By Timothy R. Olsen ’09, ’18 MBA | Featured image by Loy Andrus

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The hiss of propane and click of the ignition switch are almost immediately followed by the signature “whoosh” of gas blooming into flame. Moments later, a cheerful sizzle can be heard as scrumptious aromas waft gently through the air.

From golden brown pancakes and crispy bacon for breakfast, to flavorful carnitas tacos for lunch, to tasty hibachi for dinner, this titan of taste has turned the outdoor cooking market on its head.

Blackstone Products, the market leader in outdoor griddles, was founded in 2008 by Utah State University graduate Roger Dahle (’84). Following years of steady growth, the company has exploded over the past half-decade.

“The growth was really organic, in a sense, because griddling was new to the backyard cooking industry,” Dahle explains. “We really innovated a new way of cooking outside and we really disrupted a new way of cooking outside as well, which really kind of caught a lot of my competitors by surprise.

“People discovered that cooking with a griddle is three meals a day, 365 days a year, which is very different from traditional barbecue.”

One of those competitors, Weber, is now an ally, as the two companies completed a merger in May 2025. Dahle — who was also a member of the USU golf team during his time as an Aggie —  took over as CEO of the combined company, Weber Blackstone, which will continue to go to market as distinct brands. 

However, despite that merger, both Dahle and the company headquarters will remain in Utah — something that was paramount for any deal. In fact, the Blackstone team just finished moving into a brand-new building on the south end of Cache Valley. 

 “Part of the negotiation, on my part, was that the headquarters remain in Logan,” Dahle says. “You work really hard to build a business, and it was really important to me [that it stay here].”

IGNITING THE FLAME

This past Halloween marked the first Blackstone Products Case Competition through USU’s Jon M. Huntsman School of Business. The competition, which featured $3,500 in prize money for the top student teams, was designed to teach students how to approach a case early in their college career. 

For Dahle, who earned his marketing degree through the Huntsman school and is a self-labeled “habitual entrepreneur,” it’s an opportunity to support the next wave of entrepreneurs. 

“The classes I took in the Huntsman school were very beneficial and just kind of laid the groundwork,” Dahle explains. “I didn’t really take any entrepreneurial classes — there’s a lot more of that being taught now than when I went, which I’m glad to see. Kids need to know and learn that in this country you can go out and start your own business, and it doesn’t matter what it is, you still need a really sound background of how things work.” 

That understanding of how things work was paramount for Dahle when, at 38 years old, he decided to quit his job at ICON Health and Fitness (now iFit) — a place he’d spent a decade building a career at — and embark on his own. 

“If it was in a box and I could put it on a shelf, I figured it was fair game for me. When I quit, I didn’t really have a defined, ‘This is what I’m going to go do in business,’” Dahle remembers. “It was very entrepreneurial. I’m going to go find stuff, and I’m going to generate revenue and make money. That’s really what it was.”

For the first few years, he worked with infomercial companies as their retail distributor, then came a stint working with QVC, which included hawking celebrity-endorsed fitness equipment. And then Dahle says he received a call from a friend working at a beauty supply company who needed help with some products they wanted to do private label. Pretty soon he was selling hair dryers, flat irons, hairbrushes, and vanity mirrors. 

However, he says he knew all of those endeavors had a defined start date and a defined end date. All the while, the griddle idea was percolating in the back of his mind. 

Griddles themselves were not a new concept, but they were largely relegated to restaurants. Personal griddles were rare and had to be specially ordered. 

“One day, I just said we’ve got to do this griddle,” Dahle exclaims. “I had seen one and been inspired by it. I thought it was a great concept, so I drew it on a yellow piece of paper on a notepad, with a pencil and a ruler.”

From there, he connected with someone that sourced in Asia for his business at that time. A factory was located and then roughly a year later, they started shipping griddles from China. This was the early 2000s, and retailers initially didn’t know what to make of the product. Dahle calls this his “incubation” period. 

The lawn and garden folks told him it looked like a sporting goods item. The sporting goods folks told him it was too big for the shelves and belonged in lawn and garden. Eventually, though, the griddles started to gain traction. In 2006, Sportsman’s Warehouse in Salt Lake City became the first big retailer to carry it. Then Cabela’s. Then a company called Academy Sports out of Texas. 

Pretty soon, Lowe’s and Walmart started carrying them as well. And while business was increasing, it really took off with social media — specifically TikTok. 

“It absolutely resonated with people … people gather around the griddle when someone’s cooking, everybody wants to try to flip a hamburger or a pancake. It’s fun. It’s engaging,” Dahle says. “We started gaining momentum and then it was a snowball effect, and off we went. 

“It’s just been really a fun ride, and pretty rare in this kind of business that you get to bring a new category — disruptive-type technology, if you will — to a very established industry that hadn’t seen a lot of innovation for many years. So, it’s been a great ride. It’s been really fun.”

BEHIND THE BUSINESS

“Don’t do it,” Dahle jokes, when asked what advice he’d offer to someone contemplating their own version of the griddle idea in the back of their mind.

The father of three has been married to his wife, Mary Jo, for 35 years. He says his family’s support was instrumental in navigating the hard times. 

“Being an entrepreneur is not for the faint of heart,” he explains. “People have no idea … how many times I mortgaged my house to keep the business going, and my wife would be right there supporting it. It’s difficult. It’s not an easy thing.”

Dahle’s daughter, Kline, who graduated from Utah State in 2022 with a degree in international studies and now works as Blackstone’s corporate social responsibility manager, says she’s always been impressed by how well her father has been able to strike a balance between business and family life. 

“One lesson that I’ve learned from him that really sticks out to me is his ability and his confidence to just keep pushing through and persevering through all of the ups and downs,” she says. “But while he’s done that, he’s also maintained so much humility throughout the process, and he’s always been so humble, and I think that’s just been a really great example for me.”