Barbeques Galore

Barbeques Galore is an Australian chain of retail stores specializing in barbecue grills that also has a large presence in the United States. There are 84 stores in covering all of Australia, and 75+ stores in 10 American states. The firm was recently purchased by Ironbridge Capital. The CEO is Jefery Sears

Barbeques Galore in Richmond is the biggest of all Victorian stores, putting more merchandise out the door than other regional and metropolitan stores. The range of barbecues include the Cordon Bleu, Downunder, Beefmaster and the popular Turbo range.

A significant proportion of the company's products are manufactured in their own factories in Australia and the US.

History

Barbeques Galore was started in a garage in Sydney's outer western suburbs in 1972. The first company store opened in 1977. The company expanded to the United States in 1980, opening a store in Sante Fe Springs, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. The firm concentrated initially on warm-weather US states such as California, Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii, Texas, Georgia and Florida. Later they ventured into more seasonal markets such as North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland andWashington DC. After ten years as a listed company on the Australian Stock Exchange, Barbeques Galore delisted in 1996, and soon after listed on the US NASDAQ. In late 2005, the firm was delisted from the NASDAQ after a leveraged buy-out by Australian venture capital firm, Ironbridge Capital.André Sammartino (2007), 'Retail’, in Dick, H. & Merrett, D. (eds.), "The Internationalisation Strategies of Small-Country Firms: The Australian Experience of Globalisation", Edward Elgar: Cheltenham, UK, pp.175-194.] In mid 2007, Ironbridge Capital split the Australian and US arms of the business into two separate entities (but retained ownership of both).

Following a severe downturn in business in the US, partly attributed to the fall in new housing on the back of the sub-prime mortgage crisis, Barbeques Galore USA filed for protection under Chapter 11. Barbeques Galore US was purchased by Grand Hall to save the company from liquidation. Barbeques Galore Australia is continuing to trade as normal, and is still completely owned by Ironbridge Capital. The US company is currently liquidating all of its retail outlets east of Texas, including Maryland, Virginia and Georgia. According to documents filed in US Bankruptcy court, the company will cease to exist as BBQ Galore when the liquidation of assets is complete and will be reformed as a wholly owned subsidiary of Grand Hall from that point forward. Currently, the retail stores are not honoring existing store credits or gift cards purchased prior to the liquidation, nor are there plans to honor either after the company has been reformed.

The liquidation of the stores being closed is being handled by Hilco, a professional liquidation company. They have been cited several times during this process for violating local ordinances against certain forms of advertising. Hilco claims the protection of the federal courts while the local governments claim the court documents make allowances for local ordinances. The outcome of these citations and complaints has not yet been determined by any local or federal court.

BBQ Galore also petitioned the bankruptcy court for permission to quit several leases on only 21 days notice, notice to be given only to the lease holder or relevant party or parties, and abandon any undesired property in the process. This is in direct violation of several state laws where their retail outlets are located. Again, the outcome has not yet been determined by any court.

Employees of the stores being liquidated have complained of a lack of information coming from the corporation or the liquidation company. They are only being given vague estimates for closing dates, and have been told that their earned vacation time will not be paid (this decision was reversed when several complaints were filed with Wage & Labor departments). Customers of BBQ Galore are complaining that the Customer Service line is no longer being answered, and the voice mailbox for said line is full, preventing any further messages from being left.

References