Featured Listing: greatamericangriller.com

Tell us a little about yourself. What’s your background? How did you start the business?

I started Great American Griller in April 2020 out of a passion for grilling. I am a restauranteur by trade and love grilling on my Big Green Egg.

As a griller, I came across various problems during my barbecues. After doing a bit of market research, I realized I was not the only one who had these problems. I saw an opportunity to serve a market that I was a part of, and wanted to contribute.

After extensive market research, I identified 3 primary products to sell, each a winning product (one has been around for 30+ years).

As an e-Commerce business where are your products made?

China

How have you marketed the product and where are your customers originating from?

I market via Facebook ads

Is the asset on your listing owner-operated, how much time does it take to run the business, who else is needed on the team, and what is automated?

~3-5 hours a week – everything is set up so the only thing you need to do is respond to customer service emails (currently fulfilling orders manually but have a 3PL set-up so next bulk order will go there)

What does someone need to do to continue operating the business in its current form?

1) Understand how FB ads work (test new creatives, adjust budgets, etc.) and 2) Have capital to fund inventory

Can you list a few opportunities for a potential new owner to continue growing the business?

With Facebook Ads, you can get to $50K – $100k/ month very easily (Simply test new creatives and increase the budget of your winners). As long as you have the capital for inventory, this is a cash-flowing asset that will continue to produce passive income (all the hard work of getting it off the ground has been done). You can also invest more into Google Ads (which do really well).

Here is my approach to increasing revenue:

1) Amazon FBA – I have set up everything to allow for an easy transition to Amazon FBA (custom packaging with barcodes, Amazon FBA warehouse contacts, etc.) If I had more time, I would do this myself, but currently am at the capacity to add additional workloads.

2) Continue to test creatives – from my peers in e-commerce who focus on Facebook ads as the main source of traffic, it is entirely possible to get to $50-$100K / month (however, you need the capital to purchase inventory)

3) Additional product lines – Current sales are supported across 3 SKUs – unlimited growth if buyer adds more products (seller to provide current growth plan)

What has been the evolution of this asset since its launch?

This started as a passion project that gained serious momentum very quickly. I started it out as a dropshipping store but quickly moved to private label. I have a supplier that I have a great working relationship (a backup supplier as well). 

I have invested a substantial amount of money into content creation ($5K+ product photos, ad creatives, etc.) and it will be part of the sale. In addition, I will provide the contact info for my content creators.

How does this business make money? What are the current revenue streams?

I primarily market my products via Facebook Ads, but I also use Google Ads (much higher conversion, but the buyer pool is smaller).

My typical cost (unit cost + shipment from China) is ~$5, and sell for $63.95 ($57 + 6.95 shipping). The margins are extremely healthy.

What marketing channels are most profitable for the business?

Facebook provides the largest pool of buyers but I found Google Ads is the most profitable (but smaller) pool

How does the business currently acquire customers and what is your breakdown for marketing costs?

I acquire customers via paid social (Facebook Ads) and paid search (Google Ads). My average ROAS is ~2.0x. With my current margin set-up, my COGS is 20%, Ad Spend 50%, and Net Profit 30%

How big is your current team? How many people does it take to run this business?

I have a VA that oversees customer service, but this can run with just an owner-operator setup

What’s the reason for selling your business on Flippa?

I currently do not have the capacity to keep growing this business (I oversee multiple restaurants) and want this to grow in the rights hands of a new buyer. This was a passion project that grew much faster than expected.