Hearth & Home: We’ve been told by someone who knows that you’re a total pistol, meaning, I imagine, that you’re both confident and energetic. Is that accurate?

Christine Robins: “(Laughs) Yes, I guess it is. I’ve been called a pistol; I have lots of energy and I move fast. So it’s been fun.” 

You sound as if you’re having a good time at your new job.

Robins: “I am. It was a year on June 2 since I started here, and it has gone by so fast. When I step back and think about where we were a year ago as a company, and as a team, and where we are today, we are probably farther ahead than I had planned. 

“I made it clear from the beginning that we were working on a long-term business strategy in redefining who we wanted to be, and that the management team was working with me. Now, a year later, I’ve been so impressed with the company’s willingness to change and to try new things; sometimes they’re moving ahead of me, which I find interesting because at times I move at a relatively fast pace. 

“Because I’ve shared where we’re headed, what we are trying to accomplish and the details of building blocks to get from now to 2018 or 2019, I’ve found a number of instances where employees see it, team members see it, and they go ahead and figure it out. 

“That’s  interesting. 

“It’s like when you come into an organization, you poke a little bit and see what happens. It’s like poking the Pillsbury Dough Boy in the belly. Did he smile? Or does he frown or cower? The more I poked over the past year, the more people responded in a positive manner. So we kept going and it has been a lot of fun.” 

Did the response you’re getting have anything to do with the fact that this is a family-run business? 

Kettleman charcoal grill from Char-Broil.

Robins: “I think that’s part of it. I also think that the organization had gone through change in a different way by moving manufacturing to a very valued partner in China. I think they got through it and realized that we were still standing. We were still successful. So they were waiting for what’s coming next – ‘Okay. Now that we’ve done that, how do we grow? How do we accelerate the business?’ 

“Bringing in a new CEO was really about focusing on growth and innovation, and building the business now that we have a really solid manufacturing base. If we didn’t have that under control, accelerating growth would mean putting out junk product that doesn’t work. So the time the company spent, and the care they took in that transition, allows us to focus on how we grow. How do we innovate?” 

When did the company move manufacturing to China? 

Robins: “They made that move in 2005. The previous CEO was the one who worked that transition.” 

I’ve head that you have a passion for putting the consumer first. 

Robins: “I do.”

I’ve also heard that is dramatically different from all the other white guys in the white guy club who historically have managed the grill business. Is that accurate?

Robins: “Yes. Absolutely.” 

So, in terms of product development, you figure out what the consumer needs or wants and go from that point as opposed to creating a product and saying, Gosh, I hope somebody buys it. 

Robins: “Exactly. If you look at my background, it has all been centered around working on very strong, well-known brands. Glade Plugins, Raid insecticides, Sonicare toothbrushes. I was trained in that environment, especially at S.C. Johnson, where you start with the consumer. 

“How do you solve a problem for them? How do you delight them with your product and your brand? That’s how you develop your strategy. That’s how you develop your product roadmap. Retailers are really important in that equation, because they’ve got to understand what you’re bringing to market. That’s the challenge we have; that’s partly why I was really intrigued about coming into this industry. 

“We are all missing the fact that consumers want to buy our products. They want to buy this category. Last year our research showed that six out of 10 households in the U.S. want to buy some sort of new grill as their outdoor cooking device, but in reality only about one-and-a-half out of 10 actually made a purchase. 

“If you step back and ask, Why is that? If people want to buy, if they want a grill, why didn’t they buy one? I truly believe that gap is because we are not delighting them, or we are not solving problems they have. We’re designing products to a spec that works for us and our manufacturing facilities, not for what works for the consumer.

“That has been a huge shift that we are going through here. In fact, we now have a corporate belief in ‘Consumer First,’ that what we do is with the consumer in mind. Even when you talk to retailers they get that, because if you win with the consumer, if you delight the consumer, everybody in the value chain wins. Retailers win, we win, but until now we were always stopping one step short of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.”

