The latest generations of consumers likely know George Foreman as a brand of countertop electric grills with little knowledge of the confluence of circumstances that led to the marriage of one of professional boxing’s greatest comeback stories and a warehouse full of unsold cooking appliances.
With the passing of former two-time heavyweight champ Foreman, at 76, last week, the history of one of the industry’s most iconic housewares products came into focus again.
During the 1995 Gourmet Products Show in Las Vegas, retailers and media were summoned by kitchen appliance maker Salton, Inc. to a reception to learn about a new partnership with Foreman… and to meet the iconic boxer. Leon Driemann, then Salton’s CEO, had agreed with Foreman, through Foreman’s attorney Sam Perlmutter, on a licensing deal to market the George Foreman Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine. Salton, up to then, was having a tough time selling the clamshell-style indoor grill with the slanted cooking surface. But there was a spark of hope in joining with Foreman, who had recently defended an improbable comeback heavyweight title claimed a year earlier while trading in his previously menacing persona for highly marketable affability.
It took some time for the deal to rescue all those previously unsellable electric contact grills. But with a big lift from a successful Salton infomercial campaign featuring Foreman and his appetite for appearances across mass media, what would become known simply as the George Foreman Grill grew into one of the best-known, biggest-selling, enduring product franchises in the industry’s history.
Foreman was once quoted as saying the deal with Salton at one point earned him $8 million a month from a royalty of roughly 40% of profits. However, other published accounts have his monthly payment topping out at about $4.5 million. Salton paid Foreman about $138 million in 1999 for rights to the George Foreman brand.
Foreman reportedly made more money from the George Foreman Grill than from boxing and other commercial enterprises. Salton continued to expand the George Foreman Grill business for several years through intensive product development and marketing support, turning heads in 2001, for example, by spending $1 million for a 30-second Super Bowl commercial showcasing the Foreman grill in an array of translucent “iMac colors.” The George Forman Grill, continually updated and offered in new versions, remains a top-selling line for Spectrum Brands, which, in 2010, merged with U.S-based Russell Hobbs, Inc., formerly Salton, Inc.
Many obituaries and tributes to Foreman in the immediate wake of his death devote as much space to his pioneering electric grill venture as his championship amateur and professional boxing career.
From the brooding scowl of his 1973 knockout of Joe Frazier to earn his first pro title to the cheerful grin of his 1994 comeback victory for the title over Michael Moorer, George Foreman should never be forgotten as a transformative, iconic boxing champion.
His legacy is only further cemented by housewares consumers more likely to remember George Foreman for a transformative, iconic electric indoor grill.
