Resilient Strategies: How Proud Grill Built a Brand That Dominates in Stores and Online

Breaking into a competitive retail market requires a clear brand vision, a resilient mindset, and a robust distribution strategy that integrates both e-commerce and brick-and-mortar channels. Today’s guest on the show has successfully woven these elements into his business model, creating a brand with a unique product focus that resonates with customers and retail buyers alike.

Meet Paul Cira, the founder of Proud Grill - a company dedicated to producing innovative, high-quality grilling accessories that make grilling safer, cleaner, and more convenient. Proud Grill's first product, the Q Swiper, gained popularity as a safe, effective grill cleaning tool, and from there, the brand quickly expanded to include other highly-rated products and even Yellowstone-themed BBQ gloves. Through a thoughtful brand strategy and a hybrid retail approach leveraging both physical and online retail, Cira has managed to build a highly recognizable and trusted brand.

Today, Paul shares his journey in founding Proud Grill and how he used his previous entrepreneurial experience to position the brand for growth. We will discover his strategy for getting Proud Grill into major retail outlets and growing sales on e-commerce platforms like Amazon and how he leveraged both sales channels to accelerate growth. Join us now as Phil reveals the decisions, challenges, and insights that fueled his company’s success.

In today’s episode of the Harvest Growth Podcast, we’ll cover:

•  Strategies for approaching retail buyers and tailoring your pitch for success.
• Key tactics to optimize sales in both online and brick-and-mortar settings.
• Tips for choosing a brand name that sets your brand up for long-term success.
• The importance of resilience and how to scale the ups and downs of entrepreneurship.
• Strategic networking tips through online platforms like LinkedIn to achieve marketing, distribution, and business goals.
• And much more!

Grill scrubbing can be a hassle, but Proud Grill has solutions to make it easier, faster, and safer! Visit www.proudgrill.com for easy-to-use, bristle-free products designed to keep your grill spotless and safe for your next BBQ.


To be a guest on our next podcast, contact us today!

Do you have a brand that you’d like to launch or grow? Do you want help from a partner that has successfully launched hundreds of brands totaling over $2 billion in revenues? Visit HarvestGrowth.com and set up a free consultation with us today!

Transcript

Jon LaClare:
After selling another consumer product company, today's guest launched a new grill accessory business that has grown to be sold in several thousand retailers in the US And Canada. He shares the process he followed to get yeses from buyers for both online and brick and mortar retailers and how to maximize your sales in each type of outlet. 

Jon LaClare:
Welcome back to the show. I'm really excited to be speaking with Paul Cira. He's the president and founder of Proud Grill. ProudGrill.com is the URL you can check out. He's invented quite a line of grill accessories that are really cool. I've been using these products. They're fantastic. He's going to describe what they are, what they do, how they're different, that kind of thing, and we'll get into that in the show. But I encourage you to listen. He's got a great story behind how he's built this business as well. But first of all, Paul, I just want to welcome you to the show.

Paul Cira:
Thanks a lot, John. Glad to be here.

Jon LaClare:
Yeah, thanks for taking the time. I know how busy you are to join us and share your story with our audience. So first of all, let's talk about the business. So tell us about what is Proud Grill. What are your products and how did you get started?

Paul Cira:
Sure. The Proud Grill Company. We found it in 2018. And our mission really is to make the grill experience better. That's what we're all about. And we got started with one product which is our flagship product today. It's called the Q Swiper Barbecue Grill Cleaner. And it's kind of interesting because I just exited my prior business and I was barbecuing and I stepped on a wire bristle, but I didn't know what I'd stepped on at the time.

Paul Cira:
It was really sharp and painful. I actually thought it was a piece of glass. And when I went to examine my toe, luckily I saw this wire bristle and I went, I couldn't believe it. It was so painful. Then I did a little bit of research and I found out that hundreds of people were going to the emergency room every year because wire bristles were getting dislodged from their steel wire grill brushes, the traditional grill brush. And they get deposited on the grill and you can't see them, they get stuck there. And then what happens? You cook your food on top of it and then you ingest it and, and then end up swallowing a wire bristle. And it is extremely painful.

