A Spark of inspiration

Back in 1951, A hankering for good BBQ lit a fire under George Stephen

An employee of Weber Brothers Metal Works just outside of Chicago, George welded metal buoys for the Coast Guard. But that's not all he did: George loved to grill. With a growing family at home, he found it the perfect way to relax, but couldn't find a grill on the market that lived up to his high expectations.

The most popular grill of the day was a flat open brazier a product George found woefully under-engineered. He knew there had to be a better way.

Born From a Buoy

One day, George was about to weld two buoy halves together when the idea hit: Why not use the bottom half for the cooking bowl, and the top half for the lid to create a grill? Piece by piece, his vision started coming together. He then added a handle and three legs and took his crazy-looking contraption home to test.

Poking some holes in Georges Theroy.

As the story goes, when George first tried out his prototype, it didn't work quite as hoped. No matter how hard he tried, it just wouldn't stay lit. A neighbor peering over the back fence offered a little friendly advice, "Poke some holes in that thing so the fire can get some air!" So George did, and the flames of invention could finally keep burning.