1. So who is M Grills?
M Grills is a family owned business based out of our 3rd generation machine shop, Magee Machine & Mfg in Mesquite, Texas. We are known for machining large precision parts while M Grills is all about designing and fabricating the best grills and smokers on the market. The “M” in M Grills stands for Magee, our family name.
2. Why we started making grills in an over crowded market.
Being born and raised in Texas, you grow up eating a lot of backyard bbq. My family would get together and grill out every Sunday while we watched football. Grilling to me is all about family, friends, great times and great food.
Just like everyone else, I've owned many grills and smokers in my time. There were some things I liked about certain grills and some I didn't. I never found a perfect grill that did everything well. I got tired of buying grills that would fall apart within a couple of years. Over the past decade, I’ve seen more and more grills popping up most of them are simply junk. The materials are getting thinner and cheaper. There are air gaps all around the lid and firebox doors. The cooking grates are porcelain coated or nickel plated and simply do not hold up. Pick up the lid and the entire grill feels like its about to fall apart in your hands. If the lid wobbles in your hand on a brand new grill, just gently lay it down (you don't want to break it) and walk away.
I love to grill and smoke equally and I’ve always had a smoker and separate bbq grill on my patio. When it comes to smoking, if you want the best flavor the only way to go is stick burning. Learning to manage a fire is very easy if you have the right tool.
Most stick burners are made from large pipe or large tanks that have been converted into offset smokers. There are some bbq pit builders who make some absolutely killer smokers out there, but for the most part they do not make great charcoal grills and can be overkill for smaller patios. So I started designing my ideal backyard cooker. One grill that is truly multifunctional and does not take up a lot of room. No after thoughts, everything has a purpose with simple/clean design. A stick burning style smoker with a well designed fully adjustable charcoal grate while having a traditional yet modern appearance that would look great on my patio. That was the birth of the M1. After designing, prototyping, testing, and revisions; it wasn’t long before I settled on our now most popular grill, The M1. When I showed the first prototypes to a few friends, the name popped in my head once people kept saying “this thing is built like a tank!”. So the whole tank theme stuck which is what this grill is named after, The M1 Abrams Tank. I now have 1 cooker on my personal patio that will grill and smoke and cook anything I want to throw at it. It can get very hot, it can hold steady low smoking temperatures with ease and it's so easy to use. Not to mention, it’s built to last for many years! I absolutely love the M1.
3. What is the future of M Grills?
We want to bring innovation to the backyard bbq industry while keeping a focus on American Made craftsmanship. The M1 is such as great cooker that I am working on 3 sizes with the M1 being the smallest. I have no desire to make a grill that's already been done.
Pellet grills and Ceramic style cookers have taken the industry by storm. You can do a lot with them, but both lack certain aspects that do not fit my style of cooking. I am intrigued by the set and forget aspect of pellet grills, but the flavor tastes not much different than my oven. In my opinion, pellet smokers just do not give off enough smoke to penetrate the meat for a great true smoke bbq flavor.
Ceramic style cookers do not have the correct airflow and capacity to handle wood smoking. They can hold heat very well for long hours which makes them appealing to a lot of people, but not being able to add wood throughout a long smoke will not match the flavor profile you get from a stick burner. A ceramic cooker is essentially just an outdoor charcoal oven. For grilling, I prefer a fully an adjustable grate to instantly control heat like a Santa Maria style grill. This allows me to sear and instantly drop the coal bed for grilling. I love having full control at my fingertips during my cooks and being able to set different zones all at the same time.
You simply can not beat true wood smoking. If I don’t want to hassle with managing a fire or the time involved, then I would just go to a great bbq restaurant and be done with it. If I want to impress my family and friends with some really awesome bbq, then its all worth it to me. I want a single backyard cooker that does it all and can potentially give me the same flavor that will rival any well known bbq restaurant while looking great on my patio.
4. What makes M Grills unique from other grill manufacturers?
We are not mass produced and slapped together. That is not in our DNA and never will be. Every one of our grills are handcrafted from passionate metal fabricators here in Texas. We also make every part of our grills in house except for the casters and thermometers. Every piece of material on our grills is of the highest quality. You will not find our grills at every bbq store around every corner. M Grills is something special. We want our customers to know they have the best handcrafted grills on the market. There is simply no comparison. We know the cooker is the heart and soul of great BBQ. We are dedicated in making a tool that will allow our customers to make the best BBQ they can possibly make for many years while looking great on their patio. Design, function, innovation, and American Made Craftsmanship. That is M Grills.
- Travis Magee