill manufacturers think you should slave for 20-22 percent. I don’t buy into that. In fact, I really despise when manufacturers post an MSRP and then a MAP price. I can figure out what to sell for without some corporate memorandum suggesting it.”

About 10 or so hearth brands are represented in Bertassi’s store, and all are from quality companies.

Are your customers interested in outdoor kitchens and Outdoor Rooms?

Bertassi: “They are, but not to the extent we would like to see. I think it’s the expense of the hardscaping that turns off our client base, even though they’ll spend a reasonable amount on the grill itself.” 

What is the extent of your involvement in that category?

Bertassi: “We work closely with most of the major landscapers and designers in the area. They send their customers to us to pick out built-in grills and components, and we advise them regarding air vents, clearances-to-combustibles and other issues for safe installation. It’s our goal to update our island presence in 2015.”

How do you market your business?

Bertassi: “Advertising is a lot tougher in the new millennium. We used to focus on Yellow Pages, print, direct-mail, billboards and radio. These days, we do a lot of home shows and rely on word-of-mouth referrals, Google searches, and manufacturers’ dealer-locator pages to bring in our clients. Our advertising is more institutionalized now; I almost never advertise price. But while I’m old-school, I understand that social mediums are a necessity in the 21st century – which means we also have a website and a Facebook page.” 

How about demos and cooking classes?

Bertassi: “We have an outdoor burn area with new and vintage grills where we cook for our personal lunch and customer demos. No cooking classes, but we team up with competition cooks and sauce producers at almost all of our home shows. We let them do the cooking on gas, charcoal and pellet grills while we do the selling.” 

You’ve got a very unusual store, as well as an atypical marketing approach. But it sure seems to work.

Bertassi: “I break all the conventional rules regarding successful ways to market in the industry. Like an old dog, I’m too old to learn new tricks but still know how to fetch a stick.”

Grillers Hall of Flame, Indian Orchard, Massachusetts.

Store Name: Grillers Hall of Flame

Address: Main Street, Indian Orchard, Massachusetts

Phone: (413) 543-2257

Web Site: www.grillershallofflame.com

E-mail: grillershallofflame@comcast.net

Owner: Gary Bertassi

Key People: Cody Garner, Megan Thomas, Jason Garner,
Loren Stanton

Year Established: 1983 – retail store
1977 – chimney sweep business
1973 – chimney masonry business

Number of Stores: 1

Number of Employees: 5
Full Time: 3
Part Time: 2

Gross Annual Sales: “Better when it’s a warm, early spring and a cold, hard winter.”

Square Footage:
Indoor Showroom Space: 3,000
Outdoor Storage/Burn Area: 2,500

Brands Carried:
Barbecue: Upwards of 20 different brands including gas, pellet, charcoal and kamados. Emphasis on North American fabricated. Modern Home Products, BroilMaster, Broil King, Fire Magic, Twin Eagles, Weber, Saber, Primo, Big Green Egg, Kamado Joe, Grill Dome, Green Mountain, Memphis, Napoleon and more.
Hearth: Regency, Enviro, Pacific Energy, White Mountain Hearth, Efel, Fire Magic, Napoleon, Stoll, Portland and more.

Advertising % of gross Revenues: NA

Advertising: Print, TV, Home Shows, Social Media