Paul Cira:
And most people end up in the emergency room. And for some it takes a weeks to even diagnose what's wrong with you because it's so small. So when I found that out, I became very intrigued about how do we, you know, how do you make a wireless grill cleaner that actually works, something that's bristle free. And so the Q swiper came about and in describing it, the Q swiper, it's like a swiffer for your barbecue grill, if you can imagine, you attach a moist wipe which is moistened with food contact safe ingredients and natural cleaning agents, and you attach it to our brush and you use that to swipe away the grease and grime. And people took to it because they're familiar with that whole concept. And the cleaning with wipes, very common thing to do. You know, you clean your bathroom counters, your floors, now your, you know, a kitchen with wipes and attaching it to the tool. The grill brush really became an effective way to clean it.

Paul Cira:
And it has a lot of benefits, not only being bristle free, but also you clean your grill with a new wipe every time you're not reusing. Traditionally use. That grill brush has been sitting there for a year and a half. No matter how many cooks you've had, you pull out the grill brush and you start grilling with this grill brush that's pretty filthy. And you wouldn't clean your, your, your, your kitchen pots and pans with a dirty rag. But you kind of have a different philosophy with your grills, which is interesting. So what was the beauty of this too is you clean your grill brush your grill, your grill grates with a new, a new wipe every time you're not reusing that dirty grill brush over and over again. So.

Paul Cira:
And it's just a clean and healthier grill. And in addition to being bristle free and people really love how easy it is to use, it's just, you know, it just makes grill cleaning easy. So. Yeah, and that really resonated with people. We've had good success with it both on the retail side and on E commerce.

Jon LaClare:
And you can check all these products out@proudgrill.com As I mentioned, I've got some of them here. So the Q swiper wipes, as you talked about, I just want to talk about these because this is one thing where, you know, you think about, let's pull that out. If you compare these wipes and it's kind of hard to see maybe on. On video or obviously those that are listening via audio. Go check out the website to learn more. But there's, there's. I don't know what you call these, but raised rough edges that help with wiping, right?

Paul Cira:
Yeah, we call those 3D nodules. Yeah. There's two really main differences between a regular cleaning wipe and that is those raised 3D nodules. Those nodules help lift the. Lift the grime. That moisture in there of there helps absorb the grease. So you're, you know, absorbing the grease, removing the grime. And I think you'll notice the other big difference, John, is just the thickness of that wipe.

Paul Cira:
Right. It's really tough. It's not like a baby wipe or anything like that or even, even a household cleaning wipe. It's much thicker. It's tough.

Jon LaClare:
If you took like a Lysol wipe or whatever and tried to wipe your grill with it, you know, they're great for killing in the kitchen or whatever, but on your grill, it would just eat that up. And this is, you know, I discovered this even my first time using it. I've been using it for a long time now, and they work really well. But it's rough and tough and it really gets out that grime and stays together. So it's well developed. So I just want to make sure that was clear for those that might be hearing wipe and thinking, you know, is it like a household wipe? It's very different and. And, you know, very powerful.

Paul Cira:
That's true. That's one of the things is that I think impedes or for some people, it may be difficult to overcome is I'm unclean, my grill with a wife type of thing. But. Yeah, and then they understand how tough it is and they. And it doesn't. Yeah, we get really no complaints at all about it ever, ever tearing. So it's, it's really, it's really built strong.

Jon LaClare:
Yeah, definitely agree. And you talked about your flagship products. I've got an example of it here again, the Q swiper here. That is the brush that then holds that wipe in place and works really well. And this how you got started back in, I think you said 2018. Right. And this has grown really well. And then how.

Jon LaClare:
What have you done since then to grow the business? This has been successful now to add on other accessories.

Paul Cira:
Right. So, yeah, we started with that. What you're handing there which is a kit that has both the brush and the wipes in it. And we then we sell the refill as well. So the whole strategy was really to build out proud grill, have that flagship product. Especially my experience on my experience been selling products to retailers and getting retail distribution. And you know, they don't want to always deal with, you know, a one product vendor, right. They like a larger assortment from the vendor.

