Spark Grills - Already gone...


 
Jon Tofte

Jon Tofte

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
Although I would never have forked out the money for one, I actually liked the sleek look and high-tech design of the apparently short-lived Spark Grill.

Spark Charcoal Grill.jpg

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Did Spark Grills Go Out Of Business? - CookOut News | Grill Business News, Grill Reviews, Grill Releases

It's no secret that the outdoor cooking industry has been hit hard in 2022. The post-pandemic downturn has even caused the largest grill company, Weber, to seek out cash to make it through winter. It appears that the problems have hit Spark Grills even harder, and it's likely that they are no...
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When this grill came out, some here really scoffed at it as millennial's play toy or a grill for someone with hand tats but no clue how to start a charcoal fire. I suppose there is truth in that. Certainly, the fear that this grill would be discontinued leaving owners with no source for the charcoal slabs was justified. Kind of humorously, the company now provides info on how to use regular charcoal to keep your Spark running. But when the electronics fail, you will have a boat anchor or maybe a cool deck ornament!

It's actually too bad in my view. I DO like the style and if this grill would have helped bring in a new generation into BBQ and grilling (who wouldn't be caught dead using Dad's old-fashioned kettle), I think that would have been a good thing.
 
It was promoted fairly heavily when it came out during COVID. We had a discussion about it here back then.
 
I don’t remember if it was hand tats or man buns that was the epithet hurled at these things but, they were certainly a one trick pony unit from their promotional releases. Glad I had too many grills that week!
 
Concept seemed pretty cool, but my very first qualm was that proprietary charcoal puck/slab. Wasn't standard enough or from a long standing company to make me feel comfortable about it. Sad to see it go, though.
 
Jon Tofte said:
It's actually too bad in my view. I DO like the style and if this grill would have helped bring in a new generation into BBQ and grilling (who wouldn't be caught dead using Dad's old-fashioned kettle), I think that would have been a good thing.
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Personally I think the Pellet Poopers have brought a new and existing generation into BBQ. Lots of people who may have never done ribs or whatever found an easy way to do that by the way for less money depending on what you want for a Pooper. Charcoal IMO was never going to do that and that product was stupid money but like Mike said the fact they used proprietary charcoal would have been a deterence which has proved out spend over a grand or higher and you end up with a paper weight. You could have spent less money and bought a Masterbuilt or Chargriller gravity feed which you could grill as well as smoke and most likely got the same results or better for less money using charcoal which you can find anywhere.

I love my Performer but it is not my most used grill the gasser still is. My wife and my daughters who are 26 and 29 them being the new gen I guess would never think to even attempt to use the Performer as the thought of them touching Charcoal and getting dirty hands would horrify them even if they wore some gloves you still got to dump charcoal into your bins with a bit of charcoal dust flying around. :)

My oldest is married she has the 1000 I did so they have the gas side covered, her husband bought a Pooper it never entered his mind to go charcoal and he has had some nice ribs off my Performer. Charcoal takes a bit of work which I enjoy and I don't need to worry about smoke cause I can control that when doing ribs or whatever I hate to say it I do my steaks on my Silver C, wings and ribs on the Performer.
 
PP are definitely the latest trend, I think they are here to stay. They seem to attract more people simply as convenience factor, not to mention a whole new group of "plug & play" people.
 
EricV. said:
PP are definitely the latest trend, I think they are here to stay. They seem to attract more people simply as convenience factor, not to mention a whole new group of "plug & play" people.
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I totally agree but IMO this is a second grill the gasser is not going away in the future and a gasser is the definition of convenience turn the tank valve on turn the knob to start push a button and off you go no need for an electrical connection. Want to get into smoking with the prices of Poopers these days its kind of a no brainer want an entry level Pooper no need to spend more than 500-600 bucks or wait till end of season and find a 299 deal like Larry did they will be out there again I am sure of that.

The grill market is a mess and may not recover for years way to many people bought new stuff during the pandemic when they were stuck at home could not go out to eat or whatever so spent that savings on a new grill. They may not be back for 5 years or more heck buy a Weber gas grill with the 10 year warranty they won't be back for longer than that if they take care of it.

Interesting also I was at HD today and they like other retailers have gotten smarter regarding inventory and getting stuck with it when Aug and Sept gets here. On the low end gasser grills no more than 20 outside when there used to be 50 in prior years if not more. Some Webers not a ton some Traegers not a ton really won't be stuck with much.
 
For fun, I checked to see if any were for sale. There was a guy in Iowa showing pictures of 4 brand new ones for $75 each and saying he has charcoal packs for 2 for $5.00 and a cover for $10.00.

For $150 you could be set for a lot of cooks. There are some very unhappy owners lamenting being out in the cold and citing issues with the fan and grease.
 
Not sure its even worth 75 bucks I bought my performer used for 85 bucks many years ago put maybe 145 bucks into a stainless grate, stainless baskets and SNS deluxe.
 
Too bad. Thought it was a cool design. Charcoal grill with pellet/smart features.

The proprietary charcoal was a big part of the business model — razor/razor blade. Seemed like tha turned off a lot of folks. But the real downfall was poor durability.

Figured the company wasn’t doing well when I started seeing lots of them listed for sale on CL and FBM around Denver (they were based in Boulder) about 12-18 months ago. Sign that purchasers weren’t loving them in use.

The MB gravity feed seems to be surviving. Really wish Weber had done the smokefire as a charcoal burner.
 
I went as far as to contact the guy who said he would be in Iowa this weekend. He said he was headed back to Denver on Monday. He must have bought out some inventory at pennies on the $ and now goes around trying to sell it off.

I personally think it is a very cool setup if only for the novelty aspect. The problems of it not having durability is a good deterrent to taking a fly even at a super cheap price.
 
amazingribs.com

Spark Grill Review

Spark is Out of Business! Read our review to learn why we didn't recommend this product from its inception. Everyone is talking about the sexy new Spark Grill. It catches your eye and draws you in, then throws roadblocks in the way. We wonder if Spark's uncommon effort to improve on the simple...
amazingribs.com
 
Just read that review, thanks.

There’s nothing remotely interesting about it. It doesn’t look good, I think it looks hideous myself. And the proprietary briqs are a complete joke. Talk about solving a problem that never existed. And all that gimmickry was for $900!?!?🤣
 
Yeah, I think it looks very cool, but that’s what makes the world go around. But the reviews aren’t very positive. So it’s not like it was an awesome cooking machine that might be worth taking chance on. Mainly it would be for the “cool” factor sitting on your deck. And obviously not everyone even sees that.
 
In regard to pellets vs. briquettes vs. gas, the pellet grills have (in my opinion) the most room for improvement in all areas. I'm not saying that they are bad, just that they have the potential to become a more attractive option as time goes on.
 
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