New Char-Broil CEO, Tom Penner, sat down for an interview on a local Sunday morning program last weekend and touched on a number of topics. While the conversation was high-level for the most part, there were a few interesting details in it. Char-Broil is a family owned business, so any details about the company are hard to come by.
Moving Manufacturing
With Covid lock-downs and geopolitical tensions, Char-Broil has made an effort to move their manufacturing out of China over the past year. According to Tom Penner, they’ve been successful in increasing the amount produced outside of China to 30% of their total production.
That’s something that he wants to continue doing as well.
…grills are big items, the closer we can get that product to the consumer, which would be here in the United States, and if we can make it closer and closer the better.
Tom Penner, CEO of Char-Broil
Employees
According to the interview, Char-Broil now has 300 employees, with 200 based in the United States. Tom Penner also said that they’re looking to grow that base, which was a surprising and positive comment given what the industry has done over the past year.
Vision
When talking about life as the new CEO and his time at Char-Broil, Tom Penner noted that the vision for the company is around innovation. Char-Broil has been one of the more innovative companies recently with the EDGE electric grill, the Cruise gas grill, and some great releases and patents at their Oklahoma Joe’s brand. Hopefully that continues under Tom Penner’s leadership.