In saying that, I suspect you’re thinking particularly of the Char-Broil brand as opposed to, say, Saber? 

Robins: “No, it applies to all of our brands. Let’s use Oklahoma Joe, for instance. We bought that business over 15 years ago, and we haven’t done anything to really understand the community that is smoking, and competitive smoking, and people really engaged in that category. We just built a few products and made them bigger over time and added a few details, but we have not fostered that community with a website for the product to help that community understand the product. We haven’t thought about how we make smoking better. What are the problems that we’re having? 

“So it’s not just Char-Broil. It’s also the approach we’re taking with Oklahoma Joe and Saber and New Braunfels and Thermos. It’s across the board.” 

I remember some of those brands when they were stand-alones, before your company bought them. Am I correct that, except for Saber, they all go through mass merchants at this point?  

Robins: “Yes.”

Can you tell me how many dealers you have for your Saber line? 

Robins: “I prefer not to. I would say that we are well penetrated there. I think the way the Saber product was developed, the way the team looked at that product, is probably the best example of Consumer First that we have. That product was built, not only with the consumer in mind, but also with the dealer in mind. 

“The team thought about the selling environment, what the competitive landscape was, what kind of in-store experience was there, and how do we construct and build a product that will work in that environment. Saber is probably our number one product where we had an eye on the Consumer First. 

“I continue to challenge that team, not to get techie or gadgety, but to make it truly valuable for the consumer. Probably the best example is that we announced the Smart Connected Saber Grill and then we are launching some other Smart Connected devices in the fourth quarter. 

“The Saber product was well designed and Consumer First, but as we began building on it, we’ve been challenged to make sure we stay true to what that consumer is about.” 

I applaud your Saber team because I see the product throughout the specialty network, and the majority of those store owners are really pros, having sold barbecues for decades. When I hear them praising the Saber Grill, I’m impressed that you folks were able to get in and make that kind of mark on the specialty retail level. 

Robins: “Yes, and we’re going to continue to push it. I think we have a great product; we just need to optimize the messaging, the differentiation in the marketplace, and then really help our dealers sell it. 

“One of the key differences of the Saber Grill is its cooking system and construction. So how do we make sure that the dealers understand those differences and can articulate them vis-à-vis the other brands they have in their stores?” 

The Edge from Saber Grills.

I was also glad to see Saber move into a built-in product, because I think the trend that we call the Outdoor Room has got legs. It’s homeowners in the U.S. and Canada deciding they want an outdoor lifestyle, and helping them do that is one way specialty store owners can differentiate themselves from the Big Box stores and increase their revenues.

Robins: “Yes. I think the macro trend started around 9/11. I was still at S.C. Johnson at that time, and we had a company come in once a year that presented to the Marketing group and talked about the macro trends going on in the world. They said, What happened after 9/11 was the whole notion of Staycations. More and more consumers were starting to stay at home and value family and friends instead of leaving to go on vacation someplace else. 

“They came back a couple of years later and that trend was even more entrenched. They said, Look, 9/11 really shook a lot of Americans. In 2008 and 2009, with the recession and downturn, people decided to stay home even more and entertain in their home. The outdoor category has benefitted. The outdoor living space and entertaining at home have increased over the last decade or so.” 

The Outdoor Room trend has even migrated to colder areas such as the northern U.S. and Canada. Companies such as yours have to push that trend at a retail level and convince retailers they are leaving money on the table by not helping their customers create Outdoor Rooms. They can provide a service the Big Boxes will never be able to match.  

Robins: “Yes, and I think there is a gap in the market with dealers who can provide that service – the design capability and the product – but it certainly comes at a price point. Then there are the mass merchants and cart-style grills. There is a gap between the two that nobody has captured or is even looking at. 

“We’ve started looking at some things on Saber, like how can you have that built-in kind of look and feel without the really high price tag? Mass is a different story because they have inventory and assembly issues. But with the dealers, we can discuss how they can provide an entry level built-in as well as a custom design. With the Saber brand we’re trying to tackle that issue with a product that we’re piloting with some dealers this year.” 

