Has the British BBQ revolution begun??!

[Steve]

While browsing for a gazebo I came across Tesco selling an offset...

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.206-6006.aspx

It may not be a particularly good offset but the fact that our biggest supermarket is selling them is pretty cool. Let's just hope a good number of Joe Public pick them up

[All Weather Griller]

Like the Farmers I'm betting that Tesco are raping the manufacturers on their pricings.

[THRILLIN GRILLIN]

they always have and always will

[Steve]

Of course they will be. Supermarkets are evil!!!!!!!

However they do reach more people than specialist sellers will. If a handful of people buy them and then start looking around at sites like ours to learn about low 'n' slow then it's a good thing.

Anyway, it's not like it's a British manufacturer

[British Bulldog BBQ]

I really wish there was a British Manufacturer, even those that claim to be British are made in China. The revolution started late 2008 with the birth of the British BBQ Society, but that answer is too easy LOL

[All Weather Griller]

The problem is... if you sell via a supermarket you will almost certainly get raped. They may call it consensual but effectively its rape. My mates dad was selling to supermarkets and recently (Very recently) an ombudsman was setup to help prevent the rape. Anyway they said "Sign this before the deadline or never do business in this town again" what they asked him to sign was an agreement that predated the ombudsman intervention, they blackmailed him, therefore creating a legal loophole. (I have advised to go to the ombudsman anyway using the unfair contract terms act).

This is my view only, but I reckon the only way to be able to sell a good BBQ unit that will last more than one season and to be able to withstand a the Prison shower with a supermarket is to have it made by 9 year olds in china.

If I could avoid shopping at the supermarkets and buy direct from farms for everything I would! As you can tell I'm from a farming background.

[British Bulldog BBQ]

Still looking for a cheap Fergie for you to play with in May "Farmer Griller"

[All Weather Griller]

Don't forget to Jingle too.

[Steve]

I agree with every point you have made.

I hate supermarkets but at the end of the day we are the people to blame for their proliferation. It's in our nature to want everything as cheaply as possible, just as the mills of the industrial revolution destroyed the cottage spinning and weaving industries as well as hitting the farms hard, the supermarkets have done the same in the 20th and 21st century.

On the plus side I read today that micro breweries are going through somewhat of a renaissance while the big brewers are suffering, but mind you don't you drink Stella Adie

Anyway I digress, my point still stands as valid as when I made it. Tesco's website gets many more millions of hits per day than our site and all the British BBQ resellers put together, their stores attract millions of customers per week and the price point of that Landmann smoker is below the magic £100 figure. Just as it was the Pro Q Buckaroo that caught my eye first because it was at a price point that made it interesting, this cheapo offset has the potential to get people to notice low 'n' slow.

Whether it's good, bad or indifferent is not the point, whether it only lasts a year is not the point. If it is appealing enough for people to buy, then they will get a taste for real BBQ and hopefully good old Google will land them here.

So love 'em or hate 'em the Supermarkets could end up helping us out.

[All Weather Griller]

What it really needs is for someone to do a video for Tesco to feature that shows people what the smokers do. The majority of people that are likely to look for BBQ's on tesco.com I would say are unlikely to know what it can do, in fact they are likely to wonder why it has a side box.

If Tesco featured a BBBQS video on how to use that thing it is likely as you say to get more hits, but ultimately if potential buyers could see what it did then it may sell more. I suspect that because this is seasonal, and that it represents such a teeny tiny bit of revenue for tesco (Probably a loss leader) that they wouldn't be interested in an offer from Toby to do a vid.

I do know however that individual stores have budgets to hold promotions etc locally.