Paul Cira:
They're very busy, they're dealing with a lot of vendors. So they want to make sure that the company they're dealing with is going to bring a lot of innovation to them as they, as they grow the business. So really that was our starting point. And then you want to really leverage that once you get distribution with a retailer and bring out additional products to expand your lineup. So we then came out with our slide and serve barbecue skewers, which were just a new way to do kebabs. They're flat and they're perfect for grilling shrimp, but again, very unique, nothing like them on the market. We came out with a award winning grill basket called the ultra versatile grill basket. And this was, you know, chosen as the best overall grill basket by Good Housekeeping the last two years.

Paul Cira:
And so just building on that with new products and like I said, our mission was really to make, you know, the grill experience better. So whenever I go and look at new products, I'm always looking at a twist or something different. You know, our products have, they're either patented, either design or utility, or have some type of difference that really is going to make their grill experience easier, better. And that's what we're all about. And so that really is kind of the bar that, that, that I look for because there's lots of companies out there who are doing, you know, all the different type of grill accessories, but we just take it up a notch. So we've done that to expand our business. And then we looked at the Q swiper itself and how do you grow shelf space with the Q swiper? And so we came up with the steam clean version with a long handle. Again, people, some people, we did some research and we know that about 40% of the people like to clean it cold, 40% like to clean it hot, and 20% either way.

Paul Cira:
So we wanted to expand, you know, because the original Q swiper, it's moist wipes to use on a cool grill. So we wanted to make sure we appeal to, you know, 100% of the market almost with coming up with a line extension with a hawk grill. So Those are some of the different approaches we've taken.

Jon LaClare:
You mentioned the Good Housekeeping Award and obviously they, you know, they hear about things that are top selling items but there's always a process behind it. Any advice on people that are trying to submit for awards like that? And obviously you have to have a great product. Right. They're only going to give awards out to especially reputable organizations like that. But how do you start that process so they're even aware of you?

Paul Cira:
Yeah. So different ways. Sometimes it's just attending a trade show and sometimes they'll be, they might be attending a trade show and they'll come by and take a look at your products and then make sure they're aware of them. So they can either some, some people who do these testings, you can't give them product. They always have to buy it themselves sometimes because they don't want, they want to make sure they're buying, you know, the product that anybody would be picking off the shelf or from a E commerce store. Other ways I found them just going on, you know, a lot of times I will Google Best Grill Brush or Best Grill Basket, see what shows up, see, see what's up there. And a lot of times it might be an article from Good Housekeeping or an article from other publications like Popular Mechanics or whatever is suitable for your product and take a look at the author. Then go into LinkedIn and check out their profile and try to connect with them.

Paul Cira:
And so there's different ways you can approach the publishers to make sure you can get their product in front of them for them to test and evaluate.

Jon LaClare:
And I want to get back a little bit to. You talked about these line extensions and how they really help to grow your business. And your first product, as you mentioned, was the Q Swiper. Right. This really successful product. But your company name is Proud Grill. Can you talk a little bit about the decision you made to not call it? Because it's tempting. Right.

Jon LaClare:
We've got this great success. Should I call my company the Q Swiper? And so how has it, I guess helped you to have a brand name that is different from your core or initial product?

Paul Cira:
Sure. Yeah. I didn't want. I've seen it happen a lot, John. They fall into the trap of calling their name after their, their first baby type of thing, their first product they introduce. And it's not always a great idea. I didn't want to be the Q Swiper company because. And I also wanted to make sure that when I'm dealing with retailers as I mentioned before, we're more than just one product.

Paul Cira:
Right. And, and we wanted to be. The Q Swiper is going to be a brand within our overarching brand, which our company name is Proud Grill. No different than Kellogg's Rice Krispies, for example. You know, Kellogg's will have a number of brands under Kellogg's or whatever as an example. And that's kind of the approach I take. Plus, you know, you're usually dealing with category managers, whether either E Commerce or with retailers. And they're usually, you know, they're going to be either the outdoor buyer or the grill buyer or the grill accessories buyer.

Paul Cira:
So you want to make sure you have, you know, your branding suits that from an overall company perspective. And, you know, and even a consumer knows that, hey, there's a grill company behind this Q Swiper brand. Right. And I trust that.

