Community Highlights: Meet John Youngblood of JJGeorge

Today we’d like to introduce you to John Youngblood. 

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
JJGeorge was born as a hobby in a garage in Decatur, AL, and was not originally intended to be a business. After building a personal Big Green Egg table and several more for family and friends, we ended up with an extra table. We took the table to a local grill dealer to see if they had any interest in helping us sell it. They sold it quickly and were asking for more. Thus, JJGeorge was born. 

In 2014, we started shipping tables to the lower 48 US states which really allowed us to grow. Since then, we invented the Grill Torch which allows you to light charcoal cordlessly in under 60 seconds. In 2021 we introduced the B.B. Prime Salamander Broiler, a 1500-degree backyard broiler that allows you to cook steaks at home just like they do in Ruth’s Chris and other high-end steakhouses. We are currently working on several new products, and are very excited about 2 that are launching in April of 2022, and another that will be coming later in the year. All of these products will be sold online through our website jjgeorgestore.com as well as in the 400 plus retailers that carry our products in the U.S. and Canada. 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
If any business owner tells you that the road has been smooth, I would be highly suspect! We have had countless obstacles and challenges over the years and have learned that failure is just part of any business. However, when we fail, we try to learn from those past mistakes and fail small. We have 10-15 new product ideas that we are working on at any given time. If 1 or 2 of those products become winners, then we see it as a success! 

Our biggest struggle right now is dealing with copycat products on Amazon. We have a design patent on one of our most popular products the Grill Torch. Although we do have a U.S. patent on this product, it does not stop foreign companies mainly from China from stealing our idea and selling identical products on Amazon. The companies that are doing this are not based in the U.S. so it is very difficult for a small business to enforce a patent on them. We are currently trying to get Amazon to work with us on these issues and remove the products, but are not having any luck. 

We’ve been impressed with JJGeorge, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
JJGeorge is a brand in the outdoor and backyard barbecue space. Our mission statement is “We love to make outdoor living better” and we base all of our decisions on the question: If we do this, does it make outdoor living better for our customers? If the answer is yes, then we move forward. Also, we love BBQ and all things outdoor living ourselves. This makes the workdays and hours fly by because we are truly passionate about what we do. 

We also take great pride in customer service and when you call us you talk to a real person in Decatur, Alabama! Our customer service policy is simple: “We treat customers how we would like to be treated” and offer a 100% no questions asked guarantee if a customer does not love our product for any reason. At the end of the day, we want our customers to be happy and this helps us to make a lot of great friends in the process! 

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: jjgeorgestore.com
• Instagram: @jjgeorgeoutdoor
• Facebook: @jjgeorgeoutdoor
• Twitter: @jjgeorgeoutdoor
• Youtube: JJ George