KettlePizza Wood-Fired Backyard Pizza Ovens to be Sold at Walmart

September 29, 2015 | By Business Wire News

GROVELAND, Mass.

KettlePizza today announced that its flagship product, an innovative Made in the USA kit that converts a kettle-style charcoal grill — like a Weber — into a wood-burning, backyard pizza oven, will be carried by Walmart beginning in 2016. Walmart decided to distribute KettlePizza products in its stores and online at Walmart.com following the retailer’s US Manufacturing Summit and Open Call, held this summer.

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President and CEO of Walmart U.S. Greg Foran on stage with a KettlePizza (Photo: Business Wire)

Starting in January 2016, for the first time consumers will be able to purchase the world’s leading wood-fired pizza oven kit for grills in Walmart stores. Walmart’s decision to carry KettlePizza is part of the retailer’s initiative to purchase an additional $250 billion in products over 10 years that support the creation of American jobs — a positive trend that is gaining momentum across industries.

“When we pledged early on to source as many KettlePizza components as possible from US suppliers, we knew that we might take a competitive hit,” said Al Contarino, president of KettlePizza. “If we sourced KettlePizza components from outside the US, we would likely increase our profit margins. But we could never manage the quality of these parts like we’re able to do today thanks to the relationships we’ve built with our closely-aligned US partners.”

As part of the US Manufacturing Summit, manufacturers had the opportunity to “pitch” their products to Walmart buyers. The two-day event, held at Walmart headquarters in Bentonville, AR, was an opportunity for KettlePizza and hundreds of other companies committed to increasing US manufacturing to showcase their products to the Walmart community. Components for KettlePizza’s wood-fired kits are sourced from companies located throughout the US –California, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Ohio.

“The opportunity to offer our products through Walmart means that another Made in USA product becomes readily available to more consumers,” said Contarino. “The big winners are US workers and their families as increased sales of US-made products have a tremendous ripple effect throughout the economy.”

“We think the KettlePizza kit will delight Walmart customers and provide a unique solution to the outdoor cooking enthusiast,” said Matt Kovach, outdoor entertaining buyer at Walmart. “The KettlePizza kit, at about half the cost of stand-alone pizza ovens, is a low cost outdoor pizza cooking solution that doesn’t require people to add an additional ‘grill’ to their backyard.”

About KettlePizza™

Founded in 2010 by inventors and entrepreneurs Al Contarino and George Peters, KettlePizza™ is an All-American small business success story. From humble beginnings in Al’s barn to distribution partners across the country and around the world, KettlePizza offers grill aficionados and families that enjoy home cooked meals or entertaining friends an authentic wood-burning pizza oven experience. KettlePizza has multiple patents pending, was named 2013 Retailers Choice Award at the National Hardware Show, and was recently featured on CNBC.com, Steve Harvey and The Boston Globe. For more information, visit http://www.kettlepizza.com.