Jon LaClare:
And it really gives credibility. Right. When you've got that parent brand, you buy one of the products, you love it. Now you trust the skewers or the grill basket because you know it's going to be good quality under that same parent brand.

Paul Cira:
Exactly. So everything Proud Grill, Ultra Versatile Grill Basket, Proud Grill, Slide and Surf Secures and so forth. Absolutely right.

Jon LaClare:
And you also mentioned your background previous to this company. You had another consumer product company that you grew successfully and sold off that business. How did that help you to maybe start, you know, further forward or with fewer mistakes in the beginning? How do you think that helped you having that background, even though it was a totally different industry and market to be more successful more quickly?

Paul Cira:
Yeah, I think, I think, you know, you always take your life experiences, your work experience, and it just builds one step on each other. And I think, you know, my prior, the prior startup I had, you know, just help from an overall management, understanding all the different cogs in the wheel that you have to deal with and understanding those important touch points where you need to focus on. And you know, a lot of times in our business, it's really sales and marketing that are, that are really key drivers and understanding those elements that are, you know, what are the key success factors there that you've learned previously that really give you a jumpstart in starting what I'll call, you know, company number two or project number two. And I think what happens is, yeah, you do get a jumpstart. You get off to a quicker start because, you know, some of the. And you can avoid some of those pitfalls that you hit, you know, in the first one for sure.

Jon LaClare:
And back to the Proud Grill. So let's get back to this main product we're talking about today or line of products. You've had a lot of success online, but I think even more so or certainly as much in retail as well. So both brick and mortar and online retail, what have you found or maybe a differences in the selling process when you're selling into retail versus online. And maybe as you answer the question, you can talk about for our audience's sake, what retailer or some of your biggest retailers that you're currently in.

Paul Cira:
Your products are distributed fairly well in both Canada and the United States. And you know, it is, it is different. And Covid was a, you know, obviously a big catalyst for this industry because of the people staying at home and grilling more. Grilling sales was one of those categories that had a lot of growth in the, you know, 2020-22 basically, which is, which, which also helped. And you know, we're available in, you know, in Canada and every major hardware retailer like Home Depot Canada and Rona Canada and Canadian tire in the US we're available at over 3,000 a stores, do it Best stores, Camping World etc and a lot of independent and specialty barbecue stores as well, which were really important when we started out just to prove the concept and so forth. And E commerce has been an interesting one because I'm not as experienced in that. So I did have to rely on help and we're doing a lot more learning on that and so forth. But you know, in the end of the day, if you're dealing with like if you're looking at Amazon as, you know, obviously the largest E commerce platform, at the end of the day the, the biggest difference between the two is, you know, and retailers, traditional retailers, there's a finite of products that they have to choose from.

Paul Cira:
It might be 10. And when you go on E commerce or you know, it's, it looks like it's almost infinite because there's thousands of options. And so I think that's one of the biggest differences is how you marketing and make sure your product on an E commerce standpoint is rising to the level where you can get awareness and be one of those, you know, narrow that gap of a consumer's choice when they're looking at it. So that's probably one of the biggest, biggest differences when you're dealing with the retailer of course, is always emphasizing the differentiation of the product, the consumer success of the product and the profitability of the product for the retailer, obviously. But one of the things I did was I tried to marry the two John When I started, I knew that a lot of, you know, retailers, although they may not like competing with Amazon, Amazon is an open book. So I wanted to make sure I was successful. You know, everyone, one retailer can, they can go and see how you're doing on Amazon kind of thing, but they can't go look at their brick and mortar competition. They have no idea exactly how you're doing.

Paul Cira:
Right. So I wanted to make sure before I went really strong on the brick and mortar side that I had a good foundation on Amazon as both from a product review standpoint and product ranking standpoint. So there's investment there to, to get your product, you know, like I said, using strategies and investment to get your product up in the search so consumers can see it and then making sure that, you know, we had great feedback. So I've been in meetings with retailers where I, they, I see them go on Amazon checking to see what my product reviews are. Right. So having you know that the strong product reviews because they think, well, this kind of looks neat, I like this. But then they, then they look on an E commerce site and they see, oh, you've got, you know, four and a half stars, you know, my intuition was right type of thing. So that really helps.

