1932
Louis McGlaughlin founded the Chicago Combustion Company, successfully kickstarting what would become the gas barbecue industry. During those early years, McGlaughlin’s focus was on building gas burners for commercial and industrial applications. The most famous burner being the ARGIL burner, known for its precise flame control, efficiency, and durability. Soon, he found that his burners were being adopted for commercial cooking purposes. After moving to New York, Louis incorporated new ideas and improved on his burner by building our first successful gas-fired broiler called the ‘BROILBURGER’.
1939
The World’s Fair in New York City marked the start of the gas-fired barbecue business known today as LazyMan. The ‘BROILBURGER’ was the centerpiece of our booth at the fair, catching the interest of various restaurants that wanted the flavor of charcoal cooking, but with the ease of gas. The ‘BROILBURGER’ pioneered many unique features for the day such as; sealed burners, automatic rotating forks, and a precursor to ceramic fire bricks and gas ignited charcoal briquets. They were quickly adopted by luncheonettes, sandwich shops, and other restaurants. While these first units were fired by Henry Ford’s Ford Charcoal Briquets, they later were adapted for full gas operation, replacing the briquets with lava rocks. In the 1940’s, with the combination of the ARGIL burner, a high-quality utility stove was introduced. This evolution started us down the path to the barbecue business.
The Original outdoor grill
1950s and Beyond
Until the mid-1950’s, the gas grill business was almost exclusively found in commercial cooking. The first ever portable gas grills were sold in 1954 by Chicago Combustion Corporation. Shortly after, two other companies, Charmglow and Falcon, released competing portable grills. Based on the premise of the successful gas fired ‘BROILBURGER’, these portable, gas-fire barbecues featured state of the art burners. Built from the lineage of burner technology that formed the basis of the Chicago Combustion Company, these burners offered a more effective system. Other early design ideas included; porcelain on steel fire boxes, electric rotisseries, and lava rocks to emulate the charcoal flavor. Don McGlaughlin, Louis’ son, needed a source of fuel for their new portable grill. The iconic propane bottle that we now associate with grilling today was actually sourced from the 20-lb propane cylinders used by plumbers. In 1959 you could purchase our portable Model AP for $131.25.
Chicago Combustion saw the first spike in sales, nationally, for the residential gas grill in 1959. In 1960, the company began to wholesale permanent natural gas grills to the New Jersey Natural Gas Company. For 39 months of a $1 charge added to your gas bill, the company would install the grill for you. To this day, LazyMan still offers the options of; propane or natural gas in the same basic design, offered in either portable or permanent versions for purchase.
Over the next 30 years, Chicago Combustion continued to develop new models such as the Masterpiece Series; a more “traditional” gas grill. We slowly exited the mass retail business in favor of selling handcrafted gourmet grills. We achieved this though our network of distributors who offer high touch sales, service, and support. With this evolution, we decided it was time to rebrand the company and became LazyMan. LazyMan comes from our earliest grill line, whose name was inspired by the ease of gas grilling compared to charcoal grilling at the time.
What Sets LazyMan Apart?
Our attention to quality and durability is unmatched. LazyMan parts are made from high-quality materials. All of our stainless-steel burners, fireboxes, grates, hoods, shelves, and drip pans are manufactured by hand in our factory in Belvidere, New Jersey. The handmade quality craftsmanship is apparent from the first day you receive your product, to every use of your grill for many years to come. We are extremely proud to say that we stand behind every single grill we have ever made. To this day, more than 80 years since we were founded, we sell replacement parts for every single product we have ever sold.