Weekends look a whole lot different for football legend Eli Manning these days.
Now he’s not just passing the football, he’s also passing the ketchup.
And loving every minute of it.
“I am a grilled chicken and steak and burger guy. Keep it simple,” said Manning while huddling up with a select few in downtown West Palm Beach.
Manning was recently in town to tackle a new venture off the field, leading BBQGuys, the top e-commerce platform for all things backyard, in opening its latest Backyard Design Center in the heart of West Palm Beach’s Flamingo Park Historic District. It’s an exciting collaboration with Teak + Table promising to revolutionize outdoor living with an array of high-end grills, outdoor kitchens, smokers, fire pits, outdoor furniture and outdoor lifestyle products.
The Backyard Design Center is a beautiful 8,000-square-foot showroom that marks BBQGuys’ third U.S. design center, joining their successful locations in Alpharetta, Georgia, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Over 15 brand partners are represented within these design centers including Blaze, Lynx, DCS, Kalamazoo, Urban Bonfire, Hestan, Twin Eagles, Alfresco, Fire Magic, Napoleon, Mont Alpi, Everdure, Kamado Joe, Recteq, Forno Venetzia and many others. While Blaze is Manning’s grill of choice, he says it’s the entire backyard experience that truly wins him over.
“I think just about growing up, so much of our time was spent outside…burgers and hot dogs on the grill with friends and family over and playing basketball and football in the front yard. I am trying to create those same memories with my family and my four kids and so I love opportunities to be outside and have them running around and a great outdoor space to enjoy those moments,” said Manning.
BBQGuys is owned by Brand Velocity Group (BVG), a private equity firm of which Manning is a partner. BBQGuys is the only e-commerce retailer solely focused on backyard living in the U.S. and one that offers complimentary 3D design services.
“Florida is a great market. It’s our number one state for business. We were looking everywhere from Miami, as far up as Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens, a little bit over in Naples and Sarasota, but primarily East Coast. We wanted to get closer to where people have more space and when we came across this location which is an old Flagler horse barn, it was just a perfect look and feel,” said BBQGuys CEO Russ Wheeler.
BBQGuys’ collaboration with Teak + Table, a family-owned business founded in Hilton Head, South Carolina, and renowned for its luxury outdoor products, provides premium options in the design center to include dining and seating sets, poolside lounge chairs and accent tables in Grade A Teak, resin wicker, rope and sunbrella fabrics. Teak + Table Founder and CEO, Trevor Ferguson says 1,500 of their pieces have already been showcased and enjoyed here in South Florida, all additions to the “New Golden Era” projects at The Boca Raton.
“When people think of BBQGuys or Teak + Table, it’s really not just grills or furniture. It’s everything in the backyard,” said Ferguson.
“Life is better in your backyard. It’s about creating experiences with friends and family and staycations. When everybody got trapped at home with COVID, we saw people upgrading their grills and those kinds of things but we also saw people saying ‘You know what, I like being here with my family. I like being here with my friends and I love to travel, too.’ You can now create these little oases in your backyard, and that’s what people are starting to do,” added Wheeler.
Backyard oases, kitchens, comfort and style—thanks to BBQGuys, it’s a weekend game plan that Manning has eagerly quarterbacked.
“It’s been a lot of fun just to just kind of have a normal weekend because my weekends were not normal for a long time. I’d come home on Saturday after practice and I would have to go to the hotel a few hours later. And Sundays, we were playing games. Now, the kids are playing their own games, but we get evenings usually, where we can have friends and family over and just enjoy the company of each other in our own space,” said Manning.
Visit the BBQGuys West Palm Beach Backyard Design Center, in Partnership with Teak + Table at 500 Palm St., Unit D in West Palm Beach and contact them via phone at 561/363-2765. The Design Center is open 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
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