Paul Cira:
And it's an open book and you know, there's a trust there that now validates what I was telling them.

Jon LaClare:
And I, if I could summarize, and I don't want to put words in your mouth, so I want you to see if you agree with this statement. It almost feels like, and we've experienced this too, if you compare online retail versus brick and mortar retail and I would separate out Amazon, it's very different from like selling into Walmart.com or Lowe's.com or whatever it might be. It's easier to get listed in online retail because there's a thousand items or more.

Paul Cira:
Right.

Jon LaClare:
That they might carry in your category. Whereas in retail they're very restricted because they got shelf space to deal with. Right. So it's easier to get listed online but it's easier to get sell through sometimes in or stand out. Right. In brick and mortar because they're, because there's limited shelf space. If you're in a category where people are going to be searching or in that aisle anyways, it's, you know, there's only a couple maybe of competitors that might be close into you. So it's really changes the game where it's more work up front to get in brick and mortar, but it's more work to get marketed or to stand out or to get sales in the online side because it's really noisy.

Jon LaClare:
Right. It's getting like Amazon is a perfect example of that. I think it's very easy relatively speaking to list on Amazon. You know, there's banking stuff, whatever, but to get on there to get approval to be listed. Easy. Right. You can list almost anything on Amazon but if you, if that's all you do, you'll never stand out and you'll never get those reviews. I'm so glad you brought that up.

Jon LaClare:
That you can see really sales history. There's tools to do that on Amazon for competitors or, or if a buyer is looking at you. But reviews are the easiest side. Getting those positive reviews and having success early on can drive so much more in other marketing channels. Especially when. When buyers are involved. I don't know if I said that in maybe a similar fashion.

Paul Cira:
That's a great summary. I agree 100% with what you're saying and that. Exactly. Yeah, Amazon makes it real easy or any E commerce. They make it easy to get your product on there. And you're right, it's much more difficult. Difficult getting in bricks and mortars and that and that and the, the length it takes. You know, this can be a year or two year process or longer sometimes to get your product listed at a major retailer, for example.

Paul Cira:
The other thing I made sure from a to get some early on success too on the retail side, John was knowing that and given my category is more seasonal. Making sure you've got merchandising displays that can get you in the store. So if they say we can't put you on the shelf right now, we would have a floor stand or a counter display available so they could take advantage of the seasonal sales and maybe as a good test to see how it does that way without making a commitment to giving up real estate on their shelf to try it off shelf to start with and see how that goes. And of course that's a great way also to get in front of the consumer because it's disruptive in the store.

Jon LaClare:
Absolutely. Yeah. Well said. I want to talk about Yellowstone for a minute. So you've got one of your product lines is a Yellowstone. If people are watching on YouTube we can see maybe in video. If you're not, you can check it out on the website. But you've got a line of products that have the Yellowstone TV show license on there.

Jon LaClare:
Can you talk a little bit about a. How did you get that to help our audience if they're looking for license deals to get that. And how has it helped your business?

Paul Cira:
Sure. So Yellowstone was an interesting one. We did come out with a very unique barbecue glove which I licensed with Kevlar. And in fact Kevlar helped me develop the product and source the product as well. Dupont did. And so I had this barbecue club that was very much western inspired, had a split leather cuff and that kind of started looking at it and being a fan of Yellowstone, the TV show, I just start to think about a lot of the people there who are watching that show are probably grillers. So I've had some licensing experience in my. In the prior startup I had was mostly in the children's entertainment aside.

Paul Cira:
But I was intrigued by this and bounced it off a few people first and people thought it was a good idea. And I could see that of any show I've ever seen. I've never seen more branding in a TV show than Yellowstone. Whether that's on their jackets, their hats, the helicopters, their pickup trucks, it was everywhere. So I just went on LinkedIn and found the person who was in charge of consumer products, explained who I was, and they introduced me to the manager responsible for the licensing of Yellowstone with Paramount Viacom at the time and just started up a conversation at that time and my interest in the category was open. So I went and pursued it. And it's been a very interesting license and it's been good because for two reasons. One, it's grown the credibility with, again with the retailers.

