If you ever find yourself exploring YouTube and falling into the rabbit hole of videos about smokeless fire, live-fire cooking, and the best fire pit in the world, you might find yourself on the Breeo YouTube page.
As you browse, you’ll find a series of videos produced by our in-house content team, and at the top of our “most popular” videos, you’ll find this gem. To make it easier for you to find, we added it here for your enjoyment.
The story behind the Greatest Grate video takes us back almost three years ago to the launch of the Outpost grill when we had a three-person marketing, content, and video team at Breeo. We asked the featured actors from the video, Co-Founder Jonathan Miller and Chef Jean-Paul Bourgeois, to share their behind-the-scenes perspectives of production day.
“When we launched the Outpost grill in the spring of 2020,” said Jonathan, “We wanted to have at least one video that was somewhat humorous in nature.” He went on to describe that their vision was to walk the audience through a series of less-than-ideal circumstances caused by traditional campfire grills and finish with a professional live fire chef using the Outpost grill.
That’s where the newest Pro-Team member at the time, Chef Jean-Paul, came into the picture. “We asked him if he could come and play the role of this professional chef at the end of the video to showcase that the Outpost grill was a legitimate cooking tool,” Jonathan shared. Since Jean-Paul was already familiar with the design and versatility of the Outpost grill, it was a clear fit.
After pulling together a small cast, renting a small local campsite, and a short, three-hour drive from New York City for Jean-Paul, production was ready to start. The team filmed the scene on an overcast winter day in Lancaster County while creating as many puns as they could fit in a minute-long video.
As one of his first interactions with a lot of the Breeo team, Jean-Paul enjoyed getting to see their personalities coming out on set. ”It was fun to see the staff and family and friends come together and put on this little production...it was really fun to see them have fun with it, and be goofy and playful and funny at the same time,” he shared. “That was really my first interaction with a lot of the Breeo staff members, but also the people they spend so much time with.”
Jean-Paul went on to talk about the Outpost grill and why he loves cooking with it. “That was a big day for me in the sense that (the Outpost grill) was something I really believed in.” He added that as a community of professional chefs, ”we’re big fans of versatility, we’re big fans of being resourceful. In a lot of ways that's how we learn to cook, with being versatile with ingredients, with being resourceful with what we have and I feel like the Outpost is what brings both of those adjectives to life when it comes to the Breeo culture and Breeo manufacturing. So, I was just really enthused to be a part of the launch in that way.”
One thing that Jon mentioned about the production day was Jean-Paul’s line at the end of the video, “It’s not great, but it’s perfect.” Jon explained that Jean-Paul ad-libbed that line, and they ended up “running with it.” “He’s a really genuine guy, “Jon said. “The personality he has online is the personality that he has in real life. It’s one of the things that I appreciate about him the most and always have.”
The shoot turned out to be a success despite the possible over-usage of puns and a small number of team members. The campaign was a fresh strategy for the team at Breeo and as Jean-Paul said, “I hate to use the pun, but a breath of fresh air.”
Stay tuned for more upcoming content with Chef Jean-Paul Bourgeois and check out his Instagram for outdoor aspirations and mouthwatering recipes.