I’ve noticed that you have expanded the Saber line and now have stainless cabinets and refrigerators. Will you continue that expansion with other products for the Outdoor Room, such as wine coolers, sinks, sound systems, TV’s? 

Robins: “I’m not going to talk about our roadmap, but with Saber we’re focused on two things. First is making sure that we have the business model right, that we know how to work with the players and the value team and get some messaging and the product and the touch points right. Then, as a company, we have to make sure that we surround the consumer and they understand what Saber is about in the ways that they like to capture information. 

“Secondarily, we will continue to innovate and focus on products that are relevant for that channel and the consumer who is looking for that lifestyle. So absolutely we will continue to build that out.”

Assuming your goal is to increase and expand sales for Char-Broil, how do you do that with a product that is that well distributed throughout the U.S. and, indeed, throughout a huge portion of the world? Is it to expand into more and more countries?  

Robins: “There are a number of things I think about. I talked about the gap between people’s purchase intent and their actual purchase behavior. There is a huge gap there. So how do we capture that? Are we not innovating sufficiently? Are we not in the right channels? Or perhaps we don’t have the right products in the right channels. 

“We all think about DIY, and DIY, I think, is roughly 40 or 50 percent of the total retail sales. The other 50 percent is bought someplace else. So how do we find the right product assortment for the consumer who is going into those stores? It may look different and may require different things than what the DIY shopper looks for. 

“Our Consumer First focus is going to allow us to think about it in a different way. Then, obviously, global expansion is something that we’re looking at. Today we have a little bit of a global footprint, but nowhere near what it should be. That is obviously another area of growth for us.”

That’s an area you’re obviously comfortable with, having been there and done that with other products.

Robins: “Yep. When I was at Sonicare we had 28 countries. When I started it we were in about 15 countries, so we pretty much doubled the number of countries we did business in, all in Europe and Asia.

“You asked me the question about Char-Broil and its mass distribution: How do you grow a business like that? I believe that if you solve consumers’ problems, and you provide innovation that delights, they are going to pull their pocketbook out. 

“Sonicare was a classic example. We all have toothbrushes in our home, but we were still able year-over-year to get people to trade out for our new technology, even though their old one didn’t wear out. Consumers found it to be a really interesting product and one that solves problems the family has, or their child has, and so they buy one. 

“Penetration of toothbrushes is close to 100 percent in American households, and grills are about 50 percent. So this is not as big of a problem as some of the other businesses that I’ve faced in the past.

“I’m about Consumer First. I’m about product innovation and how do you really delight the consumer, and then work with everybody in the value chain. How do you work with retailers to do that? How do we market successfully and appropriately?” 

Is Saber a product that you plan to take overseas? 

Robins: “As a brand, no. We actually have the Saber product in Europe right now. It’s just branded under Char-Broil. It’s the Char-Broil Titan product.”  

I didn’t ask you in the beginning about your background because I took some of it off the Internet. So if is there anything you want to say about leading up to this position, go right ahead. 

Highland smoker grill from Oklahoma Joe.

Robins: “I’ve said to people lately that this is right where I’m supposed to be at this point in my career because it’s the best of what I’ve had in the other companies and other environments I’ve worked in. What I mean by that is at S.C. Johnson, they are all driven about consumer focus and innovation. 

“I had the pleasure to run Raid insecticides, which was actually the first Raid formula developed by Sam Johnson himself to try to help consumers solve their insect problems in their homes by themselves. And then, how do you innovate on that? They were great consumer brands and family ownership, and I really loved that environment.

“Then I went to Phillips and had a great global experience; that was really my first step in being a CEO and having to re-strategize a company. I got great global experience there, with a Dutch-based public company. I really got that European and Asian experience and had a manufacturing facility on site, so I got that responsibility. 