Paul Cira:
You've got a major license partner and something that's unique no one can offer. You know, you're the only one offering this brand. And second of all, it did give me an opportunity to bring in. I talked about innovation and that is opportunity to bring in some of the innovative products under a branding that consumers were aware of and an item that was very giftable. So, you know, a lot of couples watch the show together, for example, so Father's Day gifts and Christmas gifts, that's really been. It helps from, from that standpoint, from a sales standpoint, really help, for example, especially help even out my. In my holiday sale with my, with my. I would say my Q4 got a lot bigger with the Yellowstone and so it helped balance out my strong Q2 sales as well.

Paul Cira:
So it's, it's been, it's been a good overall, it's been a good partnership and, and I know the show's restarting next month or in November. This month. In November. So looking forward to a strong quarter with it.

Jon LaClare:
It's a great, great advice to think about LinkedIn. You've mentioned that a couple times in reaching out to buyers and reaching out now in the Yellowstone to find the right person to talk to. It's such a powerful tool. It is a great resource for our audience to look into. If you're trying to get a hold of whatever it might be, you can find them typically on LinkedIn in one way or another.

Paul Cira:
Yeah, because you know, in the old days there's that gatekeeper, right. You couldn't get through to you. You might talk to the assistant, but you couldn't get through to the decision maker. And it was just a simple question. But when you can just succinctly put on LinkedIn why you're contacting them and, and usually they're going to respond.

Jon LaClare:
Yeah, I found that as well. Most people, if they're active on LinkedIn, you'll get, you get the occasional person that's on there just doesn't go on and spend the time. But if they're active on there, most people will respond when you're providing some sort of value or, you know, a connection that's going to be meaningful to them and it may be. You know, we've talked a lot on this show in previous episodes about mentors as well, you know, people to help you in your industry. Again, a great resource for that. Well, Paul, is there another resource that comes to your mind that has been helpful to you and your business? A book or a website or something else?

Paul Cira:
Yeah, well, one of the, one of the help. One of the online retailers that helped kind of got me going in my early days was called the Grommet and they've resurfaced today with a different model under the same branding. And one of the founders there wrote a book called, I think it's called how to Make Stuff now. And it's a great resource. I really highly recommend, recommend it to anybody starting up. It just gives you the basics of, you know, how to launch a consumer product, especially how to launch a consumer product. Everything from product development to marketing and sales. And you know, even though it was written, you know, a few years ago, a lot of the basic principles, you know, are still, are still very valid.

Paul Cira:
I think that's a great resource.

Jon LaClare:
It is a great website and they are very different than they used to be when they originally founded in good and bad ways, I think. But it's a tool that a lot of our clients and guests on this show have made good use of. So it's a good thing to check out for sure. Well, is there anything I didn't ask that you think could be helpful for our audience.

Paul Cira:
You know, just stay away from, stay away from the wire grill brush, John. But besides that, I would just say that, you know, like any venture, you're going to have peaks and valleys, right? You're going to, you're going to, you know, feel really good when you, when you have a really strong success and you should celebrate it. And then, you know, when things don't go your way all the time, and they certainly don't, I would just say, you know, don't let that get you down. Try to keep an even keel and just keep on moving forward. It can't always be, you know, a touchdown or a home run every weekend and every month. And in order to get those home runs, you know, you just got to keep practicing, keep working at it, but don't let it get you down and keep on moving and always keep on the positive side. That would be my only word of advice to any entrepreneur.

Jon LaClare:
That's great advice and I do encourage our audience. Also check out Paul's website, it's proud grill.com where you can find out about the products we talked about today and, and see the great work he's done and you know, check it out there in your local retailer or on Amazon as well. But certainly the website to certainly learn more. And did you know you can meet with a member of my team absolutely free for a 30 minute strategy consultation. We've launched and grown hundreds of products since 2007 and learned some of our strategies while growing OxiClean back in the Billy Mays days. We're here to help, so please go to harvestgrowth.com and set up a call to learn more.