What do you get when a furniture industry veteran whose specialty is logistics teams up with a BBQ guy who has a background in sheet metal and manufacturing?
Hellrazr Outdoor Cooking Products.
Jean Devault—who previously worked as vice president of sales for Canadel for nearly 13 years —left the company in 2007 and has been involved in mentorship and investments ever since.
One of his mentees, Shawn Bevins, approached Devault about the idea for Hellrazr Grills, and a little over a year later, the company is booming.
Bevins, who’s originally from Detroit but moved to Quebec after meeting his wife while there on a road trip, has a background in manufacturing as well as metal stamping and sheet metal. Before Hellrazr, he built his career out of that, working as a product developer for companies such as Bombardier Recreational Products and his own start-up, Hamrforge Inc.
‘I’m a BBQ guy, and back home, charcoal and wood is how we do BBQ,” he says. “But in Quebec, you can’t find charcoal and wood units. So the steel guy inside me thought, ‘let’s start developing units.’ I was very successful with Hamrforge and that allowed me to be recognized for the quality of the product I produce.”
With Hamrforge, Bevins was able to go into markets like Australia, New Zealand, France, the U.S., and Canada, Devault was Bevins’ mentor, helping me deal with issues Hamrforge. They became great friends and decided to work together to start Hellrazr.
“These days, any startup business is difficult to get off the ground,” Bevins says. “Starting up a manufacturing business is nearly impossible, and doing it during a pandemic is even harder, so we’re like a unicorn.”
Devault adds that the bank Hellrazr uses said that, with the exception of Covid-related products, Hellrazr was one of the only new manufacturing companies to open in Quebec last year.
“We went from $0 to $3 million in sales in nine months,” Bevins says. “The first year has been incredible. We now have over 26 employees, and we’re on track to do $10 million next year, and heading toward $25 million a year.”
The brand, which is particularly popular in Europe, speaks to a certain demographic that Bevins and Devault feel has been largely ignored.
“Our competitors are very pure-aid, family-oriented, and not very badass,” Bevins explains. “We have bold black units, extreme versatility, and heavy-duty products. We have a different brand approach and the reception has been incredible.”
Hellrazr also just signed its first deal with a U.S. distributor, The Third Bull one of the Ecentria Group of Companies which does about a billion dollars in sales per year and distributes almost 4500 different brands with over one million different SKUs.
The Third Bull sells to big box brands like Bass Pro Shop and Home Depot, but Bevins says Hellrazr isn’t counting out smaller mom-and-pop retailers.
“There’s a business opportunity for mom-and-pop shops,” Bevins says. “We discussed with Ecentria at the beginning about the distro exclusivity. They’re very interested in the casual industry. We can do private-label for certain retailers, and we’re not going to go into Bass Pro Shop with 5 SKUs. We’ll have some exclusive SKUs for smaller retailers.
“The patio crossover into BBQ just makes sense as folks backyards are a space that patio furniture retailers already occupy, moving forward successful retailers will be the ones that want to be the one-stop shop for all of their customers outdoor living needs, customers are actively seeking turnkey solutions for their outdoor living spaces and charcoal and wood-fired barbecue units are extremely popular for customers seeking an enhanced outdoor cooking experience. Hellrazr with its unique product offering will help those transitioning retailers have great success in a segment that their customers are currently purchasing elsewhere”.
For information about working with Hellrazr, contact George.poulos@thirdbull.com or call 1-888-882-8747.