“Then I went to BodyMedia because, after 20-plus years, I wanted to see if I could bring my skill sets, both business and leadership, into a smaller startup company and help turn it around. I was brought in to turn it around and sell it, which is what we did. It was a great learning experience around technology-connected devices, and how to re-strategize a company on a shoestring budget. 

“So when this came up it was the best of everything I liked. It was family ownership and a great brand. We have a little bit of a global footprint and we want to focus on that, so I can bring some of that perspective in terms of how to really think about global expansion. 

“Then, from the BodyMedia experience, I learned the technology piece of it that we are now bringing to Char-Broil. The team had already started to look at connected devices when I got here, and I was able to help shape it and bring some of my experience to theirs. 

“So this is the best of everything I have experienced leading up to this point. It’s a great brand. I get to do it in the South where I don’t have to deal with snow (laughs), and I get to go to work with people I love every day. So what’s not to like?”

Now, you’re from Wisconsin; have you remained a Packers fan? 

Robins: “Absolutely! In fact, I’m drinking my green tea in my Packers mug as I talk to you. We are kind of fanatics about that. It’s just in your blood. I grew up four blocks from Lambeau Field and we parked cars on our lawn. When you’re in a small town where basically the whole town of 80,000 people can pretty much fit in the stadium, it becomes your life from August until, hopefully, January.”

Let me hit you with just a few more questions. It’s commonly said that men are the ones who cook on the grill, but from what I read and from surveys, it’s slowly starting to change. More and more women are now doing the cooking. Does your company have research on that?

Robins: “It does. We did a consumer segmentation study last year that looked at how we profile around outdoor cooking based on behavior and attitudes. How do we segment the consumers and who are they? What are they like? What are their preferences? This was a study that included the U.S. and Canada.  

“We ended up with six segments that we identified and, not surprising, there were several groups that were male dominant. But what we did find is there are two groups that are more female dominant, but their behaviors are very different and their reasons for cooking on the grill are quite different. 

“The first is a group that is really interested in cooking on the grill, females, because they feel that it’s either healthier because you don’t have fat and things like that, or it’s easy. It’s also a quick clean-up. You just put the food on the grill, and take it off and serve and be done with it. So there is a level of simplicity there for the female in the household. 

“The other segment that was female dominant was a group that is younger and generally feel they can cook well in the kitchen and seize the opportunity to cook outdoors, but they’re new to that behavior. They tend to be younger women. More women are waiting longer to get married so they are cooking themselves; they are starting to move outdoors and experience outdoor cooking. 

“So the male wants to cook on the weekend for his friends and family and try new recipes, but we are seeing an emerging female group, and their reasons for cooking out are very different from the men.” 

Can a pink grill be far behind?

Robins: “(Laughs) I don’t know about that, but one group is looking for simplicity, and one is basically looking for help. Like how do I do this and be as successful on this grill as I am in my kitchen? So we talk about Consumer First and we think about how we can solve their problems.”

What about Millennials? Studies that I have seen show they have even a greater desire for outdoor living than Baby Boomers or Gen X. Do you have any information on that?

Robins: “Yes. It’s basically the same thing. The two female groups that I talked to you about are more in the Millennial age bracket. There is another segment that is more centered around Millennials; we call them the adventurous ones. They are into trying new things. They are into technology, whether it’s cooking or otherwise. They are early adopters of technology, whether it’s phones, cars or grills, and we are now seeing them start to emerge. 

“The challenge that we have is where they live doesn’t necessarily accommodate a four-burner grill, and their lifestyle doesn’t accommodate that. So how do we deliver a really well performing product that fits the lifestyle? They may live in a high rise, or some kind of urban living. So there are different challenges in serving the Millennials because their lifestyle and their environment is different.”

Ed. Note: Rob Schwing is changing positions at the company and will become general manager of Global Initiatives, where initially he will concentrate on creating websites for the company’s brands in Europe. 

Gary Butler, who is currently vice president of Sales on the Char-Broil side, will be taking over Schwing’s position as general manager of Saber grills.